Is Doordash Red Card Worth It?

Ever gotten a notification from DoorDash to sign up for a Red Card?

If you’ve not, perhaps you’re a new driver but would eventually get one as you go on, and even many if you keep declining.

So what does this Red Card do? Why them over the ability to dash normally? And most importantly, are they worth it? Because of course, since we can dash without them, what makes them so special?

Well, we’ll be answering these questions in today’s article.

Stick with me.

What does a DoorDash Red Card do? What makes it different from dashing without it?

Alright. Let’s begin by explaining what a Red Card means.

The DoorDash Red Card is a specialized payment card issued to drivers on the app.

Basically, it works just like every card you know — they’re funded and used to make payments.

However, for the Red card, the funding is done by DoorDash the moment you accept an order that requires a Red Card payment.

Note: Orders that require a red card payment are specific types of orders applicable to specific shops properly discussed later in the article.

And for making payments, the card is limited to only making payments for the exact order cost and nothing else — like personal use, expenses, gas, etc., as most people usually assume.

Now how is the Red Card used? and why do we need it?

You’ll get the Red Card mailed to you alongside the activation kit after completing the initial signup process for the platform.

Now, the basic “advantage” it gives is being able to accept orders from all restaurants partnered with DoorDash (In other words, restaurants that only accept red card payment).

This is because, without the Red Card, you can only accept orders from restaurants that have a direct billing arrangement with the company. For the many other restaurants that don’t have, you won’t be able to use them.

The Red Card bridges this gap.

Is Doordash Red Card Worth It?

Yes, you might be able to get access to other restaurants. But after that, what next? Do you earn more with it? Is it worth it?

Earning more? This is highly subjective to the Restaurants that operate with Red Cards in your location.

If they’re faster, have customers that tip well, and sell high-cost food, the odds of earning more are high.

Get more orders? Technically, yes.

This is because, with more restaurants open to you, you’re open to a variety of order requests. In other words, more orders.

But these are just the advantages.

For the cons…

It comes with some stress — time spent making payments yourself.

Once in a while, you’d have issues with the card declining and may need to queue in line to make payment (for a restaurant that is busy). These are some of my personal experiences although.

To compensate for this, DoorDash adds an additional payment to cover your time.

But then, it’s important to keep in mind that Red Card orders are not as prevalent as you might assume. Depending on where you stay, you’ll only get them a few times in tens of orders.

Personally, I’ve only had to use cards for Asian Restaurants, Wendy’s, Jack-in-the-Box, and generally a few times a week.

It’s typically not something that shows up every time.

So is it worth it?

I’d usually advise activating it for some reason discussed in the next section.

But whether it’s worth it or not, is market-dependent. It’s always advisable to analyze every order independently based on its pay, and the workload. Whether it’s a red card or not should be analyzed after (because of the disadvantages we shared earlier).

But as a rule of thumb, you want to avoid using a Red Card for restaurants that have a bad wait time unless they have a better-managed system for easy payments.

And how do you know these restaurants? It’s all about testing.

If you’re just starting out, testing things out for yourselves is the way to go. And for any bad experience, take note of them.

For instance, if you notice a particular restaurant is known to have huge wait times, having them in a list of restaurants to avoid or decline is the way to go.

Should you activate the Red Card? Are there any implications?

Normally, you’ll always get asked to activate the red card, occasionally.

So is it required?

Yes, it is. DoorDash Red Card is not optional. You can’t naturally turn it off.

While you may be able to ignore it for some time, you’ll eventually be forced to activate it to be able to continue using the platform or otherwise, be locked out of the app.

So you have no option but to activate it.

However, if you don’t find Red Card orders appealing you’re always free to cancel any order requests that have them. This can only affect your acceptance ratings.

Final Thoughts

Whether a Red Card is worth it or not should be dependent on the individual order, your profit, and the restaurant, while considering the extra effort a red card order may require.