Self explanitory, really.
I think DoorDash has peaked. The recent jobs report shows that we have lost jobs here in the US over the last couple of months, and for whatever reason, DoorDash is trying to push theirs down. Only, they don’t have any employees on the road, so they can’t really. They contract the drivers who deliver for them, and pay them about $2 per delivery, plus whatever tips the customer offers on top of having to pay ridiculous fees.
How are they doing it?
Yesterday while I was out, I kept getting the low ball offers that have come frequently recently, and I noticed a new message on the screen. It said that an acceptance rate below 80% will lose Platinum status. Before this, drivers could go lower, but now, having to keep 80% means we have to take the crap orders they send us endlessly, and even lower ones if they chose. Platinum status is what allows a driver to not have to schedule their work in advance and queue up in slots, making work and money available for them while those in the queue have to get scheduled early in order to work at all.
The goal I try to stick to is to be paid at least $1 per mild per delivery. DoorDash is trying to pay far less. And who would tip well when there are fees that can equal close to the cost of the original order? Not many do. On top of it, The fuel prices are outrageous and killing profitability of the drivers, who maintain their own vehicles in very high use, and their own insurance.
Last night I actually earned a fairly good (for me) wage. $17.90 per hour. That was high because the first two orders I got came with good tips. After that, it peatered out and I refused 10 out of the 20 offers sent to me.
It’s going to take some work over the next few days to get it to rise at all, then I have a lot of more recent decliines to remove, which is now going to take a couple of weeks to do. 10% of my rate was yeserday alone, and I need to be less than 20% overall.
So, the result is we drivers are being forced to work for less in order to maintain a status that should be there to pay us more. I don’t know what to do about it. I need the ability to be flexible, and the ability to work around my kids’ school schedules. I also need to be able to earn enough to feed my family and pay our bills. But I also have to buy the gas and the oil and the endless stream of car parts, and pay taxes, on money that is already very low. And with the company tryng to supress the people they contract, there is no way I can say it has anything but passed its peak.