5-25 - PSA - Delivery Driver Truth
I wrote this because I think most people who order from delivery services have this general misconception that their drivers are getting some sort of guaranteed hourly.
Which is true in some states and specifically some city limits, but for folks in General Washington State this is not the case. My average is $3/hour after expenses.
Washington State DoorDash Customers: If you are not tipping, because your drivers often get lost, food is cold, or some other item is not up to your standards
Go get the food yourself
If you aren’t tipping cause you can’t afford it, and can’t go get it
MAKE THE FOOD YOURSELF or order an extra item that you tip the driver with if they want it. Or support their social media or business if they provide you will details to do so.
And for damn sure in both cases you best rate them 5 stars if you don’t tip. Don’t block other paying opportunities that would help them make up the difference, because they value themselves more than you do. If day they refuse to bring it to your door over when your gate is closed or they’d have to run up 3 flights of stairs and won’t make it with in the “on time” window if you don’t go out and meet them.
or order pizza from the place and pay their delivery fee so their drivers get paid hourly at least.
This isn’t snarky. Just facts. The “tip” is misleading.
Your driver is not paid hourly. So the amount you pay the driver to do a task you don’t want to or can’t do yourself (that $9.99 membership goes to the app not the driver) should be called a service fee. How much would it take to be paid to make the Round Trip from your house to the restaurant and back? Would you use an insulated bag? Would you remember the sauces or grab utensils before you got home? If it would take 30 min or less to complete this round trip (include the time you wait for the order) you need to tip $10 PLUS .67 per mile ROUND TRIP.
Why am I ragging on this round trip thing? When the dasher will likely get an order on the way back?
DoorDash doesn’t gatekeep, and the bonus doordash pays is based on order volume per zone. If there are a lot of orders in a zone. DoorDash may add $2 or $1.
Occasionally we see $4 or $5 from DoorDash if there were complications or the order is more than a zone away. Or if it has been declined multiple times. But the majority of DoorDash order pay is very very low. Like $1/mile.
You might be thinking, Kay… then don’t pick up the order if it’s too low?
We can decline. This is true. But then there’s the algorithm and stats. If we decline more than 25% of our orders offered we do not get as many offers as those who take 90%.
Here are the top deliveries that are declined because as freelancers it takes too much time to deliver
Alcohol & Grocery Stores for less than 2 items
Must pick up in store (jack in the box)
Condos and gated communities
Recently: Smokey point Panda Express because they have been taking 2 hours to complete orders and we keep getting assigned to them which tanks our rates & ratings.
If any obstacle we have to navigate adds more time than a straight forward pickup and deliver and the amount of tip does not make it worth it, it has a high chance of being declined or in many cases, picked up and then declined. As DoorDash specifically has gotten shady about hiding info we need to make a good decision in the 30 seconds while distracted driving in the window we have to make said decision (glancing, scrolling, tapping, and trying to judge map scale and which direction is which while driving)
Grubhub however has this gigantic region which can drop the driver 10 miles outside of it on a fricken island as the last delivery. My solution? Read on to support my ridiculously expensive anti-job hobby.
Cause despite all that, I still love driving, sight seeing, and figuring out how to navigate especially terrible instructions like “leave at door” in a gated community with the wrong unit number listed. (We don’t get to see the unit number until we arrive btw, and about 20% don’t answer the phone)
So here’s what I’m thinking to support my hobby if I don’t get any delivery jobs. Interviewing in 2 days btw.
Print on demand store for the sky and adventure pics I take. Linktr.ee/DeliveryKat_SnoCo. It will still take time to set up. Which I currently am having difficulty prioritizing. So dm me if you want a canvas, pillow, or blanket. I think average price is around $20-40 at cost. And creating the pod will be moved to top priority for requested item.
Want to support SnoCo Delivery Kat?
Choose a photo in this shared file and
Text 509 970 Fifty9Eighty the item you wish to purchase on Printify.
I’m looking for folks to try out the product quality before rolling it out. I can’t give away these products, but I could do some online grunt work in exchange for trying out the ordering process.
Max 5 task items for trade of one product purchase.
Cold calls, scheduling, data organization, keyword reports
75% off Product listing, image labeling and organization
50% off Google Business optimization or social media
Snohomish, WA Clouds August
Camano Island Sunset July 2025
I completed 2 deliveries and earned $30 in 1.5 hours. That's $20 an hour and I average $15/hour with Doordash. Of course we're comparing active time, not the in between orders waiting.
Today seems to be a bit better likely due to the holiday this weekend.
However, I am generally a fairly safe driver & in that hour and a half I nearly got into 2 accidents that would have been my fault.
The grubhub app, offered a new order while delivering my first order. I accepted assuming it'd be like Dordash's bundle orders, directions on the way. No such luck, I couldn't see any of the details of the new order until I finished the current one. Yet the delivery estimate if the second one was based on where I was when I accepted the order. So I gotta wonder if that's normal or if it was a glitch. I reached out to tech support to see if it was normal.
But definitely not interested in continuing to use this delivery driver app until that's sorted.
The clunkiness I can probably deal with if orders continue to avg at $20/hr. Total time. It took 20m to get to the second order and that was in the 1.5 hour total time. So money is good for my first 2 orders at least.
Interesting / frustrating thing is more orders must be delivered before cash out is possible. And you cannot deliver between 10pm and 7am in my market.
On an ADHD/Autism note. Grubhub is definitely not recommended for Spectrum & Attention deficit drivers, unless you can always prioritize driving safety and be aware of surroundings over earnings and doing well on the app.
Map directions don't always sync to car speed, so there are a lot of last second turns which at best require quick jusgement and may make you look like an ass.
Pickup and Drop off Instructions are probably accurate about 20% of the time.
And a lovely thing happens occasionally with little insect hitchhikers. Like tonight 2 spiders hitched a ride. My wits are already fried, thank you, didn't really need the racing heart on top of that. But hey I'm awake. Let's see what dashes I can pick up.
8-24-25
Now if you are employed by a pizza company, sure less opportunities, but you get paid per hour AND reimbursed for mileage. I think I still have to pay for my gas, but it comes out of that reimbursement fund which in theory should cover all vehicle related expenses.
So it is August now. Sahara pizza is hiring Drivers and Alfys is hiring drivers. I have realized I like delivery driving for the wrong reasons and that is probably how DoorDash and Grubhub perpetuate the scam. It’s a gamble. You feel like you’re coming out on top, even though you are very much not. Over everything you are paying DoorDash with your vehicle. Tips is the wrong word. It’s a service fee for doing a thing the customer does not want to do. A tip is for doing a job above the norm. But the norm isn’t even scraping hourly wages here. $3/hour after expenses.
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