DoorDash will offer its drivers guaranteed hourly pay on top of tips, providing its delivery workers another way to earn money, as part of a series of changes to its platform.
The delivery app’s main competitor, Uber Eats, already pays its workers for every pickup and delivery that is successfully completed, along with a per-mile pay rate. In some U.S. cities, Uber Eats deliverymen can also receive a per-minute rate.
The “earn by time” option will offer hourly minimum pay for the time spent on making deliveries, to provide better incentives to its workers to do smaller deliveries they would have skipped or found to be undesirable.
DoorDash Improves Pay Options
The guaranteed hourly rate is offered to delivery workers when they accept an order, starting a timer that stops when a package is dropped off.
The hourly rate will differ depending on the market and will be prorated, Cody Aughney, DoorDash’s head of dasher and logistics business teams, told Engadget.DoorDash will also release a location-sharing feature that lets delivery workers share their real-time location with up to five contacts.
This will enhance safety measures for couriers as they go on their delivery routes, so friends and family members can track their location and call for emergency assistance if required.
Another new feature is called “Dash Along the Way,” which allows delivery workers to pick an order on the way to deliver to “maximize their earnings potential.”
The company also provided a new tipping option that lets customers add a tip, or boost the one they’ve already given after checkout, 30 days after delivery.
This should hopefully remind shoppers to properly tip their couriers.
Aughney told Yahoo Finance that this new program is intended to provide consistent pay for delivery workers.However, the delivery app’s existing “earn per offer” plan, which pays delivery workers depending on the estimated duration, distance and “desirability” of the order, along with tips and potentially promotional payments, will still remain in place.
Feds, Local Governments Push For Better Treatment For Couriers
New York City, for example, is boosting its minimum wage for app-based restaurant delivery workers next month.
That is roughly $0.30 per minute, not including tips.
For apps that only pay for the period for when a courier picks up and drops off a delivery, the employee must earn at least approximately $0.50 per minute of trip time, not including tips.
A DoorDash spokesperson said the new pay option was not created in response to “specific policies in specific cities or states” and will not be available in NYC, or in “any market with earning standard legislations.”
Users Will Also See New Options On Their Apps
Meanwhile, users will get new updates on their app, like a new search option that lets you look for items across restaurants, grocery stores, and retail locations.
A new Browse tab will let customers review categories of food, drinks, pet supplies, beauty products, and other products in order to browse before making a purchase.
DoorDash will also provide a multiple cart option, which can be filled with different products.
Users will now be allowed to save their progress each time while shopping, which could come in handy when planning to make future orders during the week.
The app delivery service will now accept SNAP/EBT online payments at more than 4,000 grocery locations nationwide and supported stores, including Aldi, Safeway, Meijer, and 7-Eleven.“Regardless of one’s perception of work, its purpose is to help people achieve certain financial goals and live fulfilling lives,” the company added.
“Dashing seems to help millions of people with this. We hope pundits and policymakers looking to shape future policies around work consider what Dashers say and do, the value of choice, and the goal of supporting individuals and families in achieving their goals,” they said.
All of the changes will be rolled out throughout the United States by the end of 2023, said DoorDash executives.