DoorDash is one of the U.S.’s most lucrative food delivery apps for riders. Riding around for order deliveries that pay $20-$25 means you can easily earn your first $500 within the week. You’ll still be luckier than most because you’ll need to work just 5-6 hours for four days and enjoy a 3-day weekend if $500 is all you need for the week. Let’s explore the myriad ways you can make $500 a week with DoorDash.
How to Make $500 a Week With DoorDash
DoorDash often doesn’t directly place orders with the restaurants. The assigned rider needs to go and place the order physically. There are workarounds for riders to avoid a situation where they’re investing too much time and the IRS standard mileage rate is also not being recovered. Using the DoorDash app to your maximum advantage is a conscious call to stay focused on profits and top delivery experience. Before getting into the delivery trade, you should know a few things.
Accept Batched Orders
Dashers often receive multiple orders as clubbed or one after the other, but the premise remains of clubbing the orders. This is a case of batched orders. Orders are typically batched during heavy demand hours to enhance delivery efficiency and increase the rider’s cut from the clubbed order. Riders can accept batched orders by simply accepting the request on the screen or adding another order to their existing trip.
You need to be smart while working with DoorDash because the app needs you to be so. It is out there paying money; you need to figure out how to ask. Batched orders can save a lot of time and effort for riders on one hand. On the other hand, since the delivery time is also curtailed, the customers may tip the riders. Batch orders are an absolute go for Dashers.
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Prioritize Weekends
A considerable part of working hard sometimes but smart all the time is that you can rest the entire week or dedicate time to the hustle you’re trying to sustain through DoorDash and still earn $500 over the weekend. It’s all a game of timing. If you’re available during peak hours, get paid at peak rates. The rates will only be applicable when there is a surge in demand and a shortage of riders.
Think Like an Entrepreneur
If you have been using DoorDash for some time and are impressed enough with your part-time earnings that you can consider being a full-time Dasher, then you must approach it as your business. If you’re building a career around something, you must know everything about the industry and how it aligns with your lifestyle.
If you act like an individual contractor and treat your deliveries as your permanent clients, you can develop a rapport that can help you increase your perks. You also must optimize your time by all lawful means to get a high average hour rate.
Take Advantage of Any Bonuses, Peak Pay, or Guaranteed Earnings Incentives
Dashers must take advantage of the fantastic bonuses and other perks that are occasionally offered on the app. These essential tricks help riders earn their maximum potential as Dashers.
Peak pay is paid over and above the introductory rate per mile, which is dynamic and dependent upon the demand. DoorDash informs Dashers about the latest bonuses and incentive schemes through email or text.
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Use Multiple Apps
Commonly known as multi-apping, using multiple apps for performing gigs such as grocery or food delivery is an established practice for most Dashers. However, sometimes the trip isn’t worth it, or the rider gets a better-paying gig on some other app, such as Uber Eats.
Using multiple apps can give you the autonomy to expand your earning potential. While it seems like the perfect way to make quick money, multi-apping must be done carefully because if you try to fulfill multiple orders simultaneously, it can affect your reputation across apps.
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Look for Guaranteed Earnings Incentives
Guaranteed earrings are another thoughtful incentive to help you innovatively cover your $500. So, the incentive might be that if you take a minimum of 50 trips in a week, you’ll get $500, irrespective of your actual earnings.
If you made over $500, then all is well and good. However, if you are even a dollar short of the limit and get paid for your commitment, that’s not a bad deal. You need to be in the right zones for the right duration to earn something out of it.
Hang Around in Busy Areas
You can get orders assigned to you while you’re at your home. But this would be a massive waste of opportunity if you intend to get paid through DoorDash. The incentive schemes discussed above prove that being available at the right zipcode during peak hours is essential to your earnings reaching the extent that you initially imagined.
The posh areas around popular restaurants are usually the go-to areas for any Dasher looking at an eventful couple of hours. The best hack for good earnings is just to be there. It’s not rocket science; you need to be consistent.
Deliver on Your Way Home
Clubbing the last delivery of the day with their home route can be one of the most effective ideas in a Doordarsher’s life. Even if you’re not working as a Doordarsher full-time or part-time but just have a long way to go home from work every day, taking up a few deliveries will keep you from getting bored.
You could opt to do just one delivery daily on your way home. This can cover your conveyance expenses. If someone is particular about being punctual, then a morning delivery might also be in order.
Always Deliver Excellent Customer Service
Excellent customer service is essential if you want to sustain your status as a Dasher. Good customer reviews and the number of successful deliveries show customers how good and reliable you are. If you cannot be sure whether an order is worth the trip, it’s best not to accept it. You can only deliver exceptional service if you enjoy your job and are not doing it just for the sake of doing something.
You can display your distinct customer experience skills by calling your customers to get anything else on the way. If they have a genuine reason for not being able to show up, you can also take it to them up a flight of stairs.
Fit Deliveries in Whenever You Can
Like clubbing deliveries with returning home, there are other ways to organically squeeze in more deliveries daily. If you’re having a cash crunch, the constant thought every time you step out is to think of the amount you can spend in a day. But if you align all your trips in a way that helps you get paid each time you step out, then being a Dasher could be the best decision. The more you need to go around without work, the more you can earn.
Track Your Income
It’s essential to always keep track of your finances. How much do you earn, at what frequency, and what are the matching expenses? Aligning the timing of expenses with your income is the trickiest part of the deal, so you need to get at least one month ahead of your expenses in terms of income. You also must start creating a safety fund in case of a loss of a job for any reason.
Once you start tracking your finances, you get into the habit of doing something meaningful about it. You can put your income to various uses if you plan it smartly. You can even grow your income with a little more effort. The first step is still to start tracking your income.
Work During Peak Hours
If you’re in a cash crunch and hope to make some quick bucks with DoorDash, you need to utilize the weekends in the best possible ways. You can choose to deliver orders on weekends. Bulk orders and bundles are paid for at peak rates.
If you can handle a few rush hours, then you were meant to be Dashing. In a literal sense, you have worked smarter than most unemployed people in the U.S.
Be Strategic With The Orders You Accept
You cannot blindly accept all orders on the DoorDash app. The bigger the order and the closer, the better for all the parties involved. So, avoid low-paying orders and utilize this time to take a break instead. You can look for other apps too if there aren’t many sizable orders around on some day. The only person who deserves your loyalty is yourself. If you can do that, you’ll know how to be strategic with your orders.
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Conclusion
There’s a lot of scope for apps like DoorDash and the people looking for such gigs. The simplicity of the app is what most catches the interest of an individual looking for work. Now that you know how to make $500 a week with DoorDash, you just need to sign up and be available, and you become a celebrated part of the fleet. DoorDash enables a society where people pool in tasks to align their time schedules better. It’s an age-old practice being revived through a smart app.
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