There are lots of reasons why DoorDash is so popular among drivers. Supported by millions of customers, the company keeps expanding its services to include more opportunities for earning. Since 2020, DoorDash has been delivering groceries, giving Dashers the chance to earn at all times of the day.
Now there’s DoorDash Shop & Deliver, offering drivers the option to deliver food, groceries, and goods from all kinds of stores. You might get called to Kroger’s or Fry’s, or Best Buy. The ever-increasing number of stores that use DoorDash certainly expands the number of things you can deliver, and creates demand at times that have nothing to do with lunch or dinner.
This obviously broadens the horizons of the average Dasher, but it also adds some confusion to the gig. How would you know when the best times to drive for DoorDash might be? Here we will answer that question, and inform you about a tool you can always rely on.
Here's what we cover:
When to Dash or not Dash? Opinions and ideas
Most opinions you hear, especially ones that don’t come directly from drivers, will center around the commonsense notion of “lunch and dinner.” Those certainly are times you might see a lot of DoorDash orders, but they aren’t the only ones.
Your fellow Dashers will tell you there are various lucrative time slots that occur almost daily, as well as seasonal time windows, that are rather fruitful. These might include “pre-gaming” times, surrounding actual sporting events, also those hours before people head out for bar crawls, brewery bashes, and concerts. Late nights, especially on weekends and at exam time, will produce calls from hungry college students; and for the younger set, after-school play dates could generate some nice orders.
Why it’s hard to predict the best times to drive for DoorDash
Most people think that being a Dasher is pretty straightforward. Focusing on the times when people are likely to be hungry should work—or so it would seem. As things turn out, it isn’t that simple at all. Here are some reasons why you might want to use more than your general sense of what might happen in order to figure out your best times to drive for DoorDash.
- Lunch and dinner hours don’t always coincide from one city to another. Time ranges for dinner in large-scale urban areas tend to be later, and lunch hours can range anywhere from 11 am to 3 pm. Suburban eating hours tend to fall within smaller time windows.
- You have to compete with other drivers for peak times. If you schedule blocks for DoorDash, you’ll find that it’s harder to secure the ones that you’d think would be most lucrative, because other drivers will want them as well.
- You might not be able to fit in your Dashing around the busiest (and available) time slots. If you have another job and/or family responsibilities, it won’t always be possible to make yourself available and/or schedule your shifts at those peak times.
- DoorDash delivers more than just prepared food. The prospect of delivering groceries and other items from all sorts of stores opens additional time windows when DoorDash can make you more money.
With all these factors to consider, wouldn’t it be convenient to have access to data that tells you what other drivers are doing, right there in the area where you drive? You’re in luck.
Nail down the best times with When to Drive from Gridwise
Sound, objective advice is impossible to come by when your research is restricted to subjective opinion. That’s why (Gridwise created When to Drive). Use actual data from DoorDash drivers just like you to determine the most profitable time slots in your area. This insightful feature will provide a full picture of the possibilities, so you can arrive at your shift-scheduling decisions in a flash. Here’s how it works:
- (Download the Gridwise app!)
- Sign in, tap “Insights,” and then scroll to “When to Drive.” You’ll find a graph that shows you the big earning days for the current week in your area. Tap on the graph for more details.
- Toggle the lower left-hand button to display “Food” or “Grocery.”
From there, you can explore Earnings Per Hour, Trips Per Hour, and Earnings Per Trip, plus check out volumes for Morning, Afternoon, Evening, and Nighttime hours.
4. Back to the “Insights” screen, tap on “Compare Services” to see how much money drivers are making with all rideshare and delivery services. This will help you to see how well DoorDash does in your area and decide if you want to try another service at times when DoorDash is less active.
Make sure you notice the insights about trends in earnings for apps that have experienced significant changes. This gives you perspective on which services are on upward or downward swings.
When to Drive isn’t the only service Gridwise gives you. Capitalize on driver deals and discounts, including low-cost care and insurance, plus tools every driver needs:
- airport information
- weather and traffic alerts
- event start and let out times
- earnings and expense management
- and so much more!
Try Gridwise and let When to Drive take the guesswork out of your DoorDash delivery gig!
Ready to take your gig work to the next level?
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