No One is Picking Up My DoorDash Order - Why This Happens And What You Can Do

Last Updated on June 13, 2022June 2, 2022 5 Comments
This post may contain affiliate links.This post may contain affiliate links. Financial Panther has partnered with AwardWallet and CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Financial Panther, AwardWallet, and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on the website are from advertisers. Compensation may impact on how and where card products appear on the site. The site does not include all card companies, or all available card offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.

If you recently placed a DoorDash order and see that no one has picked it up, you might ask yourself why no one is picking up my DoorDash order? This post will explain to you exactly why that’s happening.

It can be frustrating when this happens. You’re hungry for food. You go into your DoorDash app and place an order at your favorite restaurant. And then it just sits there forever.

If this does happen to you, the truth is, it’s often your fault that your order isn’t getting picked up. However, in some instances, it can be DoorDash’s fault too. Let’s look at the reasons why no one is picking up your DoorDash order.

Why No One Is Picking Up My DoorDash Order?

There are four main reasons why your DoorDash order might not be getting picked up by anyone. These include the following:

1. You Didn’t Tip, So The Payout For Your Order Is Too Low

Many customers don’t understand that DoorDash couriers (or Dashers, as they are called), are independent contractors. That means they don’t work directly for DoorDash and they have the right to accept or reject any orders that are sent their way. If your order is paying too little, most dashers are going to reject your order.

In general, DoorDash only pays a base payment to Dashers of $2 to $4 per order. The remaining payment is the tip that the customer leaves to the dasher. That means if you don’t leave a tip, DoorDash is only going to offer $2 to $4 for a delivery. That’s too low for most Dashers to accept and it won’t be worth their time to deliver your order.

That means your order will get rejected by most Dashers and accordingly, will sit there until someone is willing to take the order or until DoorDash increases the amount they pay for the delivery.

Here’s the thing. If you’re ordering delivery, you should tip. It’s what you’re supposed to do. Your delivery person is working hard and if you can’t afford to tip, you should consider picking up your own order or not ordering food for delivery.

2. You Live Very Far Away From The Restaurant You Ordered From

This piggybacks a bit on the first reason your order isn’t getting picked up. Dashers are paid per order. If you live really far away from the restaurant, it’s possible that no Dashers are willing to pick up your order because it would take too long or takes them too far away from the main delivery areas.

Unfortunately, the only real way around this problem is to make sure your order is enticing enough to get someone to accept it. That means if you live far away from the restaurant, you need to make sure your tip is enough to get someone to accept it and travel that long distance.

3. There Aren’t Enough Dashers Available to Pick Up Your Order

In rare circ*mstances, your order might not get picked up because there aren’t enough Dashers available to deliver your order. In general, this would only happen during off-hours. If you’re ordering late-night food or ordering food early in the morning, it’s possible there just aren’t many Dashers working.

If you’re ordering during normal hours and no one is picking up your order, then it’s more likely that you simply didn’t tip enough or your order isn’t paying enough to make it worthwhile for someone to accept it.

4. The DoorDash App Is Down.

The DoorDash app is notorious for crashing (people sometimes call it DoorCrash). Even worse, sometimes, the DoorDash app will work fine, but the Dasher app won’t work. When this happens, customers can place orders but the restaurant either won’t get the order or none of the delivery drivers can get the order because the app is down.

You can often check if the DoorDash app is down by searching on Twitter. The DoorDash customer service Twitter account usually keeps people updated if the app is down (and if you search for the term DoorDash on Twitter, you’ll usually find people complaining if the app is down).

If you’ve given an appropriate tip, don’t live too far away from the restaurant, and are ordering during normal hours, then it’s likely your order isn’t getting picked up because the DoorDash app is down.

What To Do If No One Is Picking Up Your DoorDash Order

If no one picks up your order, you can contact DoorDash and they’ll cancel the order for you and give you a refund. It’s annoying when this happens, but that’s just what happens. If you do nothing and your order never gets picked up, DoorDash will usually cancel the order for you and give you a refund. In some circ*mstances, they’ll give you a credit for future orders. You can try complaining to get a DoorDash credit also – it sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t.

If you really want to get your order delivered, you can place the order again and if you didn’t tip before, give a tip this time. More likely than not, that’s why your order didn’t get picked up.

Finally, if you really need your food, you can try picking it up yourself at the restaurant. You’ll need to contact DoorDash before you do this or you can place your order again and select pickup instead of delivery.

Takeaway – If You Want Your Order To Be Picked Up, Give A Fair Tip

The general takeaway from this post is that you should give a fair tip if you want your order to get picked up. At a minimum, you should be tipping 15%. I recommend tipping 20% – which is what most people tip when they order food at restaurants.

Dashers are independent contractors and have the right to accept or reject any orders they want. When you are ordering food via the DoorDash app, you’re putting your order out there amongst hundreds of other orders. If your order isn’t appealing, no one will accept it. It’s the free market at work.

Not to mention that Dashers rely on tips for their income. It’d be nice if DoorDash paid Dashers more, but that’s not the current situation. So if you want your order to get picked up, tip accordingly.

This post may contain affiliate links. Financial Panther has partnered with AwardWallet and CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Financial Panther, AwardWallet, and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on the website are from advertisers. Compensation may impact on how and where card products appear on the site. The site does not include all card companies, or all available card offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.

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Troxus Explorer Step-Thru Ebike – The Troxus Explorer Step-Thru is a fat-tire ebike that I’ve had the pleasure of riding for a while now. It has amazing power, great looks, and awesome range. If you’re looking for a great fat-tire ebike that offers a lot for the price, the Troxus Explorer Step-Thru is definitely one for you to consider. Check out my Troxus Explorer Step-Thru Review.
Hovsco HovBeta Ebike – The HovBeta is a folding ebike with great specs and a lot of interesting features, and importantly, it’s sold at a good price point. I’ve had a blast commuting with it and using it to do deliveries with DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub. Check out my Hovsco HovBeta Ebike Review.
Vanpowers Manidae Ebike – The Vanpowers Manidae is a fat tire ebike that I’ve been riding as my primary winter commuting bike and have also been using it to do food delivery with apps like DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub. After clocking in a decent number of miles with this ebike, I wanted to write a post sharing what my experience with the Vanpowers Manidae ebike has been like. Check out my Vanpowers Manidae Review.
Sohamo S3 Step-Thru Folding EBike Review – A Great Value Folding Ebike – The Sohamo S3 Step-Thru Folding Ebike is an entry-level folding ebike that offers a lot of value for the price point. I’ve been riding the Sohamo S3 for a while now, putting the bike through its paces, and I have to say, this bike has exceeded all of my expectations. Check out my Sohamo Review.
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Varla Eagle One Scooter – The Varla Eagle One is an excellent scooter that can make sense for a lot of people. It can work as a primary mode of transportation. You can use it to work on gig economy apps like DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub. And it can also be a recreational vehicle if you’d prefer to use it for that. Check out my Varla Eagle One Review.
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Kevin is an attorney and the blogger behind Financial Panther, a blog about personal finance, travel hacking, and side hustling using the gig economy. He paid off $87,000 worth of student loans in just 2.5 years by choosing not to live like a big shot lawyer.

Kevin is passionate about earning money using the gig economy and you can see all the ways he makes extra income every month in his side hustle reports.

Kevin is also big on using the latest fintech apps to improve his finances. Some of Kevin's favorite fintech apps include:

SoFi Money. A really good checking account with absolutely no fees. You'll get a $25 referral bonus if you open a SoFi Money account with a referral link, and an additional $300 if you complete a direct deposit.
5% Savings Accounts. I'm currently getting 5.32% interest on my savings through a company called Raisin. Opening a Raisin account takes minutes to complete, it's free, and all of your funds are FDIC-insured. I explain how it works, why I'm now using it to store my emergency fund and any other cash savings I have, and why I recommend everyone check it out in this review.
US Bank Business. US Bank is currently offering new business customers a $800 signup bonus after opening a new account and meeting certain requirements.
M1 Finance. This is a great robo-advisor that has no fees and allows you to create a customized portfolio based on your risk tolerance. You also get $250 for opening an account.
Empower. One of best free apps you can use to monitor your portfolio and track your net worth. This is one of the apps I use to track my financial accounts.

Feel free to send Kevin a message here.

No One is Picking Up My DoorDash Order - Why This Happens And What You Can Do - Financial Panther (2024)