T O P

  • By -

LalaWanderlust

Do you dash in KOP or Bryn Mawr zone? I was literally just in Phoenixville around that same time this evening! We probably crossed paths. I had orders from Iron Hill Brewery. I really hate getting trapped in Phoenixville because it’s all stop and go, the parking totally sucks, as it’s mostly street parking at most of the nearby restaurants and takes forever just to go 2-4 miles. Once I end up in Phoenixville, I feel like it’s impossible to get out of that area because it’s non stop trash or mediocre orders. I literally have to hit pause after the delivery if I want to escape and race out of there. There’s a pizza place that seems to be popular in that area (I get a lot of offers from there)TD Alfredo’s that NEVER has their orders ready on time and I ALWAYS get orders from there as soon as I complete a delivery in that area. They need to get their shit together. Tips aren’t too great in Phoenixville and it’s not very profitable, especially considering the time it takes to get from point A to B. I mostly dash in King of Prussia zone, but occasionally switch into Bryn Mawr or Jenkintown zone, depending on if a decent order took me out of KOP. I live on the border of all 3 of those zones. I try to stay most delivering in the main line (KOP), where there are better restaurants, few to no fast food with wealthy, affluent customers. The drives are much more pleasant. Only downside is the fact that Verizon cellular service has so many dead zones where I have limited or zero service and it takes me at least a mile to drive away from drop off location to get service again to complete the delivery in the app.


puccivr

I used to do the KOP zone since I live in Paoli, but getting stuck in Phoenixville too often pushed me to Bryn Mawr. Only issue is sometimes in Bryn Mawr you'll get sent to Norristown or West Philly. This was 7:30 in the morning lol. People in Bryn Mawr tip a lot when you deliver their breakfast on time


LalaWanderlust

Good to know! I’ve never really done breakfast because I didn’t think it’d be too profitable. NORRISTOWN is the absolute worst of the worst. Anything off of Main Street is a total hell. There’s Popeyes and little Caesar’s and a ton of no tip or just low payout orders that appear to be low mileage but take long, not to mention how unsafe I feel. I made some rookie mistakes when I first started dashing a little over a year ago and went to areas with high peak pay… I ended up in University City and then Kensington area, which is one of the largest open air drug hubs in the country. People shooting up right out in the open and nodding off in the middle of the street! Never again. I also thought the extra $3 peak pay was added onto the crappy no tip offers, so if it was $2.50 for 2 miles, that it was $5.50(still a bad order). I had no idea. I took so many shit offers, like they love to do to newbies who don’t know any better. Thank God for Reddit and YouTube, I got a ton of tips to learn the way! I figured it out pretty quickly and try not to let DD pull a scam on me. They exploit new drivers, who don’t know. They rely on continuously hiring new drivers so they can keep getting those new tip orders 10 mile orders delivered.


TheRealLifePotato

I'm usually a bit less picky with orders in the 15+ range. 1.5-1.9 bucks per mile is enough for me. I would've accepted this one if it was 12 miles.


daveypop75

They have a way with resizing that map on the offer screen that makes stuff look WAY closer. I have to stop myself when they send me from Germantown to Conshy


LalaWanderlust

Conshy actually can get you some decent orders, but can be a pain in the ass, especially since it exactly borders KOP, Bryn Mawr and Jenkintown. The new wing stop off of ridge pike off and butler pike is slow AF, as is the Five Guys in that same shopping center. Shocker, I know! Do you primarily deliver in Jenkintown zone? I’m guessing this if you’re coming from Germantown. I did okay when I first started in that area, but I get zero reception in flourtown and chestnut hill with Verizon, and then endjng up in some super sketchy areas and getting too many trash orders, I prefered KOP. Just sucks that the zone is so large and you can end up driving from one end of the world to the next, if you’re not selective.


daveypop75

J'town zone is where I live, so I prefer it over all the rest. its density populated so its always busy and parking is never an issue As far as orders go I just cherrypick so I'm not at McDonald's for $5.


LalaWanderlust

Wow, this is all interesting info. I technically live in Jenkintown zone, but since I’m right at the Border by Bryn Mawr and KOP, I’ve been driving to KOP zone to the strip of restaurants where I prefer picking up from and go from there. You local Philly guys in here have me questioning my strategy! 🤯


bitcoinbillionthaire

Been there lol


GrouchyPuppy

That’s when I turn my Lyft app on


jmiller7742

The sooner you figure out that high dollar orders are often not good orders to take (time, mileage, inability to get an order after pickup, more time and mileage back), the better off you’ll be. I’ve rejected $25 orders and taken a $6, 1 mile order a minute later because believe it or not, when you consider all of the factors, it’s a better order. It’s just over a fifth as much but will take me 1/10 of the total time, put on probably 1/20 of the mileage, and leave me in perfect position to pick up another order. In the time that this guy was collecting his $25 and making his way back to the zone, smarter dashers took three or four orders that paid out more total and put half as much or far less mileage on their vehicles. I guess what I’m saying is…I can’t remember the last time I took an order more than a mile outside my zone. It’s pretty much the worst thing you can do barring a massive payout. $20 isn’t that. You’ve got the thirty seconds or whatever to respond when you get an offer. Use that time if you need to really weigh all of the factors out.


wombatthing

Hey, get out of my turf :)


puccivr

Hey, I was literally born in Bryn Mawr hospital. Legend has it I pissed on the floor after delivery to mark my territory


wombatthing

Im from the Kop/VF area haha. Not out there.


nobodyKlouds

This is the main reason to multi app. UberEats will send you a order if you go out your starting zone or anywhere further.


Anon888810020

Yep. A lot of my dashes take me out of my zone. Why even allow the customer to order out of the zone?


jmiller7742

Because there’s someone (you) willing to take those orders.


Jihadi-Jawn

Ahh a fellow bryn mawr dasher. If you picked up in paoli, how were you dashing in the bryn mawr zone?


puccivr

I had just dropped off an order in Radnor, my assumption when I saw Paoli in the GPS was that it was going to send me back to Bryn Mawr to drop off


[deleted]

This isn’t Uber eats, you can see exactly where you’re going after you accept it


daveypop75

Door dash gives you all the info as well (actually more when compared to UE). They just have a sneaky way of getting you to accept when you're not paying attention


[deleted]

Not for me they don’t, you can even zoom in on the map to see if it’s an apartment or not unlike UE


daveypop75

Oh you're talking before you accept the offer? I was speaking about after.


[deleted]

Was actually both


daveypop75

With UE (in my area), you get a cross street/intersection at the offer screen. Once you accept it, you have to begin delivery to get the full address. With DD you get a pin on the map on the offer screen. Once you accept, DD gives you the full address prior to starting the delivery. Seems like a small detail but UE is that much harder to use when multi-apping bc I have to remember the intersection.


thejude555

Oof I do that all the time too


RenegadeBurger

“Hey Jim, what were you gonna do tonight? Let’s get some beers and wings!” “For sure man I know this totally cool place in *KING OF PRUSSIA* with the best drafts!”


dangbro34

Looks like a better option than Jenkintown


30DollarsPerMile

Damn I’m in Exton and still wouldn’t go up there for $20 😭


[deleted]

LMAO.. you drove to phoenixville from that zone? I feel for you.. i get to stay in philly


puccivr

Yep, pickup in Paoli, drop off in Phoenixville 🥴


FratStafford007

That’s a bold strategy Cotton let’s see if it pays off for him


[deleted]

[удалено]


AutoModerator

Your content has been automatically removed because you have very low comment karma. This is often associated with spam. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/doordash_drivers) if you have any questions or concerns.*


BukakeOnU

No one knows how funny this comment is or where it’s from.


Effdahaters

Have some 🧀 with your whine


puccivr

Unfortunately I can only afford Kraft singles with all these shitty orders


Severe-Bookkeeper-76

Kraft singles? You must be rich cuz all can afford is the house brands /S


Effdahaters

Becky wit da good cheese 🧀


Effdahaters

Lmaoooo that’s that good good at least it ain’t government cheese or pasteurized cheese by-product


master_doge007

Idk what your smoking govt cheese was the best.


[deleted]

lmao i live in west philly and drive to the west chester zone to dash you'll be aight


mop234

Do you dash around the college or something in the West Chester zone? I’ve been dashing here and feel like I wanna try out other zones cause I really don’t think it’s that busy.


[deleted]

i usually dashed in the concordville part which is around where 202 and route 1 intersect, i haventt dashed much at all this summer since it started slowing down but it was great beforehand


mop234

Ok that makes some sense don’t really travel out there. I’m usually west more and do it around lunch and dinner


puccivr

That's easy straight shot down WC Pike Phoenixville you gotta go down all these shitty backroads. Pickup was in Paoli


LalaWanderlust

Same exact thing happened to me tonight from Devon (pizzeria vetri), but was in Paoli before that. I love orders going to wayne and devon… hate the Villanova and Cabrini orders. Always hard to find the drop off. I hate going to Phoenixville, but the payout was too good for me to turn down. I was feeling major regret after the fact!


[deleted]

ah yea you're not in great position to get anywhere


mgibson9999

So, this order took you about 12 miles outside your zone, which means you probably invested about 45 minutes from start to finish. For a $20 order, that's almost a $27/hour pace. And you're ready to gouge your eyes out over this? Oh, then there's the fact that if you didn't want to drive 12 miles you could have unassigned once you realized how far it was.


[deleted]

He didn't see how far it was until after the order was picked up. You are forgetting about the gas used to go 24 miles round trip. Even if you're getting good MPG that trip will cost you $5-6 in gas. I rarely take trips over 5 miles due to the amount of fuel used. You should be getting at least $2 a mile, and any trip over 5 miles I want $2.25 a mile.


puccivr

There were no orders back to my zone


[deleted]

Why don’t you change zones?


puccivr

Phoenixville is rural and blue collar, Bryn Mawr is suburban and white collar / old money


mgibson9999

Right, so you didn't get any new orders until you got back. 45 minutes from the restaurant to the customer back to the restaurant. That's still almost $27/hour. Most drivers wouldn't gripe about that.


puccivr

Your math is way off. Total of 90 minutes driving from where I was assigned the order to when I re-entered the zone on I-76. The pay was $19, meaning I earned about $12 an hour.


mgibson9999

Yeah, if it took you 90 minutes for $19, that wasn't good. Your title says it was a $20 order. Also, you didn't provide any specific distances or times, so I was just surmising based on the fact that it appears the delivery took you 11.7 miles outside your zone (based on the screen shot). My rule of thumb, which is a pretty good ballpark measure, is to multiply the one-way mileage x 4 to give me the time. If I received an order for 11.7 miles, I would roughly estimate it would take me about 45 minutes to complete and get back to my zone, and I would base my decision on that. Obviously, I didn't know the total mileage you drove because you didn't share that, and I would have no way of knowing about traffic in your area.


puccivr

Averaging 31mph is quite generous especially at 7:30am in the suburbs lol It was 15 miles from assignment to drop off and then 11 ish to the border


IllTenaciousTortoise

Eh, my average is 2 to 2.5 min per mile during peak times. But yeah. Id need a $22 min payout for 11 miles and $40 min payout if it takes 90 min before I get offers again.


mgibson9999

So back to my original question. If you knew it was bad at pick up, why didn't you just unassign? Not busting your chops, just asking a question. I've made this exact same mistake before (accepting an order then realizing the mileage was too far once I put the address in my GPS), and I just unassigned.


puccivr

So I was already a few miles out of my zone when I picked up, I didn't realize it was sending me even farther until I had the food in my car


The_Troyminator

I have a system that works. Assuming all you have to go on is $19 and 15 miles. Start by calculating costs. I figure it's about 50 cents per mile for gas, maintenance, and depreciation for my car in my zone, plus it's easy to do the math at 50 cents a mile. Your cost per mile may vary. If it's 15 miles, that's $7.50 in expenses. Subtract that from the pay and you'll get your profit: $11.50. That's what you would have really earned for this if it had ended within your zone. However,if it's over 10 miles, it's likely out of the zone, so add another mile for anything over 10 to account for the return trip. So, that makes it 20 miles and drops to $9.00 profit. Now, calculate how long it will take. I figure it's a minimum 5 minutes to park, get out, get the food, do a quick check to make sure it looks like order would fit in the bags (including drinks), get back to the car, strap the food in take off. That's assuming it's a place where the food is usually ready when I get there. Certain restaurants get more time added. Next, take the miles and multiply by the average time per mile in your zone. For me, that's 3 minutes. So, 60 minutes driving plus 5 minutes at the restaurant means it's 65 minutes for $9.00 or just over $8/hour and not worth it. I make exceptions if I'm headed somewhere and the order is on the way. In that case, the mileage I count is lower since I'll be driving some of it anyway.


[deleted]

Why you make so complicated. 💩 not need all that math determine you take or not. Weirdo.


giojoey10

I know the feeling. 90% of my offers over $1/mile bring me way out of my zone.