DoorDash driver shares tips to making the most money on the platform

A DoorDash delivery driver has shared his viral tips on how to make the most money on the platform by declining 75 percent of orders and waiting in wealthy areas. 

Jay – who did not want to share his last name – from Philadelphia, told Business Insider: ‘I’m not doing this to gamble. I’m doing this to make money.’

He works ten hours a week delivering food for DoorDash and UberEats as a ‘weekend side hustle’ and has racked up 150,000 followers sharing clips of his days on TikTok. 

Over the past five years Jay says he has finessed his approach and advises fellow drivers to only accept rides with high tips and to wait in rich areas to get the best-paying jobs. 

On average he said he earns $20 to $25 an hour in the summer and $45 an hour in the winter when there is less competition.

Jay started delivering in 2019 to earn extra money while he was in school. 

During the pandemic he was forced to move home to Philadelphia and started working 40 hours a week on UberEats and DoorDash. 

The pandemic was a ‘gravy train, he told Insider: ‘On $250 to $300 grocery orders, people were tipping $100, because they were just so petrified to step foot in the grocery store and they were so thankful that someone else was willing to do it.’

Since then he has reduced his hours but kept delivering, developing a strategy to maximize profits in a short time. 

His primary piece of advice to other riders is to only accept orders with the highest upfront tip. 

This means he declines roughly 75 percent of rides where customers either don’t add a tip or only offer a low one when they place an order. 

He said: ‘I’m not really interested in playing the game of, ‘Oh, maybe I’ll do this person’s delivery for a guaranteed $2.50. Maybe it might be more.’ 

‘I don’t play that game. And most people don’t like to play that game. That’s what results and their order’s not getting picked up, or it takes a while for them to get their food.’ 

To get the rides with the highest tips, Jay said he waits in wealthy areas. 

He said: ‘I’ll sit in Rittenhouse Square in the park, and I’ll get an order that’s from a fancy Italian restaurant.

‘It’s a two-block delivery, and it ends up paying me $20 because this person doesn’t want to walk two blocks in the winter cold.

‘I know what parts of the city have the better tips and which ones don’t. That typically does have to do with the income of the area.’

Pay and tips are typically higher during the winter too, he said, when there is less competition for work and customers are more appreciative of you braving the elements. 

If done right, he told Insider, it can be lucrative: ‘Doing this food delivery thing, I just kind of think of it as a game. It’s like a treasure hunt, if you would, and I get joy out of it.’