DoorDash: customers, ranked
/Last week I wrote about some of the things you need to keep in mind when deciding which restaurants you choose to deliver from: packaging, convenience, and speed being the most important to maximum your earnings while you’re working for DoorDash. Of course, picking up orders is only half the delivery process, and the half you have the most control over.
Deciding where and to whom you should deliver is just as important.
So in this post, I’ll rank the least to most annoying customer affectations, which will hopefully ultimately help you be a less annoying customer and get your orders delivered in a fresher and more timely manner!
Actually mobility-impaired people
It seems like every 3 or 4 months we go through a repetitive cycle of discourse, starting with a customer complaining about their delivery worker’s incompetence, followed up with a snarky response from a worker that “the customer should get their own food,” and concluding with someone with a mobility issue arguing that “a lot of people depend on delivery” because they have trouble getting to the shops and that restaurant delivery is a treat that allows them to live more like people without mobility issues.
This discourse is extremely destructive, for the primary reason that people who actually rely on delivery services are the best at navigating the requirements of the various app-based delivery services. You’ll usually see detailed instructions:
use this entry code, apartment number, or apartment ID to enter my building or be buzzed in;
bring it up to my floor;
leave it outside my apartment door or hand it directly to me.
That may sound like “micromanagement,” but from the delivery worker’s perspective it’s a godsend, because the instructions can be completed rapidly and completely without spending minutes trying to get in touch with the customer in order to figure out what they actually want you to do with the order.
Office workers who can’t leave their desks
Another group of customers I don’t mind delivering for is office and especially reception workers, most of whom are tied to their desks and don’t want to waste their lunch break running out during the rush, waiting in line, and then stuffing their faces before their break ends. They’re usually able to buzz you into buildings themselves, or their coworkers at reception know their names and are happy to take their orders the “last 20 feet” to their office or cubicle. I’ve delivered to realty offices, gyms, spas, and similar situations where customers are incredibly grateful to be able to get their food delivered as quickly and as fresh as possible.
People working from home in concierge buildings
Now we’re edging into the more annoying territory. With a lot of customers working from home, they’re ordering their meals delivered, but have no idea how their own building’s delivery system works. Countless times I’ve had to call a customer and they’ve asked, “oh is there nobody at the desk?” What “desk?” What are you talking about?
Which leads me to…
People who don’t know how entry to their own building works
These are the people who will waste the most amount of your time. People who never bothered to set up their entry phone number, who don’t know the code to their own apartment, and who have no idea how to let you in. Most residential access systems are configured by surname, and most DoorDash orders don’t include the user’s surname, so there’s literally no mechanism you can use to call their apartment to be buzzed in.
This will waste a lot of time, but it pales in comparison to the annoyance of…
People who forgot they ordered delivery
If I ever ordered delivery through a service like DoorDash, it would be literally the only thing I could think about until I had the food in hand. But you would not believe the number of times I’ve had to call a customer in the middle of the day and tell them, “hi, I’m downstairs with your salad,” and the person has said, “oh shoot right, sorry I’m on a call right now, but I’ll be down as soon as I’m free.”
Don’t do that. If you order delivery, your and my only priority until you are plating your salad in your kitchen is getting the salad to you. If you are in a meeting and need me to wait downstairs, I will leave your salad outside your door in the rain, and you are going to have a soggy salad.
If you value my time, I’ll value your lack of interest in leaving your luxury apartment. If you want me to wait 10 minutes downstairs, you’ll end up with a soggy salad.
I don’t make the rules, but I sure as hell enforce them.
