What is the best time to DoorDash? Understanding the best time to DoorDash is one of the most important things to figure out if you want to maximize your delivery earnings. I’ve been delivering with DoorDash for over 5 years and regularly earn $30 or more per hour when I’m working. I’m able to maximize my earnings by strategically working during the best hours.
So what is the best time to DoorDash? The answer is fairly straightforward. In general, you want to focus on doing DoorDash during peak hours, specifically during the lunch and dinner hours (which is when the most people are placing orders on DoorDash). However, like with anything, there’s always some nuance you need to consider.Â
In this post, we’ll look at the best time to DoorDash and how those times might change depending on what day you’re working. Hopefully, the information and tactics in this post can help you maximize your DoorDash delivery earnings.
The Best Time To DoorDash
As with any food delivery or gig economy app, you can only make money when you’re working. Unlike a regular hourly job where it might be advantageous to have nothing to do, with DoorDash, you always want to be busy because if you’re sitting around doing nothing, you’re also not making any money. As a result, it’s important to work at the correct times, when the most orders will be coming in.Â
As you can probably expect, the busiest times for DoorDash typically coincide with when people eat – specifically during lunch and dinner hours. That means, in general, you want to aim to work during the lunch and dinner rushes, typically from 11 am to 2 pm and from 5 pm to 8 pm. With my schedule, I typically aim to work during the lunch hour, since that’s when I’m usually free. Most days, I do very well working over lunch.Â
While lunch and dinner are when most people should work, it can sometimes make sense to look at other times too. However, this will mainly depend on your schedule and where you live. Not all of us have schedules that let us work at the very best times, so if your only option is to work during non-peak hours, you have to work with what you have.
In my experience, working early in the morning (during breakfast hours) usually isn’t worthwhile. I’ve rarely had busy mornings delivering for DoorDash and think that most people should avoid working before lunch.Â
For some people, working during the late night hours could be worthwhile. However, I also tend to avoid working late at night since most restaurants are closed and the only restaurants open are usually fast food restaurants that make you go through the drive-through line.Â
In sum, the best time to work on DoorDash will usually be during the lunch and dinner hours. For most people, the dinner rush will probably be busier, but depending on where you live, the lunch rush can be the more lucrative one.
The Best Days To DoorDashÂ
In addition to the hours that you work, picking the right days to work matters too. There are some days that will be busier than others and the best time and places to work may differ depending on what day it is.Â
In general, this is what I’ve noticed when it comes to the best days to DoorDash:
- During weekdays, the lunch and dinner rush is usually the best time to work. During the lunch rush, I recommend sticking to busy urban areas, primarily in downtown areas with offices. During the dinner rush, busy residential areas will usually be the busiest (think hip, young professional neighborhoods or college campuses).Â
- On weekends, I find that demand is generally steady throughout the day, although the dinner hours will usually be the busiest.
- For late-night delivery, I recommend working on weekends, primarily on Friday and Saturday nights. These are usually the days when people are up late and still ordering food.
- In my experience, Mondays and Tuesdays are typically the slowest days of the week for DoorDash. It’s not clear why this is, but I think it’s that people are starting the work week and aren’t “treating” themselves to delivery the way they do towards the end of the week.
- Big events where people are at home watching TV are typically good for DoorDash drivers. You’ll usually find things are busier during large sporting events, awards shows, or similar types of events where people are in front of the TV and ordering food with a group of people.
- Most holidays tend to be slow. The major holidays especially will always be slow (Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc). Summer holidays such as Memorial Day, Fourth of July, and Labor Day also tend to be slow (people are either on vacation or are grilling food at home, rather than ordering delivery).
In short, the time and the day that you work matter. Stick to working during lunch and dinner hours and consider what day it is to determine whether you’re working at the best possible time.
Final ThoughtsÂ
When you work is important. DoorDash isn’t a normal job – you need to think like a business and be strategic about when you work. Simply turning on the app and working like it’s a regular job isn’t going to be the best way to earn money with DoorDash.
I usually stick to working during lunch hours, mainly because I’m at home with my family during the dinner rush and lunchtime is when I have the availability to work. During weekends, I can usually make solid money at any time, even during the middle of the afternoon (people seem to order more randomly during the weekend), although the dinner rush tends to be the best time to work on weekends.
Hopefully, this post was helpful to you. For some additional strategies to maximize your DoorDash earnings, check out this post I wrote: How To Make $500 A Week With DoorDash.
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