DoorDash Late Delivery Policy

If you’re a Dasher, understanding the DoorDash late delivery policy is very important. This is because if you deliver your orders late, you risk getting a contract violation. If you get too many contract violations, you risk getting deactivated by DoorDash.

In this post, I’ll go over what the DoorDash late delivery policy is, how it works, and what you should do if you want to avoid issues with late deliveries on DoorDash.

DoorDash states the following when it comes to late deliveries:

At DoorDash, we strive to provide the best experience to all audiences on our platform, which includes ensuring that customers know when their orders will be delivered and that they receive their orders on time. Per their Independent Contractor Agreement, Dashers agree to complete deliveries in a safe and timely fashion.

Dashers who repeatedly arrive at the merchant or customer significantly after estimated arrival times are eligible for deactivation, as noted in our updated Service Provider Platform Access Policy. At this time, one contract violation for lateness does not constitute grounds for deactivation.

A delivery is considered late when the amount of time taken to travel to the merchant and/or to the customer (e.g., 20 minutes) exceeds the estimated time, taking into account factors outside of your control (e.g., wait time at merchant). It is NOT based on the suggested arrival times in the app (e.g., 1:00PM).

Source: Lateness Based Violations Explained

The above is a bit of a mouthful, but in plain language, DoorDash says that Dashers agree to complete their deliveries on time and can be subject to deactivation if they are continually late on their deliveries.

DoorDash doesn’t explicitly say what makes an order count as late, instead using vague language that a delivery is considered late if the amount of time to get to the merchant or customer exceeds the estimated time.

Based on the thousands of DoorDash deliveries I’ve completed, an order is considered late if you arrive at the restaurant or the customer 10 minutes later than the estimated pickup or arrival time. For example, if your estimated pickup time at the restaurant is 12:00 pm, you can get a late delivery violation if you arrive at the restaurant at 12:10 pm. Similarly, if your estimated delivery time to the customer is 12:30 pm, you can receive a late delivery violation if you arrive at 12:40 pm.

More Details About The DoorDash Late Delivery Policy

There is a bit more nuance to the DoorDash late delivery policy that’s worth noting. First, you risk receiving a late delivery violation if you are 10 minutes late arriving at the restaurant OR 10 minutes late delivering the order. This is fairly annoying, as you could be late to the restaurant, but even if you arrive at the customer on time, DoorDash will still mark the order as late.

Second, the late delivery policy doesn’t apply if you’re delivering a stacked order. So, if you have a double order on DoorDash, you won’t receive a late delivery violation if you are late picking up or delivering the order. DoorDash does this because they know when you’re doing a double order, there are a lot of factors outside of your control that could delay your delivery. In my experience, I’ve never received a late delivery violation when I’m doing a batched order, and their customer service did confirm with me once that batched orders are not subject to the late delivery policy.

A conversation I had with Dasher Support where I was concerned about receiving a contract violation due to a long wait at Chipotle, which was delaying my other order.

You should still deliver batched orders on time, mainly because it’s the right thing to do, but also because you don’t want a customer to give you a poor customer rating for delivering their food late. Still, it is a good thing to know that you won’t be penalized if you’re late delivering a double order.

What You Can Do To Avoid Late Deliveries

I always do my best to avoid contract violations because too many contract violations can lead to DoorDash deactivating your account. You don’t want to be deactivated because, as DoorDash says in their late delivery policy FAQ, “[a]s with all deactivations, deactivations based on extreme lateness are permanent.”

Receiving a contract violation can be a pain because it will stay on your record until you complete 100 deliveries, at which point it’ll drop off. Depending on how often you deliver for DoorDash, this can take a while. I know that whenever I receive a contract violation, it’ll often take months before I’m able to get the contract violation to fall off my record.

One thing I will do if I’ve accepted a DoorDash delivery and know I’ll be more than 10 minutes late is to unassign the order. This lowers my completion rate but ensures that I won’t receive a contract violation for arriving late to the restaurant. Most commonly, this will happen if I’m multi-apping and misjudge how long it’ll take me to deliver the orders I’m already doing and arrive at the DoorDash restaurant.

So, for example, if I accept a DoorDash order and then realize I’ll be more than 10 minutes late to the restaurant, I’ll simply unassign the order. I try to avoid doing this too much because your completion rate does matter – if it gets too low, you can get deactivated. However, unassigning an order to avoid getting a late delivery violation is better than doing a late delivery and ending up with a contract violation.

If I’m multi-apping, I also tend to prioritize DoorDash orders over Uber Eats or Grubhub, since the latter two don’t penalize you for being late (Uber Eats doesn’t seem to care at all, while Grubhub does have a policy about late deliveries, but doesn’t seem to enforce it as strictly as DoorDash).

Final Thoughts

The DoorDash late delivery policy is an important policy that you need to understand if you are delivering for DoorDash. DoorDash is fairly strict about late deliveries, so you want to do whatever you can to avoid being late – both with arriving at the restaurant and delivering the food to the customer. However, so long as you are aware of the DoorDash late delivery policy, you should generally be able to avoid any issues with late deliveries.

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More Recommended Ebike/Scooters

Check out these other ebikes and scooters I've reviewed:

Urban Arrow Ebike – Last year, I made one of the largest purchases I’ve ever made – I bought a $9,000 electric cargo bike from Urban Arrow. In my Urban Arrow review, I will discuss what it is and why I decided to buy this bike, as well as discuss how impactful a bike like this can be on your journey to financial independence.
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.
KBO Flip Ebike – The KBO Flip is an excellent bike. I’ve had a great time riding it and think it’s a versatile bike that can be used for a lot of purposes and can fit a variety of lifestyles. It’s worked out great for me as a general commuter bike and as a food delivery bike. Check out my KBO Flip Review.
Hiboy P7 Commuter Ebike – The Hiboy P7 is an excellent electric commuter bike that’s offered at an affordable price point. The range and speed of this bike are both very good, so you won’t have any trouble getting anywhere you need to go with it. As a food delivery vehicle, this is also good – with how much range it offers, you’ll be able to work all day on a single charge. Check out my Hiboy P7 Commuter Electric Bike Review.
Himiway Escape Ebike – The Himiway Escape is an interesting bike for anyone looking for a moped-style ebike. If you’re a gig economy worker, the Himiway Escape is particularly interesting and it’s possible to think of it as an investment, especially if you can opt to do deliveries with the Himiway versus using a car. It’s not cheap, but you can definitely make your money back when you compare the mileage you’ll put on your car versus using an ebike. Check out my Himiway Escape Bike Review.
Espin Sport Ebike – The Espin Sport is a good ebike for someone who is looking for an ebike that feels and rides more like a regular bike. There are many ebikes that are really only bikes in name. In reality, they’re basically electric mopeds. The Espin Sport, by contrast, is a bike you could probably ride without the battery and you’d feel like you’re just riding a regular bike. Check out my Espin Sport Review.
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.
Varla Falcon Scooter – The Varla Falcon is an excellent scooter that offers a good amount of power at a lower price point compared to more powerful scooters. It’s not exactly an entry-level scooter, nor is it a high-powered scooter. I think it fits somewhere in-between those two categories – an intermediate scooter if I had to give it a category. Check out my Varla Falcon Review.
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Hiboy S2R Scooter – The Hiboy S2R is one of the more interesting electric scooters I’ve been able to test out. It’s not a high-powered scooter, but for an everyday transport option, it’s very useful, especially given some of the unique features that it has. Indeed, for the price, the Hiboy S2R might be the best value scooter I’ve used. Check out my Hiboy S2R Review.
Fucare H3 Scooter – The Fucare H3 is a fun scooter and I’ve enjoyed testing it out. For a daily commuter or quick trips or errands, the Fucare H3 is probably the scooter I’ll use. It’s portable and easy to maneuver, so it’s just easier to take on the road when I need it. Check out my Fucare H3 Scooter Review.

More Recommended Investing App Bonuses

For additional investing app bonuses, be sure to check out the ones below:

M1 Finance ($100) – 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 $100 for opening an account. Check out my M1 Finance Referral Bonus – Step-By-Step Guide.
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Moomoo (15 free stocks) – Moomoo is a free investing app currently offering 2 different referral bonuses if you open an account using a referral link. Read my Moomoo referral bonus guide for more information.
Robinhood (1 free stock) – Robinhood gives you a free stock valued between $2.50-$225 if you open an account using my referral link.
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More Recommended Bank Account Bonuses

If you’re looking for more easy bank bonuses, check out the below options. These bonuses are all easy to earn and have no fees or minimum balance requirements to worry about.

Upgrade ($200) – Upgrade is a free checking account that’s currently offering a $200 referral bonus if you open an account and complete a direct deposit. These bonus terms are easy to meet, so it’s well worth doing this bonus as soon as you can. Here’s a post I wrote with more details: Upgrade $200 Referral Bonus – Step By Step Directions.
Ally Bank ($100) – Of all the banks out there, Ally is, without a doubt, my favorite. At the moment, Ally is offering $100 to customers who open an eligible Ally account and meet the requirements. Here are the step-by-step directions to earn your Ally Bank referral bonus.
Fairwinds Credit Union ($175) – Fairwinds Credit Union is offering a referral bonus for users that sign up using a referral link. Fairwinds has no fees or minimum balance, so this is a particularly easy bonus to earn. Since this is a smaller credit union, my gut instinct tells me this offer won’t be around long, so if you’re in a position to meet the bonus requirements, grab this bonus before it’s gone. Here is my step-by-step guide on how to earn your Fairwinds Credit Union bonus.
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US Bank Business ($800) – This is a fairly easy bank bonus to earn, since there are no direct deposit requirements. In addition, you can open the Silver Business Checking account, which comes with no monthly fees. Check out how to earn this big bonus here.
GO2Bank ($50) - GO2Bank is an easy bank bonus that I recommend people take advantage of if they have an easy way of meeting the direct deposit requirement. I like that it’s easy to open the account and that the bonus pays out quickly. Check out my step-by-step guide on how to earn your GO2Bank $50 referral bonus.
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Varo ($25) – Varo is a free fintech banking app similar to Chime or Current. It’s currently offering a $25 bonus to new users that open a new Varo account with a referral link. The bonus for this bank is very easy to meet, all you need to do is spend $20 within 30 days of opening your Varo account. Check out my step-by-step guide to learn how to earn this bonus.

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 5.24% 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 $100 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.