The DoorDash Stuck On Preparing Order Screen Explained

When you order food with DoorDash, you can sometimes run into a situation where DoorDash gets stuck on the preparing order screen. This can be frustrating because you won’t know why it’s happening and it can stay on that screen for a long time.

When you place an order on DoorDash, the order goes to the restaurant, the restaurant confirms it, and then the restaurant begins preparing the order. When the restaurant is preparing the order, your DoorDash app will tell you that the restaurant is preparing your order. Meanwhile, DoorDash will send the order to nearby Dashers, timing it so that Dashers will arrive when your order is ready for pickup.

This all works well when everything is working properly, but there can be issues where your order is being prepared and never moves to the next stage. When this happens, the most likely explanation is that no Dasher has accepted your order yet. But there could be other things going on too.

In this post, we’ll take a look at what it means when the DoorDash app gets stuck on the Doordash preparing order screen. We’ll also consider what you can do when this happens and how you can prevent it from happening in the first place.

DoorDash Stuck On Preparing Order – The Main Reasons This Can Happen

There are three main reasons why you can get the DoorDash stuck on preparing order screen. These include the following:

DoorDash can’t find a Dasher to pick up your order.
The restaurant is busy and is taking longer than expected to complete your order.
The DoorDash app crashed.

Let’s address each of these issues in turn.

1. DoorDash can’t find a Dasher to pick up your order.

The most common reason you’ll receive the DoorDash stuck on preparing order screen is because DoorDash can’t find a Dasher to pick up your order. When DoorDash can’t find a Dasher, it’ll end up stuck on this screen until someone finally accepts the order.

Most of the time, you won’t have an issue with DoorDash not being able to find a Dasher – but it can happen. This is because DoorDash drivers aren’t employees. Rather, they’re independent contractors that can accept or deny any delivery requests they receive.

When a Dasher receives a delivery request, they’re shown how much the order will pay them, as well as the restaurant they’ll be picking up from and the delivery address. DoorDash drivers use this information to determine whether the order is worth accepting. For a DoorDash driver, accepting a delivery request means making sure that the order pays well enough to make it worthwhile, as well as considering the restaurant and how far away the order is going.

One thing most customers don’t realize is that DoorDash pays Dashers a small amount for each order – typically $2 to $4. The majority of the earnings that Dashers make come from customer tips. So, customers who don’t tip will find that they’re going to have to wait a long time for a Dasher to accept their order since, without a tip, the order won’t be paying much (indeed, DoorDash has been warning customers who don’t tip that they may have to wait longer for their order).

If you find that you’re regularly receiving the Doordash stuck on preparing order screen, consider whether you are tipping appropriately. While Dashers can’t directly see if a customer tipped until after the delivery is completed, they can still get a sense of whether a customer tipped based on how much the order is paying. Low-paying orders usually won’t get picked up as quickly.

Another reason why Dashers won’t accept an order is if the delivery address is too far away. If the order requires driving a long distance, many Dashers won’t accept it if the pay isn’t enough. If you’re asking a delivery driver to travel a long distance, you’ll likely need to tip more to make it worthwhile for them.

2. The restaurant is busy and is taking longer than expected to complete your order.

A second common reason why you may get the DoorDash stuck on the preparing order screen is if the restaurant is taking a long time to complete your order. This can happen if the restaurant is busy and is behind on preparing orders.

This is most likely to happen at very popular restaurants that receive a lot of delivery orders at the same time. Places like Chipotle, for example, can get extremely busy. I’ve had situations where Chipotle has been hours behind.

3. The DoorDash app crashed.

Finally, you may get the DoorDash stuck on preparing order screen if the DoorDash app crashes. The DoorDash app is notorious for crashing at inopportune times, so if you place an order and get stuck on the preparing order screen, this could be why it’s happening. There’s not much you can do here if this is what is happening and you’ll simply have to wait until the app starts working again.

What Can You Do About The DoorDash Stuck On Preparing Order Screen?

There are a few things you can do to avoid getting the DoorDash stuck on the preparing order screen. The most important thing you can do is to tip appropriately so that Dashers will accept your order. As previously explained, Dashers are independent contractors that can choose which orders they accept or decline. Since tips make up the majority of a Dasher’s earnings, if you’re not tipping, you’ll likely be waiting longer since your order won’t be paying much, and few Dashers will accept your order.

You should also be aware of how far Dashers will have to travel to get to your delivery location. If your order will require Dashers to drive a long distance to get to you, you’ll need to increase your tip accordingly so that it makes the trip worthwhile. My general advice is to avoid ordering from restaurants that are more than a few miles away. It’s best to stick to restaurants in your neighborhood.

You can also avoid getting stuck on the preparing order screen by avoiding restaurants that you know are likely to be very busy. Certain restaurants get notoriously busy during lunch and dinner hours. There’s a Chipotle near my house, for example, that can sometimes fall behind on orders by 1 or 2 hours. Since I know this Chipotle is very busy, I avoid ordering from there during the dinner rush.

Finally, if the DoorDash app has crashed, you can’t do much. DoorDash will eventually refund your order, so I wouldn’t worry about it too much if you suspect that the DoorDash app has crashed.

Final Thoughts

It can be a frustrating experience when you get stuck on the preparing order screen in your DoorDash app. Most likely, you’re stuck on this screen because no Dasher has accepted your order or the restaurant is busy and behind on orders.

To minimize your chances of getting stuck on this screen, be sure to tip appropriately so that your order is attractive to Dashers. If possible, avoid ordering from very busy restaurants as well. If you do these two things, you’ll most likely avoid getting stuck on this screen too often.

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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.
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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.
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US Bank Business. US Bank is currently offering new business customers a $900 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.