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How Much Can You Make With DoorDash In 3 Hours?

Last Updated on November 5, 2024November 5, 2024 Leave a Comment
This post may contain affiliate links. Affiliate Disclosure.This post may contain affiliate links. Financial Panther has partnered with AwardWallet and CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Financial Panther, AwardWallet, and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on the website are from advertisers. Compensation may impact on how and where card products appear on the site. The site does not include all card companies, or all available card offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.

How much can you make with DoorDash in 3 hours? For most people, I think it’s realistic to aim to make $60 in 3 hours. This averages out to $20 per hour and is an achievable goal for most people, so long as you’re being strategic with how you work for DoorDash. This includes working during prime hours, sticking to dense areas where you can get a lot of orders, and multi-apping, if possible.

For many people, doing 3 hours of DoorDash is the perfect amount of time. Even with a busy schedule, many people can fit a few hours of DoorDash into their schedule. And 3 hours of DoorDash is just the right amount of time for you to work during the best hours when you can maximize your earnings (i.e. you can work 1.5 hours during the lunch hour and 1.5 hours during the dinner rush).

In this post, we’ll take a closer look at how much you can make with DoorDash in 3 hours, as well as discuss the strategies you can use to maximize your DoorDash earnings for those three hours.

How Much Can You Make With DoorDash In 3 Hours?

How much you can make with DoorDash in 3 hours will vary depending on when and where you work, as well as the strategy you use when delivering for DoorDash. This is because, unlike a typical job where you’re paid a set wage, with DoorDash, you’re working as an independent contractor, which means you choose when you work and decide which orders you accept.

That being said, the minimum I think everyone should aim to make with DoorDash in 3 hours is $60. This comes out to an hourly rate of $20 per hour. In my view, if you aren’t able to make at least $20 an hour from DoorDash and other food delivery apps, you should probably consider whether DoorDash is worth it for you.

The math of how much you can make with DoorDash in 3 hours is straightforward. Simply take what you earn over three hours and divide that number by three. That’ll tell you your hourly rate.

It’s important to remember that DoorDash generally pays Dashers per order they complete, not an hourly rate as you might expect from a typical job (there is an exception to this, as you can also opt for DoorDash Earn By Time, which is a way to earn a minimum hourly rate if you meet certain requirements). 

A payout for a DoorDash order is based on three things: (1) the base pay, (2) any tip you receive from the customer, and (3) any promotional bonuses in effect. 

If you want to earn at least $60 in three hours, you’ll need to consider what the orders you’re accepting are paying, how many orders you’re doing, and how long it’ll take you to complete those orders. Remember that the more orders you can complete in an hour, the more you’ll earn.

If you want to make $20 in an hour, you’ll have to think of how many orders you can complete per hour, as well as how much you’re earning per order. So, if you can complete 4 orders in one hour, with an average pay rate of $5 per order, you’ll earn $20 for the hour. In 3 hours, if you complete 12 orders with an average pay rate of $5 per order, you’ll earn the $60 that I recommend everyone aim for.

Strategies To Maximize Your Earnings With DoorDash Over 3 Hours

Here are the main strategies to consider to maximize your earnings with DoorDash over three hours:

1. Work During Prime Hours

The most important thing you can do is work during the busiest hours for DoorDash. Generally, this will be during the lunch hours (from 11 am to 1 pm) and dinner hours (from 5 pm to 8 pm). It’s very important to work during these times because the only way you earn money from DoorDash is by doing deliveries. If you’re not getting any orders, you won’t earn anything.

The good thing about working just three hours on DoorDash is that it allows you to limit your working hours to only the best times. If you work a full 8 hours, for example, much of your working time will be during off hours when you likely won’t receive many orders. By contrast, if you only work an hour or two at lunch and dinner, you’ll stay busy the entire time you’re working. 

2. Work In Good Neighborhoods

In addition to when you work, it’s also important to consider where you work. Most of the time, the best places to work will be in dense areas, usually downtown areas and areas with a lot of apartments. I especially like to stick to hip neighborhoods that have a lot of young people – college campuses, for example, have worked out very well for me. 

The benefit of working in dense neighborhoods is twofold. First, you’ll get more orders because more of the restaurants that people order from will be there. Second, the distances you travel will likely be shorter since there are more people in a smaller area. Both of these things are hugely beneficial since getting more orders that are traveling shorter distances means you can complete more orders, and thus, earn more money.

3. Be Strategic About The Orders You Accept

There can be a tendency when doing DoorDash to accept anything that gets sent your way. This is a mistake. DoorDash makes it clear that your acceptance does not matter. If you are accepting orders because you want to keep your acceptance rate up to avoid potential deactivation, this is unnecessary. DoorDash makes it abundantly clear that you cannot be deactivated because of a low acceptance rate (note that you can be deactivated for a low completion rate, which is the percentage of deliveries you accept that you ultimately do not complete).

Some people may opt to keep a high acceptance rate to gain access to the Top Dasher Program. I’ve made the argument that I don’t think Top Dasher status is worth it because of the tradeoff of having to accept bad orders. 

With any order, you want to consider how far the order is going and how long it’ll take you to complete it. With experience, you’ll begin to understand the time it takes to complete orders. Some restaurants will be better than others. And some locations will have better deliveries. This will all be unique to your area and will require experience on your part. I’ve been delivering for DoorDash for over 8 years, so with all that experience, I have a good idea of which restaurants are quick and which neighborhoods are good to work in,

It’s important to remember that DoorDash earnings are based on the number of orders you complete. That means the more orders you can complete in a shorter amount of time, the more you’ll make. This is a fact that I think a lot of Dashers overlook. While high-paying orders can be tempting, it’s important to consider how long an order will take to complete. Even a high-paying order might not be worth it if you have to wait a long time at the restaurant for the order or if you have to travel a long distance to get to the customer.

4. Multi-App If You Can

The final strategy you should implement if you can is multi-apping. This is an advanced tactic that won’t be suited for everyone, but will dramatically increase your earnings if you can do it. 

For those who don’t know what it is, multi-apping is the process of delivering for multiple delivery apps at the same time. So, instead of only delivering for DoorDash, you have not only the Dasher app running but also your Uber Eats and Grubhub driver apps running as well. Ideally, you can receive orders from multiple delivery apps, all going from restaurants nearby and going to customers in the same general direction. 

Multi-apping takes practice to do correctly, so I don’t recommend you do this if you are new to DoorDash and other food delivery apps. But, with practice, it becomes very easy. I’ve been multi-apping for years now and have never had any issues.

If you are multi-apping and work during prime hours and in good locations, you’re almost guaranteed to average at least $20 per hour. I typically average more than that.

If you want to learn more about multi-apping, check out my post: The Ultimate Guide To Multi-Apping With DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub.

Final Thoughts

In my view, you should aim to make a minimum of $20 per hour, or about $60 in three hours from doing DoorDash. This shouldn’t be difficult for most people to do. All it takes is averaging 4 deliveries per hour, with an average of $5 per delivery. If you are multi-apping, you could easily achieve this by doing 2 deliveries per hour with DoorDash, and 1 delivery each per hour on Uber Eats and Grubhub.

Depending on where you live, you can probably make more than $60 in 3 hours. In my experience, I’m usually able to make much more than that, often hitting $75 in 3 hours and sometimes reaching $100 in 3 hours if things are going particularly well. 

Of course, there’s no guarantee of what you can make in 3 hours with DoorDash. But if you use the tips and strategies in this post, you’ll put yourself in a good situation to maximize your DoorDash earnings.

This post may contain affiliate links. Financial Panther has partnered with AwardWallet and CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Financial Panther, AwardWallet, and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on the website are from advertisers. Compensation may impact on how and where card products appear on the site. The site does not include all card companies, or all available card offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.

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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.
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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.

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financial panther

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 $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.

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