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Is there a Doordash Paycheck? When Do Dashers Get Paid?

While there's no real “Doordash Paycheck” since Dashers are not employees, there are several ways that Dashers can be paid. In fact, turn-around time is faster for getting Doordash earnings than with most traditional jobs.

What does that mean for you if you deliver for Doordash? How long does it take to get paid after you complete the tasks? Are you stuck waiting forever?

We'll dive into this topic. Then we'll look more into how and when Doordash pays its Dashers. We'll talk about:

A Doordash paycheck symbolized by a $100 bill with the words Show Me the Money written over the top.

Why there's no such thing as a Doordash paycheck

You will get paid for your deliveries but won't get a paycheck.

The critical thing to remember is that when you deliver for Doordash, you do so as an independent contractor. You're not an employee. There's a pretty big difference between the two.

An employee gets a salary, an hourly wage, minimum wage guarantees, and possibly some benefits. Federal, state and FICA taxes are taken out of your wages before your paycheck is written.

None of that happens with Doordash.

This is because you agreed that you provide delivery services for Doordash as a business and not as an employee. It's a business-to-business relationship, not an employee/employer one. It's more like you are a business invoicing Doordash for your services and waiting for them to pay up.

That means Doordash does not take out taxes for you. You don't get any type of paystub. You're not on the payroll. You won't receive a W-2 form at the end of the year.

Doordash pays your business (you) for the services you provide. You will be paid for the tasks you complete (the deliveries) rather than by the hour or with a wage or salary.

In other words, you still get paid. But because the independent contractor world is dramatically different from the employee world, everything about getting paid is different.

Four Ways Dashers get paid

Infographic detailing four ways Doordash drivers get paid: direct deposit, Fast Pay, the DasherDirect debit card and cash on delivery payments.

You have options for how you get paid by Doordash. It's really more like three options and a weird fourth circumstance where you just end up being paid. I'll explain more when we get to that one.

Before we get into those options, we'll discuss how Doordash pay happens.

When Doordash offers you a delivery order, they'll tell you how much money you can make for that trip. You'll always get at least that much if you complete the trip. Sometimes, if Doordash hid part of the customer tip, you might get a little more.

Once you've completed the order and marked it as complete, Doordash gives you a payment summary that shows how much you will receive for that delivery.

That payment accumulates in a sort of virtual wallet in the Dasher app. As you complete other deliveries within the time frame, more money accumulates.

In some situations, you may get partial payment for a canceled order or an additional fee if you had to drive further than expected. Those payments accumulate as well.

Now that all of your delivery fees, tips, and other Doordash fees have built up, how do you get your money? Here's where we get into those four different ways of getting paid.

Option 1: Direct deposit to your bank account.

If you don't choose any other options, Doordash will default to the direct deposit option on the first of the week.

Any money in your virtual wallet in the Doordash driver app as of midnight Sunday of the previous week is sent by ACH direct deposit to your financial institutions. Doordash usually submits the payment information Monday morning (or the first business day of the week if Monday is a holiday).

Most Dashers see the money in their bank on Tuesday. Some banks can take as many as five business days to process the payment.

Option 2: Doordash Fast Pay.

If Dashers want their money sooner, they can receive it instantly using the Fast Pay feature. It's an instant payment feature where you send money to your debit card.

Dashers are eligible for the Fast Pay daily payout once they have been active on the Doordash platform for two weeks and have completed 25 lifetime deliveries.

To use Fast Pay, you must give Doordash the debit card number and your PIN (Personal Identification Number). For account security purposes, there is a 7-day waiting period after setting up Fast Pay.

Doordash charges a $1.99 processing fee for every Fast Pay transaction. A Doordash courier can only take a Fast Pay payment once per day.

Option 3: the DasherDirect card.

Dashers can choose to receive a DasherDirect debit card from Doordash. This is a prepaid debit card powered by Payfare.

DasherDirect is a lot like an online bank account. You can deposit money into the account; it has its own routing and account number if you want other payments direct deposited to it. You can use the debit card to make purchases or withdraw funds through an ATM.

Whenever you complete a Dash (one or more deliveries you've completed during a specific block of time in a given delivery zone), the money you earned during that Dash is immediately deposited into your DasherDirect account.

There is no transaction fee using DasherDirect. In other words, you get paid immediately without paying extra for the benefit.

That weird fourth option: Cash on Delivery.

This one isn't quite like the others, where you would choose a way to get paid. Instead, it's a sort of one-off circumstance where you get paid for one or more deliveries.

There's now an option where Doordash customers can pay for their order with cash. Instead of paying by debit or credit card, the customer would pay you directly for the entire order, including food and fees.

With such a delivery, you keep the entire amount. Anything above your delivery fee acts like a payment for what you've earned previously or an advance against future earnings.

For instance, a customer places an order and their total cost for the food, taxes and delivery fees is $40. Your delivery fee from Doordash is $3. Obviously the three dollars out of all that is yours to cover delivering that food. On top of that, you would keep the additional $37 as a replacement for direct deposit or debit card payments for other deliveries.

In that example, if the customer chooses to add a tip, they would do so in cash. They might give you $50, which means a $10 tip.

As for the additional $37, if you had accumulated $37 worth of payments in other dashes, that would be deducted from your virtual wallet, meaning you would get $37 less in your direct deposit, Fast Pay, or DasherDirect payment.

How to create your own Doordash paycheck

a paycheck pay statement with a red slashed circle illustrating that Dashers don't get a paycheck.

Whether you get direct deposit, fast pay, the DasherDirect card, or paid through cash on delivery, there's one thing to keep in mind: it's not your paycheck.

A paycheck would have taxes taken out for you. A paycheck is also your total pay for services provided. Two important things are missing from your Doordash pay:

  • It's up to you to put money aside for Door Dash taxes.
  • You would be extremely wise to put money aside to cover car expenses.

This may not make much difference if you take only a few deliveries here and there as a side hustle for a little extra money. However, if you make a significant amount of money from Dashing, you might consider a process where you give yourself a paycheck for your Doordash deliveries.

In my experience, this is the best way to manage your money in a business manner, protect yourself when it comes to tax season, and get a true sense of your actual Doordash driver pay.

Six steps to giving yourself a paycheck

In the article linked just above, we go into a lot more detail. However, here it is in a nutshell:

1. Get a bank account dedicated to your delivery business. The best thing you can do as a small business owner is to keep your business and personal finances separate. Try to find an account that gives you different buckets or savings accounts.

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2. Have all your gig work pay direct deposited to that account. If you work with other food delivery services like Uber Eats, Instacart, Grubhub, and others, have those payments sent there as well. If you can stay away from instant payment options and wait for the direct deposit, you take better control of your money.

3. Create a payday. I usually choose Friday, as all my direct deposits would have come in by then.

4. Set aside money for taxes, business expenses, and benefits. Figure out how much to save for taxes. I also recommend saving money for every mile you drive to cover gas and long-term expenses. Personally, I save 35¢ for every business mile.

5. Now, give yourself a paycheck. The money that's left over is your actual take-home pay. Transfer that money to your personal account or write a check to yourself.

6. Use the different savings funds as needed. Once a quarter, make an estimated payment from the tax money you saved. When you buy gas, get maintenance or have significant car repairs, pay those out of the expense fund.

A note about benefits.

The one benefit I give myself is paid time off. As a full-time driver, I set aside about $50 per week as part of step 4. Then when I want to take a vacation or miss time for an illness, I can draw money from that paid time off fund to replace the money I'm not making because I'm not delivering.

If you decide to deliver full-time for Doordash and other gigs, you may also want to add other things to this process. Did you have health insurance in your previous job? Were you taking money out for a 401k?

What if my Doordash paycheck isn't enough?

This is one of the best benefits of the self-paycheck process. After taking out money for taxes, expenses, and benefits, you have a better point of comparison.

Too many delivery drivers think they're making much more than they really are. They forgot to account for taxes and the cost of using their car.

You can now look at what's left over when you give yourself a paycheck. It tells you whether you're really making enough for all your efforts.

If it's not enough, then it's time to make some hard choices. Don't be tempted to dip into the tax or expense money you set aside. You WILL need that money at some time. Instead, you must figure out how to make more money delivering for Doordash or how to make more money delivering for Doordash or move on to something else.

You may have just figured out that your business model isn't working. There's nothing wrong with that, as it happens to many business owners. It's better to find out now than to keep going on.

However, now that you've done all these things, you've set yourself up in a good place. Tax time becomes less stressful. You're prepared for the wear and tear you put on your vehicle. You have a more realistic of your total earnings.

Maybe the best part is, you're not relying on Doordash to handle your business for you.

When do I get my first Doordash paycheck?

New drivers will be paid by direct deposit for their very first deliveries. Depending on your financial institution's processing time, your payment will be deposited on or around Tuesday of the week after your first delivery. Keep in mind that since you are not an employee, this is not like a payroll paycheck.

Can you get Fast Pay immediately as a new Doordash deliverfy driver?

No. You become eligible for the Fast Pay benefit after two weeks and 25 lifetime deliveries. There is also a seven-day turn-around time after you enter your payment information before you can receive instant payments.

Does Doordash hold your first paycheck?

No. Doordash will pay you the very first week following your first delivery via direct deposit. There is no hold time and no deductions from your pay.

Does Doordash take out taxes from your paycheck?

No. Doordash does not withhold taxes. As an independent contractor, it is your responsibility to set aside and pay your own Federal, state, and local income taxes, as well as Social Security and Medicare.

What day is payday for Dashers?

Most Doordash delivery drivers receive their direct deposit from Doordash on Tuesday. Doordash submits payment information on a weekly basis on the first business day of the week (Monday unless it is a holiday). The date you receive your money depends on your bank's processing time.

What time of day does Door Dash direct deposit hit?

Normally at the start of business on Tuesday, although that can vary depending on your bank's turn-around time. It can also be delayed if Monday is a bank holiday. Doordash submits the payment information on Monday morning (or the first business day of the week if Monday is a holiday). Some banks make funds available sooner, some may take longer.

Could this help someone else? Please share it.

Allen

Monday 22nd of August 2022

https://www.realcheckstubs.com

Allen

Monday 22nd of August 2022

Door Dashers can use a site like realcheckstubs.com to make recording their pay simple and repeatable. Doing it weekly would establish the trackrecord and they could simply notate it as being manual. As for taxes everyone's situation is different of course but there is an option to show no taxes withheld and paid on the realcheckstubs.com stub builder.

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Ron Walter of Entrecourier.com

About the Author

Ron Walter made the move from business manager at a non-profit to full time gig economy delivery in 2018 to take advantage of the flexibility of self-employment. He applied his thirty years experience managing and owning small businesses to treat his independent contractor role as the business it is.

Realizing his experience could help other drivers, he founded EntreCourier.com to encourage delivery drivers to be the boss of their own gig economy business.

Ron has been quoted in several national outlets including Business Insider, the New York Times, CNN and Market Watch.

You can read more about Ron's story,, background, and why he believes making the switch from a career as a business manager to delivering as an independent contractor was the best decision he could have made.

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