‘Just because it’s red don’t mean you’re gonna get orders’: DoorDash driver shares PSA about the app’s hotspots

A DoorDash driver is calling into question the platform's "hotspot" feature, suggesting it misleads workers into thinking they have a higher chance of securing a delivery order when they actually do not.

In her TikTok, DoorDash delivery driver Chelsea Jo (@finnandquinn) showed a map in her DoorDash app. "I'm your local Dasher and I'm here to help you," she promised via a narration. She pointed to the red area on the map and said that "it's supposed to tell you that that means it's busy," and "it's supposed to mean that you're gonna get more orders."

"Naw, that is a bullsh*t lie, and let me tell you why," she said. "Here's an example."

Chelsea selects a hotspot area and then clicks, "Why am I not getting orders?" A notification pops up on the screen stating: "In your area, it's slow. If you're not getting delivery opportunities, try navigating to a hotspot to increase your chances of getting an order."

"It's gonna tell me it's slow. It's always gonna tell me it's slow. Why would it do that if my area was red that's supposed to mean busy, right?" Chelsea questioned.

She then shared her theory as to why DoorDash makes certain areas red.

"When your area turns red that means there's not enough dashers on the road for what DoorDash wants. They want a certain amount of dashers on the road, so they will turn it red when there's not enough dashers that they think should be available at that time," she theorized. "So just because it's red, don't mean you're gonna get orders."

@finnandquinn #doordash #doordasher #doordashdriver #dddriver #deliverydriver #fooddelivery #shopanddeliver #foryoupage #fyp #fypシ #foryou ♬ original sound - Chelsea Jo

A number of viewers said they had similar experiences while delivering for DoorDash, while others speculated there are other reasons why Chelsea isn't seeing any available orders in the hotspot zone.

"Hotspots are the devil. Avoid. If one lands on you, move. Instead, make your own hotspot. Get on the consumer app. Figure out which restaurants are doing trade where you want to work and position yourself there," one viewer suggested.

In a Reddit post, user @VaxxReadNPlzDntBreed said they were a "new dasher," and despite waiting in a hotspot area for 20 minutes, they didn't receive any offers to make deliveries during that time.

"So true. I hate when dd says its busy or very busy and then not one order comes through for hours," another TikToker said.

"There’s different shades of red and it ranges from not so busy to very busy," another viewer said, offering up various explanations as to why the hotspot "wasn't hotspotting" for Chelsea.

Another speculated that the reason she wasn't getting any orders had to do with the frequency in which she turns down orders. "You aren’t getting orders cuz your acceptance rate is so low wtf," they speculated.

"My acceptance rate is at 85% and I see a major difference in the pay," another driver said.

According to Exile Driver, there are three general reasons as to why DoorDash drivers aren't receiving orders despite marking themselves available to do so in a hotspot area. The first is that the DoorDash app is glitching and isn't correctly pinging a driver's phone's coordinates that would place them in the hotspot area. The outlet recommended either waiting 5 minutes or closing and reopening the DoorDash app to refresh it. Even resetting location permissions for it in the settings could be helpful.

The outlet stated the DoorDash's "hotspots" are "predictions" and not necessarily "100% accurate," which could be another reason why Chelsea, and others, aren't seeing any order action.

The last reason is that the orders in the hotspots are currently being gobbled up by other DoorDash drivers, and whoever isn't getting them isn't being given priority through the app to complete said orders.

The Daily Dot reached out to DoorDash via email to clarify the process in which hotspots are generated and to Chelsea Jo via TikTok comment for further information.

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