The number of deliveries you can do in an hour is an important consideration when forecasting how much you can potentially earn as a DoorDash driver. The answer does depend on several factor which determine how efficient your delivery rate per hour will be.
These factors will be discussed in greater detail below.
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How Many Deliveries Can You Do in an Hour with DoorDash?
The overall consensus from DoorDash drivers is that you can do as many as 5-6 deliveries during the busiest hours in ideal conditions. Over the course of a whole day, and on average over many days, the deliveries will typically average closer to 1.5 per hour.
How Can I Maximize the Number of Deliveries I Can Make in an Hour?
Of course, you’ll generally want to do the most deliveries possible in an hour as part of your strategy to make the most money per hour.
The busiest times (i.e., the most deliveries available per hour) are lunch and dinner, which DoorDash says is 11:00-2:00 and 4:30-8:00 p.m. To help ensure that you get deliveries during these peak hours, it’s helpful to input these hours in your DoorDash schedule in advance.
This will give you a big advantage in ensuring the greatest opportunity for the most deliveries per hour.
Another tip from DoorDash to maximize your efficiency for deliveries per hour is to be close to where a lot of orders typically come in during these peak delivery times.
DoorDash recommends parking close to areas with a lot of restaurants, and/or places that have the flame icon on the map portion of the DoorDash delivery app. While the flame icon does not signal specific orders, it does indicate areas that DoorDash has found are typically busy at that time of day.
Additionally, you can look for the Dash Now heat map on the DoorDash delivery app to see where the busiest locations are. The darker red an area is on a map, the busier it is — with greater opportunities to maximize the number of deliveries you can make in an hour.
Don’t forget that you need a reliable car, otherwise it might break, when you need it the most.
What Other Factors Affect How Many Deliveries I Can Make per Hour with DoorDash?
There are some factors that are not entirely within your control that may affect how many deliveries you can make per hour with DoorDash. According to DoorDash driver J. from Oregon (name withheld for privacy), the ideal delivery situation is:
- Multiple orders coming into restaurants that are close to where you are.
- It’s even better if it’s a “double order,” i.e. two orders ready for pick-up at the same time from the same restaurant.
- The orders are actually ready for pick-up when you arrive so you don’t have to wait a long time for them.
- It is easy to park quickly to get into the restaurant.
- The delivery destination is close to the restaurant.
The more “ideal” orders that come in throughout the hour(s) that you are working, the more deliveries you will be able to make per hour.
While some of these factors are out of your control, as you take more orders, you will become familiar with which restaurant locations have better parking situations and typically have orders ready quickly, so that you spend less time parking or waiting.
You can also always see upfront how far away the order itself is and how far away the delivery destination is so that you can decide whether you want to accept that particular order or not.
How Much Does a DoorDash Delivery Person Make per Hour?
Of course, the main reason you care about the number of deliveries you can make in an hour is probably because you want to be able to forecast how much money you can earn in an hour. The answer to this question really depends on many variables, including the particular orders you decide to accept or decline. In online forums, many drivers report making approximately $15-$25 per hour as a DoorDash driver.
Deliveries per Hour with DoorDash
DoorDash drivers say that during the busiest hours and in ideal conditions, a DoorDash delivery person can do as many as 5-6 deliveries per hour. On average, however, over the entire span of many days, the deliveries generally average about 1.5 per hour.