CARMEL, Ind. — Delivery drivers feel the impacts of the coronavirus through circumstances beyond their control.
Because restaurants are shorter-staffed these days, that means longer wait times for orders.
“It’s been over at least an hour at some restaurants, especially in the Westfield/Carmel area,” Alyssa Bowen said.
Bowen and her husband deliver for DoorDash full time. Bowen said people might not realize how important a decent rating is for their service.
“If our rating gets low enough, we can actually be deactivated from the platform,” Bowen explained.
Bowen feels her hands are tied when it comes to delivery times because the wait times at restaurants factor in significantly.
“They’re completely out of our control,” Bowen said. “We are contract work, so we’re not affiliated with the restaurant by any means. It’s basically us going in there and waiting as if we were you.
“A lot of people don’t understand that. I have so many people who assume that we work for the restaurant. Sometimes they do order from the restaurant and the restaurant dispatches DoorDash and Grub Hub and all these 1099 jobs, gig jobs, to let us pick up the order. Which is great, but they don’t communicate with the customer that we are not responsible for anything outside of the deliveries.”
As we work on extending more grace and understanding during these uncertain days, delivery drivers hope you will remember them as well.
“It’s all about having patience right now,” Bowen said. “We’re all under the same stress. Being able to be understanding and knowing that we’re trying to all get through this together.”