The two big problems with Petco orders on DoorDash!

DoorDash isn’t just for food anymore! A partnership with Petco is one of many new attempts to branch out into new delivery categories.

So if you choose same-day retail delivery on a Petco order, a DoorDash driver will likely be the person who handles your delivery.

But Dashers have two big problems Petco orders: They say the pay is too low, and declining a Petco order can seriously harm their acceptance rate metrics.

Check out this low-paying Petco order shared by a Dasher on Reddit with 10 separate drop-offs over a 61-mile route, all for $35.

Here’s why that order is bad: This route would take 2–3 hours, making the final pay only be $11–$17 per hour or around 50 cents per mile.

Most dashers aim for over $1.50/mile or $20 per hour. This offer is not up to standard! You’re better off with typical restaurant deliveries.

That request is a good demonstration of all the complaints dashers have about Petco orders: The orders don’t pay very well and one delivery request usually has several different stops batched together—up to 10 orders!

(And you thought a triple stack of orders was bad!)

And the next big disappointment comes after you decline a big Petco batch: Your acceptance rate can drop like a stone just from rejecting one Petco order.

Even though you only reject one Petco order, it counts as 10 rejections. Say goodbye to Dasher Rewards and Top Dasher!

From the customer perspective, many Petco shoppers don’t know that DoorDash delivers their online orders, they’re not sure how drivers are paid, and they don’t know if they are expected to tip.

These Petco orders are bad! 3 more examples of low-paying orders

Dashers scan through dozens of order requests every day, looking for orders that will pay around $1.50/mile or $25+ per hour. By that standard, most Petco orders are bad.

Below is a great example of a bad Petco order: $20 for 7 deliveries covering 44 miles. That’s less than 50 cents per mile, and will work out to $10—or less—per hour.

Here’s a Petco batch with 10 orders that will take up to 2.5 hours for only $30. It works out to $3 per order, which suggests that none of the customers tipped. You’re only getting base pay.

The order below doesn’t look terrible on first glance: $12 for one 8-mile delivery. But on closer inspection, the delivery has 93 items! That could mean a ton of loading and unloading.

Customers don’t tip—or can’t tip—on Petco orders

Without tips, overall pay on DoorDash can be low. And that’s one of the main reasons why Dashers don’t like Petco orders: Customers don’t tip often enough! And for certain types of Petco orders, customers don’t even have the option to tip.

Petco customers have the option to tip during checkout when they choose same-day delivery for a one-time order.

But customers don’t have the option to tip for repeat deliveries. So if a customer has a repeating order for a monthly dog food delivery, there is no way for them to electronically tip and Dashers won’t get paid much to deliver their order.

Another factor is that customers expect to tip for on-demand food delivery but not for regular item delivery.Whatever the reason may be, most Petco customers don’t tip, so the final payout for Petco orders isn’t worth it for dashers.

Declining one Petco order can destroy your acceptance rating

Another frustrating issue with Petco orders is that declining one offer can significantly lower your acceptance rating.

A Petco offer doesn’t count as just one order in the acceptance rating calculation—it counts as the number of stops for the entire route.

So if a Petco route has 8 stops, declining the offer counts as 8 declines!

Your acceptance rate is the percent of deliveries you accepted out of the 100 most recent “delivery opportunities.” Declining one typical order will lower your acceptance rating by one percent.

Declining an 8-stop Petco order will make your acceptance rating take an 8% dive!

That’s bad news if you’re trying to keep a high AR for Dasher Rewarsds and priority access to higher-paying orders.

Most dashers don’t think it’s a fair way to calculate AR. One decline should not change your AR by up to 10%, especially when DoorDash is doing more and more to try to tie your pay to your AR.

DoorDash now prioritizes high-paying orders to Dashers who meet a minimum AR requirement, so it doesn’t feel fair that one decline on a big Petco order can ruin your chance to get better orders.

More help for Dashers

• Can you make more with ‘Earn by time’ mode?
• Are DashMart orders worth it?
• A guide to Shop & Deliver orders

DoorDash delivery for Petco customers

If you’re a Petco customer, you may be able to get same-day delivery via DoorDash. During checkout, select same-day delivery and check to see if DoorDash will deliver the order.

To tip your DoorDash driver, look for the tipping option in the payment section of the checkout page.

Tipping is not required for Petco deliveries, but tipping is always a good idea if you know that a delivery app like DoorDash is doing the delivery.

Here’s why tipping is the right move: On DoorDash, a tip is like a bid for better service. Dashers can see how much an order will pay before they accept the job, so orders with tips will usually win out over orders that don’t have tips.

So when you tip on your Petco order, you’re incentivizing a driver to accept your order and do a better job.

• Why tipping can get you faster service on delivery apps

Don’t want your order delivered by DoorDash? Pick a slower shipping option. DoorDash mainly covers same-day delivery.

The slower shipping options are fulfilled by traditional shipping companies that employ full-time drivers who don’t work for tips. Dashers need those tips!

More help for DoorDash customers

• Is Express Delivery worth it on DoorDash?
• How much does DoorDash cost?