What’s The Difference Between Postmates And Doordash?

Now that a lot of drivers are beginning to look into delivery, I thought it would be a good idea to explain the similarities and differences between Postmates and Doordash. I have a lot of experience ordering from them, and lately I’ve gotten addicted to ordering food from both of them. I’ve also done deliveries for them, so I definitely have some experience with both of these companies and their business models.

Take a look at the video, then read the video transcript if you’d like to see all my points in print.

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Postmates and DoorDash are on-demand food delivery apps

These companies have similar business models: They both are on-demand delivery apps. If you need any type of food from a restaurant, take-out type place, or fast food, you place an order through the app and the company will actually call in the order. So if it’s a restaurant or something like that, you place an order with Postmates or Doordash, the company will call in the order for you, and then they’ll send a courier or a dasher to go pick up the food and drop it to your door.

Like the name Doordash would suggest, they bring it to your door. You don’t have to go meet them on the street or anything like that. And if it’s a fast food place, the dasher or the courier will actually go to the restaurant to make the order. You know, if they can’t call in the order, they’ll place the order. Like, if it’s at Chipotle, they’ll go there and they’ll have your order and place it for you. It is a very convenient service, and for a lot of people they really enjoy it. A lot of families tend to use it, a lot of busy professionals that don’t have time to order, people that just want to try a new take out, or just people like me who are lazy.

They both give you lots of free codes if you are a new customer. If you haven’t checked out these services and you’re looking into them, definitely make sure that you use like a coupon code or a sign-up bonus or something like that, because you can either get a discount or free delivery, or sometimes both, on your first orders with Postmates and Doordash. We’ll leave links below if you guys want to use one of our codes to sign-up.

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The major differences between Postmates and DoorDash

There are some differences between the two, and that’s what I really want to focus on today now that we have explained a little bit about what these apps are and what these apps aren’t.

The first thing that I will talk about is the cost. The total charges actually end up for Postmates and Doordash to the customer being about the same, but the way they charge is very different. Now, Postmates actually charges about $4 to $10 for most jobs. They can charge more, but most jobs are in that range.

Cost: Postmates service fee vs. DoorDash flat rate delivery fee & food up charge

Postmates charges a 9% service fee on the total cost of the food and the delivery fee, and you have the option to leave a tip for your driver. So after you get your food, you have the option to go on the app and leave them a tip, anywhere from 10%, 15%, 20% to whatever percent or whatever amount you want, and drivers actually get to keep 80% of the delivery fee. So of that $4 to $10, drivers keep 80%. Postmates keeps 20% and then the drivers also receive 100% of the tips, which is definitely nice, right? I mean, Postmates doesn’t take out a service charge or any commission or anything like that on the tips, which is pretty typical, but it’s also nice in general that you know that if you are leaving your courier a tip, they are gonna get the full amount.

Now, Doordash actually charges a delivery fee that tends to be lower, like in the $4 to $6 range, but they also add an up-charge to all of the food, which is about 10% from what I’ve seen. And you know, it was funny because I was ordering from a restaurant in LA that I’ve been going to since I was a kid, called Bay Cities, super famous sandwich shop, and I ordered a sandwich on Doordash, and I was like, “Wait, $7.50, that definitely isn’t the price.” I’ve been ordering this sandwich forever, I know exactly how much it costs, and that’s kinda how I discovered that they put this 10% charge. I think it’s a little bit sneaky, to be honest, and I don’t know that they are trying to be malicious or anything like that. It’s just that’s how they’ve have chosen to kinda up-charge.

They don’t have a 9% service charge like Postmates, so that’s kind of similar to their 9% service charge. So basically on all of the food that you are gonna buy, when you see it on the menu, it’s gonna be a little bit more expensive, about 10% more than what you would see in the store. And then with Doordash you also have the option to leave a tip. But one difference that I personally don’t like is that you have to leave the tip when you place the order. So when you place the order with Doordash, it asks you for the tip amount and you have to leave it right there.

I am not a fan of that because you don’t know if the delivery person is gonna do a great job. If they totally botch your order and you left them a 30% tip,  that delivery person is like, “Wow, I just got an awesome tip, I did a great job,” even though they really screwed it up. Then if they do a poor job, you can’t leave them less. So that’s not an option that I am a huge fan of. With Postmates you can actually do the tip after.

Both offer promotions and deals

Both of these companies offer a lot of promotions and deals. What I have found though, is that Postmates tends to offer a lot better weekly specials, delivery specials, free food. Postmates is always doing free food in my area, delivery deals, stuff like that. Doordash has promotions, but to be honest, I found them a little bit lamer. You know, it’ll be like, “Spend $30 and you’ll save $4 or $5 or $3,” something kind of low. Nothing that like gets me excited and wants me to like, “Oh, I’m gonna go spend money because I can save so much money.”

DoorDash doesn’t partner with as many restaurants

Then the other really big difference that I found, and kinda the last thing I will touch on, it’s really with the stores that you can order from. With Doordash, they actually partner with all of these restaurants that are listed on their app. So they’re not gonna have every restaurant in your area, because if they haven’t talked to them, if they haven’t partnered with them or have some type of relationship with them, they are not going to put them on the app. When you go onto the Doordash app, every restaurant that you select will have their full menu, it has exactly the prices and what you can order, so you know exactly how much are gonna pay by the time you checkout, delivery fee, and, tip.

But, it also creates some problems, because that’s a lot of restaurants that they have to go and update the menus for, and it can be a hassle to order on Doordash because they don’t have every restaurant and they don’t have a custom option either. I actually ordered from a sandwich shop that also did like soups and different things and they didn’t have the sandwich section in the app. It’s kind of funny, this place was called Alien Sandwiches and they didn’t even have the sandwich section on the Doordash app. I was kind of like, “Hey, the point of the store is to sell sandwiches,” and they didn’t have that, so I couldn’t order from Doordash that day.

The other annoying thing is that they don’t have every restaurant. I like trying new places and they may not be on the Doordash app, so that’s definitely one thing that you’ll find. You know, one thing that I really love about Doordash though, is that when you do find a restaurant and you get everything set up, you place the order, it’s instant. As soon as you place the order it’s like, boom, it processes and it says, “All right, your order is in place,” and it has nice tracking, or Doordash actually texts you and says, “Your order has been accepted. It’s on the way. Your driver is arriving,” all that type of stuff, whereas Postmates uses more of an in-app notification, so you’ll get a notification on your phone as opposed to texting.

When you order with Postmates, they actually go and find a courier. So you have to like sit there staring at the screen waiting for a courier to match. Postmates has been better lately, but I have had many, many times where they haven’t been able to find a courier, whereas with Doordash, every time I place the order it’s instant. So, you know, those are a kinda couple of differences as far when it comes to ordering.

You can order from anywhere on Postmates

You know, the other thing to keep in mind with Postmates is that they allow you to order from anywhere, so any restaurant, any place, which is good and bad, right? They list partner and non-partner restaurants, and on the partner restaurants they’ll have menus and everything, but on like the non-partner restaurants they won’t have the menu. You have to go on Yelp or somewhere.

I usually go on Yelp, find the menu, and then I pick out what I want, or if I already know what I want I’ll just put it down and order that way. So it’s good and bad because you can get it from any place, but you have to do a little bit of work on your own. And I mean, I’ve had instances where I’ve ordered from a place and it turns out it’s closed because Postmates doesn’t have like a specific relationship with a lot of these stores. And I may be the first person ever to order from it, and they might be closed on Tuesday, and I’m placing an order on Tuesday and I didn’t know that.

And then the other thing is that Postmates used to accept cash-only jobs, but the last one that I tried to place, they said that they don’t do cash only now, so I’m not sure if that’s nationwide policy or if maybe just something they are testing in my area, but definitely something to look out for. In my place, there a lot of great cash-only spots so that would be kind of annoying if that’s like a future policy, so definitely keep in mind on that. You can actually order anything on Postmates, and, you know, Doordash has some options too.

You can order anything on Postmates — Even from grocery stores

One time I was cooking and I realized that like I forgot one thing from the store, but I was in the middle of cooking, and so I Postmated one thing and they went to Von’s or Ralph’s and picked it up for me and brought it back and I was able to finish my dinner perfectly on time, and my wife was happy that dinner was on time. So it’s definitely stuff like that, where it’s pretty cool and comes in handy. Ninety percent of the orders are food, and most of the food orders are actually fast food type stuff.

The video is a little bit long, but hopefully you guys made it to the end. I recommend you giving both apps a shot though really and seeing which one you prefer. If you are like me, you’ll probably end up using a combination of both, because the prices are similar and they both have their weaknesses and their strengths. Postmates is better at certain things, Doordash is better at other things, so I definitely recommend you giving both a shot. Hey, they both give free credits when you sign up, so kind of a no-brainer to at least try it out once or twice. Hopefully you won’t get too addicted to it like I have, but definitely good services. So, hopefully that was a good breakdown for you guys. If you have any questions definitely leave a comment below. Feel free to like, comment, subscribe to the channel. I look forward to hearing from you. All right, take care.

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