If you order food delivery often, you may consider paying for the monthly subscription to get free delivery. DashPass is one service (DoorDash) offering a monthly subscription that promises to save you money on your food delivery.
Is paying a monthly fee worth it for food delivery? Will you come out ahead by subscribing to the service or is it a waste of money?
We uncover the truth about DashPass, how it works, and most importantly if it’s worth it to pay the monthly fee.
What is DoorDash?
DoorDash is an on-demand food delivery service. You order food on their app from one of the thousands of restaurants in their network. You pay for the order through DoorDash and they handle the ordering, picking up, and delivering your food to you.
DoorDash may have different prices for the same food you could order straight from the restaurant and you’ll also pay delivery fees and service charges to cover their cost of being the ‘middleman’ and delivering the food.
DashPass is a service that helps you save money on delivery fees, saving the average user $4 – $5 on each order.
What is DashPass?
DashPass is DoorDash’s monthly delivery subscription service. You pay a monthly fee much like you would for Netflix, whether you use the service or not.
What does the monthly fee get you?
Free delivery is how they advertise it. Is it true?
Yes, but there are sidebars and restrictions of course and they don’t readily advertise those. That’s why we’re uncovering what you must know about the DashPass to determine if it makes sense for you.
How Does it Work?
DashPass is a service that offers free deliveries on orders over $12. There’s the first ‘fine print.’ Your order must be at least $12 before you get free delivery. Granted, that’s not hard to do with a service like DoorDash. If you’ve used it before, you know many of the restaurants inflate their prices on DoorDash to cover the administrative fees they pay to use DoorDash.
Here’s the next restriction.
It only works at certain restaurants. That’s a big one. Before you subscribe to DashPass, consider what restaurants you’d order from most often. Look for the DashPass logo on the restaurants you order from most often to see if it’s worth it. DoorDash claims they offer DashPass on thousands of restaurants. Whether it’s worth it or not depends on where you live and what you like to eat.
Here’s the nice thing.
If you aren’t sure if DashPass is right for you, new members get a free one-month trial. We say go ahead and try it. Just keep track of how often you use it and how much you save on delivery fees.
Are the restaurants you order from most often on there or are you still paying delivery fees? Keep track for a month and if you don’t like it or it’s not worth it, cancel the subscription before you get charged (you must provide your credit card when you sign up).
What Does it Cost?
DashPass has one membership and it costs $9.99 a month. For that $9.99 a month, you get free delivery from the included restaurants. You’ll also pay reduced service fees, which is a separate fee on your DoorDash order.
The reduced service fees are as much of a benefit as the free delivery. DoorDash charges as much as 10% – 15% in service fees on a regular order. With DashPass, they reduce the service fee to 5%.
Let’s say you have a $30 order. You could pay as much as $4.50 in service fees. This is on top of the delivery fee and tip. If you have DashPass, you’ll skip the delivery fee and pay only $1.50 in service fees, plus the delivery driver tip.
You pay the subscription fee every month unless you cancel. The nice thing is you can cancel at any time. You must cancel at least one day before your subscription renews for the month. Once you cancel, you can still use your benefits through the next billing period.
How do you Sign Up?
It’s easy to sign up for DashPass using the DoorDash app. Log into your account and look for the ‘Get $0 delivery fees with DashPass’ icon. Read the terms and conditions and accept them (if you want). The app will then ask for your billing details, or confirm the details you already have stored in the app if applicable.
Wait for the confirmation and you’re all set to earn free deliveries on orders from select restaurants over $12.
Benefits of DashPass
DashPass offers many benefits including:
- Unlimited free deliveries from select restaurants
- Reduced service fees
- Priority customer service
- Exclusive promotions
- Can use on DoorDash and Caviar (owned by DoorDash)
- Can cancel at any time
Downsides of DashPass
Like any service, there are downsides to DashPass including:
- Doesn’t work at all restaurants
- You must order at least $12 in food
- You pay the subscription even if you don’t use it
- DoorDash prices are inflated compared to the regular restaurant prices
- You should still tip the ‘Dasher’ which adds to your cost
DashPass FAQs
How much is DashPass?
DashPass is $9.99 a month, but you can get a one-month trial for free. You will still provide your credit card information, so make sure you cancel before your month ends if you don’t think the service is worth it.
Some credit cards, like Chase Freedom, Slate, or Sapphire include DashPass in their benefits. This means millions of Chase credit cardholders get free DashPass, worth $9.99 a month. World and Elite Mastercard holders also get free DashPass subscriptions as of April 2021.
Can I cancel DashPass?
You can cancel DashPass at any time. If you cancel before your free trial ends, you won’t be charged anything. If you keep the service but want to cancel, make sure you cancel by 11:59 PM the night before your subscription renews for it to be effective immediately.
If you cancel before the billing cycle ends, your DashPass is available for use until your billing cycle ends. You won’t be charged again and your subscription will end.
How can I tell which restaurants have DashPass?
DoorDash makes it easy to see which restaurants have DashPass. Just look for the DashPass logo next to the restaurant name. It’s easy to browse through the main screen and see which restaurants in your area offer it. DoorDash also says they are always adding new restaurants to the list of thousands they already have.
How do I sign up for DashPass?
It’s easy to sign up for DashPass. If you already have a DoorDash account, just log in and click ‘sign up for DashPass.’ If you don’t have a DoorDash account, download the app and sign up. You’ll provide your personal information including your name and address, and also provide your billing information.
DashPass will charge you monthly for the subscription. Your billing date will always be the same and they will automatically charge your credit card unless you cancel the subscription.
How long can you try DashPass for free?
You can try DashPass for free for one month unless you have one of the eligible credit cards from Chase or Mastercard (Chase Freedom, Slate, or Sapphire). Some offer the free service as long as your credit card account remains in good standing. Others provide a free subscription for 3 months. Either way, you have a free subscription to DashPass, which saves you $9.99 a month plus you won’t pay delivery fees on eligible orders from eligible restaurants.
What is an eligible order on DashPass?
An eligible order on DashPass is an order over $12. They do this to avoid ‘micro-orders.’ They want the service to be worth it for their drivers. If they offered free delivery with no minimum order required, anyone would use it to buy a drink, a piece of cake, or a single item, making it not worth the drivers’ time.
Is DashPass Worth It?
Bottom line, is DashPass worth the $9.99 a month fee?
It can be if you use it enough.
If you order from DoorDash regularly (at least 3 times a month), you’ll at least break even, but most will come out ahead. You’ll make the most out of the service if you order large orders as the delivery fee increases by the size of the order.
If you only order for yourself and it’s only a couple of times a month, we might say it’s not worth it, especially if you ever order from restaurants that don’t offer DashPass.
It’s always worth trying the service since they offer a free month. You can get a good feel for the average number of times you’d use the service and if you feel like you save anything paying for it. But if you know you only order from DoorDash on emergencies or rare occasions, it may not be worth it.
