Are you interested in getting extra rewards for your side hustle delivering food through the DoorDash application?
If so, the DoorDash Top Dasher program offers rewards for workers who meet certain requirements.
One bonus you may see include being prioritized for deliveries when the business for food delivery apps is having a slow day.
As a Top Dasher, you will also enjoy the benefit of scheduling through the “Dash Now” feature.
What Is the DoorDash Top Dasher Program?
The DoorDash Top Dasher program involves recognizing and rewarding the best food delivery workers.
Those who meet their customers’ expectations are likely to be recognized through this program.
There are specific requirements you will need to meet to participate in the Top Dasher program.
The main benefit of being a Top Dasher includes gaining priority schedule access.
This is the feature that allows you to “Dash Now” anytime that you have available in your schedule.
This program does require a minimum DoorDash acceptance rate.
Essentially, if you consistently decline to accept a food delivery, this will negatively impact the customer.
By declining orders, that means that customers have to wait longer and the merchant whose meal will sit around until a delivery driver chooses to accept the food delivery.
Did You Know?
Be mindful of acceptance rate as a driver. Not accepting or cancelling too many orders not only negatively impacts your DoorDash driver rating, but also puts you at risk of being deactivated as a courier.
If you meet all requirements and qualifications, you can become a Top Dasher on the first day of every month.
You can check your Top Dasher status in your account settings on your Dasher app.
How Does the Top Dasher Program Work?
The Top Dasher program works on a month-to-month basis. If you meet the requirements, you will be considered a Top Dasher on the first day of the month.
In the account portion of your Dasher app, you will see the Dasher Rewards page.
You will have access to these rewards for the rest of the month.
If you do not receive the Top Dasher status on the first day of the next month, the bonuses will no longer apply to you and you will lose access to these benefits.
Dashers are added to the program automatically when they meet the criteria at any point during the previous month.
Essentially, you will be able to qualify for the Top Dasher program every month as long as you meet the criteria.
Now let’s take a look at whether the benefits of this program are worth your time.
Benefits of Being Part of the Program
There are two main benefits of the Top Dasher program.
The first is the feature of dashing anywhere at any time.
The “Dash Now” feature is available to all Top Dashers.
The second benefit is the ability to have more deliveries.
When the need for deliveries is slower, you will get more priority for new orders as a Top Dasher than another driver who did not qualify.
Consider a situation where there are multiple nearby dashers available for the same delivery.
If you have Top Dasher status, you’ll be the one to get access to that delivery instead of Doordash delivery drivers who do not have the same ranking.
In 2021, DoorDash also provided a new Top Dasher perk.
Now, if you qualify for the program, you will gain access to high-value orders.
You will have a 50 percent rise in high-value orders, which are $35 or more in cost.
All of these benefits will result in extra income for dedicated and experienced dashers.
Cities Where the Top Dasher Program Is Available
The DoorDash app and its food delivery service, along with the Top Dasher program, are available in more than 850 cities across North America.
Some of the cities that have access to the DoorDash app and participating restaurants include these select cities:
- Anchorage
- Atlanta
- Austin
- Birmingham
- Charlotte
- Chicago
- Dallas
- Detroit
- Houston
- Indianapolis
- Jacksonville
- Las Vegas
- Miami
- Minneapolis
- New Orleans
- New York City
- Orlando
- Philadelphia
- Richmond
- Seattle
- Tampa
- Toronto
- Washington, D.C.
- Winnipeg
There are plenty of cities and restaurants participating in the DoorDash food delivery system.
These same places also offer the DoorDash Top Dasher program.
What Are the Top Dasher Requirements?
To be a Top Dasher you will need your dasher stats to reach certain levels.
The Top Dasher requirements that you’ll need to meet to be part of the program and gain access to its benefits include:
- Having a customer rating of 4.7 or more
- Having an acceptance rate of 70 percent or larger
- Reaching a DoorDash completion rate of at least 100 deliveries over the last month
- Completing at least 200 deliveries across the entire use of the DoorDash app
- Achieving a completion rate of 95 percent or higher
One of the most difficult Top Dasher requirements may be achieving an acceptance rate of at least 70 percent.
For instance, you may see multiple requests for food delivery with relatively low pay.
Usually, you’ll want to decline such a request, but keeping an acceptance rate of 70 percent may make you change your mind.
Getting low-paying gigs to reach the required acceptance rate may make the program not worth it for some delivery drivers.
Therefore, the acceptance rate may be one of the more complex requirements to reach Top Dasher status.
Tips for Being a Top Dasher
If you want to be a Top Dasher, you’ll need to have a high completion rate and a 70 percent acceptance rate.
One tip for becoming a Top Dasher includes trying to decline a couple of the low-paying requests at the beginning of the month, which should leave you with access to the high-paying orders.
The DoorDash cost for orders varies, so cherry-picking the best can word to your advantage.
You’ll also need to meet all the requirements by the last day of the month, so you will have four weeks to keep trying to reach the ranking.
You will not lose your ranking if you don’t meet the criteria in the middle of the month since the Top Dasher program is based on the requirements from the previous month.
However, your future ranking in the following month will be affected.
It’s a good idea to start accepting some of the low-paying offers toward the end of the month to reach a 70 percent acceptance rate and gain Top Dasher status.
Is Top Dasher Worth It?
This is a complicated question.
Some delivery drivers using the DoorDash app have found the Top Dasher program not worth their time, while others like its benefits.
As mentioned previously, maintaining a higher acceptance rating is difficult for food delivery drivers since it requires accepting a few too many low-paying orders, according to the Ridesharing Driver publication.
Generally, delivery drivers can decline as many orders as they want on the DoorDash app, but this program does not allow for that.
Order requests will display the payout the driver will receive with low-paying offers as low as $3 in total.
It makes more sense for drivers to decline these requests and wait for more reasonably priced ones.
Some drivers have also mentioned that the Dash Anytime feature of the Top Dasher program is not that beneficial.
However, there are some significant benefits that Top Dashers have gained, which if you used effectively can result in an increase in your total earnings.
They can get the best hours to deliver food in competitive markets so that can earn peak pay.
In addition, you will also benefit from being able to switch zones during your delivery hours.
You won’t have to deliver in only one specific zone.
These benefits do make the DoorDash Top Dasher program worth it for many delivery drivers.
Related: Is DoorDash worth it for drivers?
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the Acceptance Rate matter to DoorDash drivers?
The acceptance rate matters to drivers who want to join the DoorDash Top Dasher program.
These food delivery drivers need to reach an acceptance rate of at least 70 percent to qualify for the program.
Otherwise, if you do not want to be a Top Dasher, you will not need to worry about the number of orders you accept.
Will I become a DoorDash Top Dasher right away after meeting the requirements?
If you met all of the requirements for being a Top Dasher, you will be able to join the program and receive the rewards on the first day of the following month.
You will not be able to gain the new reward immediately after meeting all the criteria.
I am accepting all orders I receive, so why isn’t my Acceptance Rate going up?
This sounds like there may be a glitch on the DoorDash app.
There have been data glitches with the acceptance rate in the past.
You will need to work with the DoorDash support team to ensure that this feature works for you.
The good news is that the acceptance rate only matters for the Top Dasher program.
It will not harm your overall standing with the company.
Wrapping Up
Now you should know exactly how the Top Dasher program works on a month-to-month basis.
It is up to you to decide whether the benefits of this program are worth pursuing.
You can always try out the program for one month and see whether the rewards improve your overall work experience with the DoorDash app.
So go out there and try to boost your completion and acceptance rates!