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DoorDash Tasks - EVERYTHING You MUST Know!!
- Joseph Mandracchia
- 12 hours ago
- 9 min read
In some markets, Doordash has been testing out something known as Doordash Tasks. As a concept, they have been trying out different ways to make this happen but honestly, I don’t think there has been a single app in the delivery space that has done this well.
While I think the concept can be profitable for drivers, I think we need to dive deeper before considering taking orders like this.
So in this video, We are talking about:
EVERYTHING You MUST Know about Doordash Tasks
What they tell you vs How it ACTUALLY is
Everything in between!
Disclaimer: The content of this video does not contain and is never intended to be legal, business, financial, tax, or health advice of any kind. This video is for entertainment, educational, and informational purposes only. It is advised that you conduct your own research and consult with qualified professionals before applying anything you find online.
I also want to be clear that everything we are going to go over is very market dependent, and what applies to me and my market may not apply to you.
What Doordash Tells You
This is coming from an article from Doordash titled “Introducing Doordash Tasks” as there are no current help pages on this yet.
Today, we’re introducing Tasks — a new way for Dashers to earn on their own terms beyond delivery, and for businesses to know more about what’s happening on the ground.
DoorDash is always testing new earning opportunities like this, and every gig company has tried some version of it—but we’ll dive deeper into how this actually plays out.
Businesses need to know what’s actually on their shelves or whether the layout at another location has changed since last week. But getting this information at scale in real-time is a challenge. It’s one we’ve spent over a decade solving, from finding the front door at a tricky address to checking whether a favorite local bakery is open on a holiday. Solving these kinds of problems made our platform better for everyone who uses it. It also turned out to be something other businesses needed too.
Some companies refer to this as “audits” and “mystery shops” and while I do believe that this can be a profitable way to earn, because it is coming from Doordash, a company that also conducts their own Shop and Deliver orders, this can be beneficial to keep an accurate inventory to not disappoint customers when they order something that just isn’t available to them.
That said, this information is only as valuable as what you are willing to pay for it and what you are willing to do with the information. So I am wondering if it will actually be helpful or if it will just be another cash grab for Doordash.
Tasks helps businesses get the on-the-ground insights they need quickly and at scale, while giving Dashers a new way to earn beyond delivery. Tasks are short activities Dashers can complete between deliveries or in their own time. Examples include helping a restaurant showcase their menu by taking real photos of their dishes, helping a hotel make sure a delivery driver can find a drop-off location by taking photos of the hotel entrance, or giving an autonomous vehicle a hand getting back on the road. Since 2024, Dashers have completed more than 2 million tasks.
Here’s where things start to get a little questionable. Are these tasks replacing things that business owners would normally handle themselves—or outsource to professionals?
Look, I am all for finding ways to drive down costs on the business, and definitely all for ways to make more money. However, this seems less like an opportunity for drivers to earn more, and more like an opportunity for businesses to spend less.
“It’s simple: you can’t deliver to a door you can’t find or get someone milk if you don’t know what’s on the shelf. These are the kinds of real-world problems we’ve been solving for over a decade, and we realized the same capabilities that helped us could help other businesses too. The goal of Tasks is to help more businesses understand what’s happening on the ground and gather new insights, all while giving Dashers a new way to earn on their own terms. There are more than 8 million Dashers who can reach almost anywhere in the U.S. and who want to earn flexibly beyond delivery. That’s a powerful capability to digitize the physical world,” said Ethan Beatty, General Manager, DoorDash Tasks.
To be fair, this isn’t a new concept—models like mystery shopping and retail audits have existed for a while. I think that’s fine—but the issue is when those tasks start to move into areas where they don’t belong.
Taking photos of food for menus really should be done professionally, not by a Dasher with a phone, although I guess you can argue it would be less misleading if the order was made for a Doordash order, and you just took a photo.
However, that still doesn’t sound like how it would actually go down.
What is next? Dashers are now expected to conduct health inspections?
We’re also piloting a new standalone app where Dashers can complete activities like filming everyday tasks or recording themselves speaking in another language. This data helps AI and robotic systems understand the physical world. Pay is shown upfront and determined based on effort and complexity of the activity.
This is where things start to feel a bit uncomfortable. Are we looking at a system that’s trying to replace voice actors by bypassing them entirely?
This doesn’t just impact creators—it raises questions for gig workers too, especially when you look at how that data is being valued elsewhere.
At a surface level, recording yourself speaking another language might seem like a simple, low-effort task—but the way it’s valued depends entirely on who is buying it and how it’s being used.
A Dasher completing a Task might earn around $5 for submitting a quick voice clip, while that same type of data, collected in a structured environment, can pay $50 per hour in an AI training contract.
At the highest level, if that voice becomes part of a licensed or scalable AI product, it can be worth thousands.
The work itself doesn’t change—but the business model does. One is paying for a single action, while the others are paying for data that can be reused, scaled, and monetized far beyond the original recording—and that difference is where the real value is created.
And this is the part most Dashers aren’t thinking about when they see a $5 task.
We’re already partnering with companies across industries including retail, insurance, hospitality, and technology. We plan to expand into more task types and countries over time. Tasks and the new app are currently available in select places in the U.S., excluding California, New York City, Seattle and Colorado.
It’s interesting that the areas excluded are also the ones with stronger gig worker protections.
I can imagine a boardroom meeting where this came up and someone said “Oh no, we are not giving those entitled states more money, they are lucky enough to get crumbs!”
Jokes aside, I do like how they are removing this type of work from the main workflow. Acceptance rates and app momentum shouldn’t be affected because someone wanted to do deliveries and ended up receiving these types of orders and declining them.
They can say it won’t affect your ratings—but it’s going to affect something.
Field Agent and Other Apps
Like I said, Doordash is not the first to come up with this idea, they are just one of the loudest. There are a bunch of apps that have task based income opportunities, such as Field Agent, UserTesting, etc.
Some of them pay really well, some pay dog water, just remember not to undersell yourself on the tasks that they offer, because there is always a way to make more on a lot of these types of gigs.
Contract Violations from Tasks?
I wonder if Dashers can potentially get contract violations from the tasks being completed in a certain way.
In one of the examples they mentioned, they said that you can take pictures of products on their shelves to see real time inventory.
That said, if a driver just completed a “shop and deliver” order and they reported the item was not there, but the person who went there took a photo and found it, or even a damaged version of the item that they wouldn’t give a customer, they can end up receiving a violation for that.
I wonder if they are going to get that smart about it or if they are going to just give underdeserving violations because AI is telling someone in the Philippines to do it and they are just fulfilling a process.
And this is where the bigger issue starts to come into focus.
You Get What You Pay For
Look, I hate the idea of bashing on drivers for no reason but there is a difference between paying for a simple task to be done, such as food delivery, and paying for something that is supposed to have a higher price tag and having someone highly underqualified to complete the task.
There’s a difference between paying for convenience and paying for expertise—and this is where that line starts to blur.
And when the goal is to build reliable systems—especially in AI—that difference matters more than people think.
Using gig workers to complete voice recording tasks for the sake of keeping money in your pockets is one thing, but it raises the question of whether this approach is being used to reduce reliance on traditional voice talent altogether.
In some cases, it feels like AI quality is taking a step back—and this could be part of the reason why.
I tried using A.I. for some of my videos with my chevy case, and it just didn’t do as well. Videos just do better with real voices.
So instead of underpaying for higher-value work, you pay the right people to get it right the first time.
Building a Skill or Building a Bad Baseline
One good thing that may come from this is that a lot of drivers may have an opportunity to actually build some skillsets or discover skillsets they didn’t otherwise know they had.
If you ever thought about getting into the world of Voice acting, this can be a decent way to discover if this is the type of work you want to find yourself in.
If you find value in making sure people are staying up to code or making sure if things are in the right place and staying compliant, you might find value in becoming a field inspector or a notary.
Or inversely, you may try this out and realize “you know what? I would prefer to just deliver items like a normal Dasher”, then expanding into higher ticket delivery may be the right move for you, such as medical courier or another area of logistics.
There are other ways to expand as well, but identifying what you like based on real life experiences as opposed to just watching someone else do it is the best way to learn, at least in my opinion.
Is This Also Multi-Apping?
In a way, because they are making this into a separate app, this can also be considered a form of multi-apping. However, I don’t know what would happen if you were deactivated as a Dasher, and also have a “tasker” account (I don’t know if that is what they would be called).
Don’t be dependent on one company though. I would say to diversify your gig portfolio with more companies than just one and more opportunities.
Whether that means diving deeper into the food delivery space and into catering, a light pivot into medical courier work, or a HARD pivot into another type of service such as notary, UGC or photography.
I personally believe in giving as many types of work a chance because you never know what you might find valuable and not to mention, you might find a whole new experience that would allow you on a whole new path.
Just be careful not to let familiarity hold yourself back from trying something new.
Final Thoughts
Look, it is a bit too soon to determine if this will be a valuable opportunity for all Dashers, but I think I made my point clear when I say this seems like it will be just as harmful as it will be helpful if you let it take you over.
Don’t let platform pricing convince you that this is what the work is actually worth—because in many cases, it isn’t.
Just from a perspective of potential pay for Voice Acting from Doordash vs Professional Voice acting:
Likely Pay (based on industry + DoorDash structure):
$2 – $10 per task
Maybe:
$10 – $25 for more complex tasks (video, multiple steps)
Whereas professional voice acting could be:
$20 – $50/hour (basic AI data collection)
$100 – $300/session (structured recording)
$5,000+ (if it becomes voice model training/licensing)
So do yourself a favor and don’t let “Doordash pricing” undervalue you long term. It might make sense as a starting point—but it doesn’t reflect the long-term value of the skills you’re building.
Because at the end of the day, this isn’t just about completing tasks—it’s about understanding the value of what you’re contributing.
If you would like to add some other perspective to Doordash Tasks, feel free to email me: drivenwyld@gmail.com and who knows? Maybe your email or perspective and be featured in a post as well!
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