Doordash is a food delivery service available in many countries across the globe. In addition to giving customers the opportunity to have food delivered right to their door, it also gives people the option of becoming a DoorDash driver to deliver food themselves. It’s a decent way to make some extra money if you have a lot of time on your hands.
However, there is a bit of a process to becoming an active Doordash driver. Signing up involved identity verification, background checks, and a compliance check. Many new drivers go to attempt their first delivery, only to see the message “dasher must be active to schedule dashes”.
What Does ‘Dasher Must Be Active to Schedule Dashes’ Mean?
“Dasher must be active to schedule dashes” means that your Doordash account has not yet been activated. Once the compliance team verifies your MVR and background check, they will activate your account.
Keep reading to find details about getting your account activated on Doordash, as well as information on other problems you may run into while working for Doordash.
Why Am I Not Active on DoorDash?
There are a number of reasons your account on Doordash may not be activated. The most common reason is that it takes time for new accounts to be verified and activated by the compliance team. Your account may also be placed on a waitlist due to too many active dashers in your area.
You are not active on Doordash because the compliance team has not yet verified and activated your account. There may also be too many active dashers already in your area. You can contact Doordash customer support for help with this issue.
In some cases, dashers may receive the “must be active” message even if they have already been active and completing deliveries. This is a known bug related to the app, and must be rectified through Doordash customer support.
What Happens If You Schedule a Dash and Don’t Do It?
The Doordash app gives drivers a lot of control over when and how they do their job. One aspect of this is the ability to schedule dashes to be completed later at a set time. However, sometimes unforeseen circumstances may lead to dashes not being completed. What happens if you schedule a dash and don’t do it?
If you schedule a dash and don’t do it, your shift will be canceled after about 20-30 minutes. You will usually receive notifications in the app that you are late and warning that your shift will be canceled.
Aside from shift cancellations, you will not receive any immediate consequences. You can adjust the start time of your shift to avoid cancellation. If your shift is canceled, you may not be able to schedule a new one if there are already enough active dashers on the road.
For more information on scheduling dashes and getting started as a new dasher, you can visit the new dasher guide on Doordash.com.
Other Error Messages On DoorDash & What To Do About Them
The Doordash app sometimes gives drivers error messages. These can be anything from bugs with the app to problems with your account.
Understanding what these messages mean and what to do about them is essential for making as much money as possible with Doordash.
Driver Response Status Error Code 1
Driver response status error code 1 is a common problem that completely disables your ability to log into the app.
This error code will be displayed for a couple different reasons, the most common being that your device has an outdated OS.
To resolve the issue, you should update your device’s OS. The steps to do this are different depending on if you have an Android or iOS device.
You can also try enabling/disabling airplane mode, trying a different network, resetting your Doordash account password, or clearing the Cache on your Doordash app.
400 Bad Request Error
This error can happen if the connection between your device and the Doordash servers bugs out. It can be frustrating because there is little-to-no documentation on the Doordash website dealing with this issue.
Luckily, this error message can be resolved fairly easily. You will have to force stop the Doordash app and start it again in order to reset the connection. This process will be slightly different for Android and iOS users.
Error Code 500
Error code 500 is shown when your Doordash application does not have a proper internet connection, or when the cache is full and needs to be cleared. This can be fixed fairly easily by ensuring that you have a proper connection and clearing the cache on your Doordash app. Signing out and back into the Doordash app may also be necessary.
Doordash Schedules Are Currently Full in Your Area
If you live in an area with lots of other active Doordash drivers, you may encounter this message. This will stop you from being able to schedule dashes or start new dashes. As the message indicates, sometimes there are simply too many people attempting to complete deliveries at the same time. Doordash automatically keeps track of how many drivers are on the road, and will refuse to schedule new drivers until more are needed.
To resolve this issue, Doordash suggests moving closer to an activity hotspot. These will be marked with flame icons on the map in the Doordash app. You can also attempt to schedule a shift for a time when the schedule isn’t full with other people’s shifts.
We Are Unable to Start Your Dash at This Time Red Card
This message is sometimes encountered by new dashers who have not yet added their red card on their Doordash app. Once you receive your red card (used by dashers to pay for orders up-front during delivery), it is important that you register the card on the Doordash app. For instructions on how to do this, you can visit this help page on Doordash.com.
If you are receiving this message even though your card is already registered with the app, then you may need to clear your cache, force close the app, or even reinstall the app on your device.
Want to learn more about DoorDash? Read these articles to learn what time does DoorDash open, does DoorDash deliver to hotels, and can you use a gift card of DoorDash.
Final Thoughts
Doordash can be a great side gig for people with some free time who want to earn some extra cash. However, there are a number of bugs and roadblocks that drivers can run into while working with Doordash; especially if they are just starting out.
Understanding these error messages and how to resolve them can help a lot when trying to make money working through Doordash. There are a number of independent websites with tutorials on how to troubleshoot the Doordash app, in addition to the regular customer support pages on the Doordash website.
If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to ask away in the comments section.