Food delivery services have absolutely exploded in recent years. More and more people are ordering food online due to convenience and other reasons. However, many people may become frustrated at the fact that many delivery services do not accept cash.
This may not come as much of a surprise, seeing as we are living in an increasingly cashless world, but it still may be frustrating to some people. Luckily, there are some delivery services out there that still accept cash.
Food Delivery That Accepts Cash
Food delivery services that accept cash include Grubhub, DoorDash, Seamless, Delivery.com, Uber Eats, and EatStreet. However, these services will only accept cash for restaurants that have chosen cash as an acceptable payment option.
Keep reading to find a list of delivery services that accept cash, as well as information on why some delivery services do not.
Which Food Delivery Services Accept Cash?
Most major food delivery apps will accept cash. However, they will not accept cash unless the restaurant you are ordering from has chosen to accept cash. This means that cash payments will not be available for every order.
Typically, if your order qualifies for cash payment, you will have access to cash as a payment option during checkout. Furthermore, most food delivery apps will allow their delivery drivers to accept tips in the form of cash. If you have specific questions about payment options, you may wish to contact the individual customer services for each app.
1. Grubhub
Grubhub accepts a number of payment methods, including cash, credit or debit, PayPal, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. Grubhub also issues gift cards which can be used to pay for Grubhub orders.
Although Grubhub does allow customers to pay with cash for some orders, it is up to each individual restaurant whether or not they accept cash. This means that some orders cannot be paid for with cash, and another payment method must be used.
If a restaurant on Grubhub accepts cash, you should have the option to pay with cash available during checkout when you place your order.
2. DoorDash
Seeing as DoorDash is the leading food delivery app on the market right now, it comes as no surprise that they offer a wide range of payment options. Luckily for us, this includes cash. They also accept credit and debit cards, and DoorDash gift cards. Oddly enough, DoorDash does not accept PayPal.
Like Grubhub, DoorDash only accepts cash for restaurants that have chosen to accept it. This means that the option to pay with cash will not always be available for DoorDash orders.
It is worth noting that DoorDash drivers can always accept tips given in cash. However, these tips will not be shown to the driver before or during delivery.
3. Seamless
Seamless is yet another food delivery app mainly limited to New York City and other big cities, including Boston, Philadelphia, Miami, Chicago, Houston, Austin, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and London, England.
Seamless was merged into the Grubhub brand back in May of 2013. Accordingly, Seamless accepts cash as payment much like Grubhub. Also like Grubhub, only orders from restaurants that accept cash will have cash as an acceptable payment option.
Other payment methods accepted by Seamless include credit or debit cards, Paypal, Google Pay, Apple Pay, and eGift cards.
4. Delivery.com
Delivery.com is another delivery service that allows customers to order food, groceries, and even alcohol. It is available in a number of US cities, including Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Washington D.C. They are even available in Hong Kong, believe it or not.
Delivery.com accepts cash. In addition, they also accept credit cards, PayPal, Apple Pay, and gift cards.
5. Uber Eats
Even though Uber’s ridesharing app does not accept cash, Uber Eats does. However, like other delivery services that accept cash, Uber Eats will only accept cash for restaurants that have allowed it as a payment option. In other words, the ability to pay with cash on Uber Eats will depend on the restaurant from which you are ordering.
Like other apps, you can also always tip your Uber Eats driver in cash. Keep in mind, though, that the driver will not see your tip before or during delivery. Other payment methods accepted by Uber Eats include credit or debit cards, Apple Pay, Paypal, gift cards, and uber credits.
6. EatStreet
EatStreet is one of the older food delivery apps available in the US, serving more than 250 cities across the country. Like the other apps on this list, EatStreet accepts cash for certain orders. Unfortunately, also like the other apps on this list, EatStreet will only accept cash for orders from restaurants that have allowed cash as a payment option.
You should be able to see cash as a payment option during checkout if it is available for your order on EatStreet. Other payment methods accepted by EatStreet include credit cards, Apple Pay, and Google Pay.
Delivery Services That Do Not Accept Cash
There are many different food delivery apps available in the US and internationally. Most of these apps are focused on delivering food orders from restaurants, but some of them include other options.
Below is a list of delivery apps that do not accept cash. You will also find a list of payment methods that each service will accept.
1. Favor
Favor delivery is for more than just food. They can deliver just about anything right to your doorstep. While this is convenient and novel, the service unfortunately does not accept cash.
Acceptable forms of payment for Favor include all major credit and debit cards. Favor also issues e-gift cards that are redeemable from merchants participating in Favor’s delivery system. Gift cards for Favor cannot be redeemed for alcohol.
Read: Can You Split Payment on DoorDash?
2. Waitr
Waitr is another food delivery service available in a number of states across the US. They do not accept cash for food delivery, but they will accept Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover, JCB, and Diners.
Like most other delivery apps, Waitr does not accept restaurant gift cards. They also do not issue gift cards of their own at the moment. They do, however, have their own gift card system currently in development.
3. Caviar
Caviar is a logistics company that was acquired by DoorDash in 2019. Although DoorDash does accept cash for food deliveries, Caviar does not. They do, however, accept debit or credit cards, PayPal, Apple Pay, and Google Pay.
Payment methods can be added, changed, or updated through Caviar customer service. It’s important to make sure that you always register your payment information accurately, to avoid unnecessary stress while ordering.
4. Instacart
Instacart is another recognizable name in the food delivery industry. The main focus of their business model is on grocery delivery, but they can also deliver hot foods from select stores.
Instacart does not accept cash. However, they do accept credit or debit cards, Google Pay, Apple Pay, and PayPal. They also accept SNAP EBT cards at certain stores in select US states.
5. Shipt
Shipt is another online delivery service that delivers not only food, but also goods from stores like Target, CVS Pharmacy, Petco, Office Depot, and more. They also deliver alcohol from select stores in certain cities.
Acceptable forms of payment for Shipt orders include debit or credit cards and gift cards. Unfortunately, Shipt does not accept EBT cards as payment for orders.
Why Don’t Some Food Delivery Services Accept Cash?
There are many reasons that a delivery service may not accept cash. Even the services that do accept cash for some orders leave it at the discretion of individual restaurants. The main reasons for this are payment security.
Cash payments are received upon delivery, unlike digital payments which are collected before the food is even being made. Subsequently, cash payments open the restaurant and the app up to unpaid orders.
Cash payments also create situations where a driver may have to return to a restaurant after collecting cash from the customer in order to pay the restaurant for the food. This increases yet another layer of risk that food apps and restaurants may not wish to take.
The final reason that cash is not universally accepted is that drivers in certain areas may not feel comfortable carrying large amounts of cash after delivering multiple orders. All of these reasons compound to discourage restaurants and delivery services from accepting cash.
Food Delivery That Accepts Cash
As food delivery services continue to grow in popularity, we will likely see a number of changing trends when it comes to payment. Although many of these services did not accept cash payments in the past, they have changed their tune in recent years.
Delivery services usually disallow cash payments in order to minimize risk. Accepting cash opens the restaurant and the service up to potentially unpaid orders, as well as other problems. Accordingly, even the services that do accept cash only do so for select restaurants.
If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to ask away in the comments section.