Are you attempting to order something on DoorDash, only to see that the app is reporting that the food is only available for pickup?
This is a frustrating issue that can affect not only certain restaurants, but even every single restaurant in your area.
But why is DoorDash only allowing pickup? What’s causing this, and what can be done to fix it?
In this article, we’ll cover everything that you need to know.
Why Is DoorDash Only Allowing Pickup?
If DoorDash isn’t allowing food to be delivered to you, it may be caused by a few different reasons. By properly identifying the potential cause, it will be easier to choose the ideal solution going forward.
Let’s briefly look at the different things that may be preventing deliveries from being available.
1. DoorDash Is Experiencing A System Glitch
By far, this is the most common reason why deliveries are not available.
Although DoorDash works flawlessly the vast majority of the time, it is still prone to software glitches and other errors. Because these directly affect DoorDash’s bottom line, they typically find out about them quite quickly and work to sort them out as fast as they possibly can.
This means that the problem is usually fixed within minutes.
To find out whether or not there is a system-wide glitch going on, we recommend going to a site like Twitter and doing a search for DoorDash. If other people are experiencing the same issue, it’s likely that it is in fact caused by a bug.
2. Your Area Has A Curfew
If your area has a strict curfew (meaning that people can’t be out beyond a certain time), then you will be unable to order food for delivery.
This is likely because there are no Dashers working who will be able to pick it up for you.
In these instances, the ‘Pickup Only’ message will only appear for your certain area, and other cities will be unaffected.
Unfortunately, you will not be able to order food until the curfew hours have passed. This issue also likely affects other delivery apps, such as Uber Eats, GrubHub, and Postmates.
3. There Are No Available Drivers
This one is kind of similar to the last issue.
If there are no available DoorDash drivers in your area, the app and website may list everything as pickup only.
This can be caused not only by curfews, but also because of a high uptick in orders, without enough drivers available to fulfill them. This is most common around peak eating times, such as lunch or dinner.
While this issue should sort itself as more drivers become available, it’s hard to know how long until that happens – especially if you live in a smaller town without as many available Dashers.
Therefore, if speed is a priority to you in may indeed be faster to drive to the restaurant yourself.
4. Unsafe Driving Conditions
Finally, unsafe driving conditions may cause DoorDash to require items be picked up, rather than delivered.
Although DoorDash does deliver in bad weather (including snow), there are situations where it may be deemed unsafe for deliveries to occur.
This is not only caused by weather, but may also be caused by poor road conditions, obstructions, or unsafe access to your residence.
While this is rare, it’s something to be mindful of.
How To Fix The Issue, So You Can Receive DoorDash Deliveries Again
Ultimately, there isn’t a whole lot you can do to solve this problem, because it’s a decision made by DoorDash themselves (rather than a technical error on your end). However, there are still some things that you can try.
1. Wait
The easiest and most straightforward solution is simply to wait.
Most of the time, this issue is caused by a technical glitch caused by DoorDash, that resolves itself within just a few minutes.
During this time, you could try force closing your app (swiping it away, rather than just going to your home screen), and reopening it. This will force DoorDash to reload everything, and may help bring the option for delivery back.
Even if it’s not caused by a technical issue, it may be caused by no drivers being available. So, waiting a little while will help, as drivers will finish the deliveries they have already committed to.
In either case, once the delivery option is back, you can place your order as normal.
2. Order Using A Different Service
Unless you live in a very small town, it’s likely that there are multiple food delivery services competing for your business.
A few DoorDash competitors include Uber Eats, GrubHub, and Postmates.
All of them have their own mobile app, and operate very similar to DoorDash. So, download and try one of these services out, and it’s likely one of these will have a driver available!
Of course, this option won’t work in an event of a curfew. However, in most situations, there will be someone immediately available to accept the delivery of your order if you try out all of these services.
Conclusion
Although it can be frustrating when DoorDash claims food is only available for pickup, this problem usually resolves itself in a manner of minutes.
Even if it’s caused by no Dashers being available to deliver, using an alternative food delivery service should ensure that you’ll get your order in about the same amount of time.
I hope that you’ve found this article helpful. If you have any other questions about DoorDash or any other food delivery service, please ask them using the comment form below.
Wishing you the best,
– James McAllister