Delivery drivers hit hard by rising gas prices

High gas prices are hitting all of us hard. We have become used to the convenience of having so many things delivered right to our doorsteps, but the people who bring you all that stuff have to fill up their gas tanks too.

Those little luxuries we became more and more accustomed to during the pandemic are becoming less and less worth it for delivery drivers. “You spend more money on gas than what you make, so it doesn’t make sense,” said Juliette Parkins, a delivery driver for DoorDash.

Parkins has only driven for DoorDash for about two months. Two months that she enjoyed. “I like to drive around, and I like to drive around and see different places, you know, and I like to give the people their food,” said Parkins.

Her goal was to make some extra cash, but with gas prices hitting more than $4 a gallon, it was no longer worth her while with the income she gets from the deliveries. “Not much. Not much. It’s embarrassing to say, so I won’t say, looking out for the other dashers, so yeah, not much. We need to do something better,” Parkins said.

For Parkins, something better means anything besides being a delivery driver. “I’m thinking about quitting because it’s like it’s not making any sense to me right now.”

Downtown House of Pizza charges its customers a $3 delivery fee. “It’s either their gas or ours. So it’s like do you want to pay for the gas, or do you want to pay for the delivery charge, which is less than a gallon of gas realistically,” said Downtown House of Pizza Lindsay Sherhag.

Sherhag hopes the customers know what the drivers need. “You know, through COVID, they took care of us, they knew that we were the only people here, and now they know that the drivers have to pay more to get to them.”

Their big message is don’t forget to tip your delivery drivers.

WINK News also reached out to DoorDash to see if they will increase their employees’ pay. The company said they help their drivers find gas and car maintenance discounts.

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