A little history
In 2019 Doordash was sued for using the customer tips to help boost pay of non-tipping customers, IE tip stealing. For a short period after Doordash lost the lawsuit, the CEO Toxy Xu released a statement that Dashers would now see the full payout and each request would be fully transparent. Then just a few months later, the company rolled out a new pay model that started to hide part of the tip, which Doordash claimed the reason was “To ensure that every Dasher on the platform continues to be treated fairly and has access to consistent earnings”.
An app called Para
Fast forward to 2021, we now have the Para app as a result of Doordash hiding tips and dashers being fed up. What is the Para app? The Para app uses the drivers credentials to access the JSON information that Doordash sends to the drivers phone, which would show all the information about the incoming order request, such as the full payout that the driver would be receiving. Para would then parse the JSON data to get the full payout and then would send this information directly to the driver via text or in-app notification. They called this service “Tip Transparency”, and if you were using the Drivers Utility Helper app, it would also be able to display this information on your screen as well as filter order request based on the real actual real total instead of a partial hidden total that Doordash would send normally. Sounds awesome right? You get to see the full payout without guessing if the tip would be higher!
Well that dream was short lived, it was always too good to be true it seemed. Just a few short months into the tip transparancy service, Doordash decided to make a critcial move that would hinder the Para apps tip transparency service. Doordash removed the full payout from the incoming JSON request, which now means the Para app no longer has access to the full payout, which means they can no longer show you the full payout during a request. It shouldn’t be hard to guess that drivers were upset over this.
So does that mean the Para app is no longer available? No, in an effort to still help drivers, Para has since switched to a “Prediction” method instead. How this new method works is when an order comes in, Para will take certain information from the incoming order, such as the subtotal & item counts and predict if the payout will be more than what Doordash is offering you.
(Screenshot of prediction)
(Screenshot of actual doordash request)
Is this method perfect? Not at all, Para claims they have a 90% success rate with this new method, but dashers should still keep in mind that this is a prediction, so it is not perfect or guaranteed. The prediction can be wrong, that doesn’t mean Doordash is stealing your tips again. If you see a $3.00 request from Doordash and Para predicts a higher payout, you can bet that it will still be $3.00 when you complete your order.
