Because doordash works and delivery doesn't.
this post was submitted on 19 Apr 2026
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If I order on Doordash and my order arrives with missing items, all I have to do is press like 2 buttons to get refunded. The one time I ordered directly from the store, they forgot my sandwich, and now I'm on the phone for 10 minutes trying to figure out how to get my money back.
For this reason, I will always order via Doordash instead of directly through the restaurant.
Yep. 9 times out of 10 Uber will refund me basically instantly, and I don’t have to talk to anyone. I’m able to put in complex delivery instructions, put a pin on a map where it needs to be delivered, and even provide photos of where I want my stuff dropped off. I don’t get that elsewhere, and nobody seems to be able to find my apartment without any of it.
The online ordering system fritzes out at the last step and I'm not about to call and talk to them.
Former Dominos manager here. As another user said, distance is part of it.
Places usually don't deliver outside of a certain distance for a couple of reasons, proximity to sister chains (one Dominos can't deliver to another Dominos area), and delivery time. The further the customer is the longer it takes to get the food to the customer, and to get back and deliver more.
Another reason is particular area. At my Dominos we had a 'do not deliver' list. These were neighborhoods or parts of the city where there's reason to not send drivers there for their safety. The projects/ghettos/whatever term you like, and other general areas where drivers have been robbed/threatened/etc. I heard one story about before I worked there, one of the drivers was held hostage.
Door Dash or similar may not care about those things for XYZ reason, and send their drivers there anyway.
that last part is pretty fucked up. I know you likely had no control over that when there but,
"We aren't willing to send our drivers into this area for profit because of safety concerns, but we will send another companies drivers into the area"
Is a bad/entitled policy.
edit: removed beginning as I didn't want post to seem like I was directing it at PC.
dominos in this case aren't the party sending staff at another company to the dangerous locations. that would be doordash
Unfortunately we didn't have much say in the matter. The way Door Dash did it was pretty roundabout. Instead of making some deal with Dominos (at least, when I worked there), they just submitted the order through our website under either the driver's name or the customers. I doubt any of them knew the areas.
But I do agree with you.
yea DD does that with stores that don't opt out of it. It's dumb, while you do have the ability to actually partner with them(and in doing so you gain the ability to control when and who places/gets orders), if you don't have an active partnership, they just send it via the dashers name and give the dasher a temp card to use for the transaction.
I wouldn't call it being lazy but when one app already contains your payment details and is a familiar interface why go through the hassle of ordering on the restaurant site which may not allow ordering without an account or have a horrid order portal?
I wouldn’t call it being lazy when one app already contains your payment details, and is a familiar interface. Why go through the hassle of ordering on the restaurant site, which may not allow ordering without an account or have a horrid order portal?
Because they charge more, and the local business gets less of it.
But I may be the one to ask, I just pick the pizza myself.
And that is what you pay for the convenience
Why order online at all? I call them, on the telephone. I assume they're answering on a landline.
Then I say "Heeeeeey, I want a pizza, here's my address, make it happen, captain!"
And then we need to get more info, because saying "here's my address" doesn't actually give them my address, and they still need to know size and toppings.
But then they tell you an estimated wait. Eventually they send out a driver. If the wait is 15 minutes longer than the estimated wait, you call back, and be polite. You just say "heeeey, just checking on my order?"
And they say "Oh shit! Tony was smoking crack behind the dumpster again! We'll run yours out asap!"
And then you get your pizza.
Because some people don't like to make phone calls.
I call them, on the telephone.
So your username is accurate.
This is likely more disruptive and annoying for the people working there, who then have to manually create a ticket and enter it into their ordering system, vs. an online order that does that automatically.
What a strange take. I get that being interrupted with a phone does cause a context switch, but so would coming in and ordering. Or picking up pizzas to deliver. And also, for me I just think of answering the phone as part of the job at a pizza joint. So many memories of sitting in lobbies waiting hearing the constant “hello papa johns” drone on. I do concede I’m old though.
On the other hand, they actually get to talk to the people they make food for which is a nice human moment, the restaurant doesn't lose money to some shitty app company, you might be more likely to give a good tip to somoene you speak to, and the workers get paid by the hour. As long as there's at least one worker who enjoys taking calls as a way to get a break from the kitchen, everybody benefits.
How do you pay? Most people who deliver have an independent status and carry no cash.
I pay cash all the time. If you're talking about doordash, sure. They might not carry cash. I don't use apps.
Also, these delivery guys aren't independant. If you order from Toms Pizza, and you call them directly, you get a delivery from an employee of Toms Pizza. If you order the same day and time every week, you'll likely get the same driver every week.
If you order through doordash, who knows who's going to deliver?
Weird, I have had this conversation.
Order online; pickup in person. I refuse to participate in a “gig” economy.
I refuse to use these services because they stiff the restaurant and delivery person and charge me an extra fee. I either go out or cook at home. But I know that’s not always for everyone.
I can't speak to dominos, but most pizza places have switched to using apps for delivery. Except, since you're not the one booking through the app, there's no option to set the tip ahead of time, so your food is guaranteed to take an hour and be cold.
I think distance may be one of the biggest reasons why.
There’s a Papa John’s that is in my city but too far for their actual drivers to deliver to me, but those delivery apps list it as being a place that I can order from and get to my address. So while Papa John’s won’t let their drivers deliver to me, the delivery apps don’t have the same restriction.
I do it to get pizza from my favorite pizza joint. It only delivers within a 5 mile radius and I live 10 miles away away.
Those places advertise on door dash because that's where everyone looks by default.
We don't have door dash but something similar where they either have the door dash drivers or they forward the order to the restaurants which have their own drivers. And those with their own drivers often will give you the restaurant's card and ask you to order directly because of the high fees.
Personally I really hate calling so I only order from the restaurant directly when it has a website. Calls just suck because I might have trouble understanding the other's accent or they mine. And it is much less error prone when everything is in writing. Especially when there are special requests. And not having to juggle payment at the door is a plus as well.
I don't condone Doordash but I've seen coworkers use an equivalent to Doordash:
- unified and familiar interface
- I can choose my restaurant, it's not limited to one place
- coupons and stuff, same, unified
- the payment method (debit card in France) is already stored in the application and works out of the box for every place that delivers
- it's easier if you buy a meal every day for lunch during work, no need to create an account for each restaurant (there are more than a hundred around me)
People generally buy things a certain way or place for 3 reasons - cost, quality or convenience. Door Dash already has tons of stuff in their app.
IMO, people are used to it. It's very convenient.
I ordered from Pizzahut's website and they just sent it to doordash...
I think I remember once Dominos (not sure if I remember correctly) was busy so instead of sending their regular delivery driver, they just sent it to doordash to complete the delivery... 🤷♂️
Everything is doordash now
Chinese restaurants
Ramen places
Literally everything
Edit: Also even BESTBUY uses Doordash now... (do not order electronics delivery through bestbuy, even if you use their website, they will still send it to doordash)