I ran into a pretty weird issue with the Dasher app today. The app doesn’t allow me to start a Dash for an unusual reason. It’s related to the Dasher red card. I often hear drivers around asking about this, and today I felt it too.
When I tap a Dash Now button in the app, a popup window appears saying, We are unable to start your dash at this time due to “Please have your red card setup”. Please try again later.
The reason I’m calling this message weird is that I’m not a new Dasher. If I was a newly registered delivery driver then I would consider this reasonable because I heard that this card is now mandatory. But I’ve been working a few weeks and have completed over a hundred deliveries with DoorDash.
Do you know how to remove this pop-up message? I have contacted the support team, they advised me to request a physical card. I want to find an alternative solution because ordering a card will take time and I want to get to work as soon as possible. Besides, I have no plans to use it because I’m quite satisfied with the current pre-paid order.
I know an error message notification in the app is quite annoying, especially if it prevents you from working and earning. Previously, this problem was often experienced by some Dashers but I did not think that this red card issue still existed until now.
Here I will try to explain in more detail about this problem and some possible fixes that might help you to get out of this problem.
Contents
What does Please have your red card setup mean?
According to the error message you see, it means that you currently do not have an active DoorDash red card in your driver account. Whether it’s the physical red card which is usually given when you are activated as a Dasher or the new virtual red card that can be used with Apple Pay or Google Pay.
The following is an example of screen captures of Dasher who experiencing a red card setup issue when trying to schedule or start a Dash now.
Red Card Setup Issue
Previously, in some cities or regions, Dashers are allowed to Dash without setting up a red card first. It’s possible that when you sign up as a DoorDash driver in the area you selected there are no merchants that support red card payments.
As the number of merchants or restaurants in your area grows, some of which currently support red cards. On top of that, DoorDash now doesn’t only support restaurants on their platform. They began to develop their services to reach more businesses that require ordering and delivery services.
Currently, DoorDash supports several types of businesses such as grocery stores, retail, convenience, pet stores, and flower shops. Where all of that is easier to integrate by using a red card where the drivers have to checkout directly to the merchant using this prepaid debit card.
To serve delivery from this kind of merchant, of course, the existing Dasher must be able to adapt itself. One of them is to add a requirement for drivers in the area to activate the red card to be able to start or schedule a Dash.
Possible Fix for red card setup issue
For newly registered drivers who get this message, most likely their account has not been activated by DoorDash and they are still waiting for the background check process. Meanwhile, in the case you are not a new driver and have been able to deliver before, then there are several possible solutions that we can suggest:
1. Setup a virtual red card
Try to look at the Red Card section of the Dasher app. There you will see your card details, such as your last 4 digits and delight number. If you don’t have a card yet, you will be offered two choices. Get Virtual Red Card and Request a physical Red Card.
Set up Dasher Red Card
Of the two options, I prefer the virtual one because it will be activated immediately and can be used via Apple Pay or Google Pay. After all, they seem to be planning to upgrade all Dasher to the virtual card in the future.
You also no longer need to order a card and wait for the delivery to arrive at your home. You should only order the physical if your phone doesn’t support contactless payment, like an Android mobile phone without NFC.
2. Order physical red card
If you don’t find the option to activate a virtual card you can try to contact support to ask. If they can’t help with that, order a physical card then ask for support to allow you Dash while waiting for the card to arrive.
For Australia and New Zealand delivery drivers, you can order the card at their official Dasher store at doordashaustraliastore.com. As for the US-based Dasher, you can visit their US Dasher store at doordashstore.com. Physical cards take about 1-2 weeks to arrive at the address so they should allow you to temporarily work without activating the card first.
Wrap up. The use of reloadable debit cards is a new thing for some delivery drivers in several regions. For example, in Australia, DoorDash is the only on-demand delivery platform that offers this. Drivers in some regions are required to activate it even though they don’t want to accept a delivery request that requires them to use this card.
Currently, DoorDash is incessantly developing its services to reach more users. They will add more non-restaurant merchants to their platform.
So that later there will be more Dashers who will pick up customer’s items from the grocery store and at the same time deliver them (Shop & Deliver). Dasher will also be offered to deliver from specific shops such as flower shops, candy shops, pet shops and so on. And all of that requires a red card to complete the order.
0 Comments