DoorDash Bolsters Alcohol-Ordering Safeguards
DoorDash has made public some of the latest steps it has taken to help ensure that ordering alcohol with the platform meets the highest standards for safety. These include a four-step compliance check at the door before a delivery can be completed, geofencing high-risk locations to pre-emptively block deliveries, and putting safeguards in place for Dashers (delivery people) that enable them always to return alcohol penalty-free and with additional pay if a delivery can’t be completed.
Additionally, the company has joined forces with such organizations as the Foundation for Advancing Alcohol Responsibility (Responsibility.org) and signed on to the International Alliance for Responsible Drinking (IARD) Global Standards Coalition to achieve shared goals in regard to promoting safety. DoorDash also regularly collaborates with policymakers and regulators to ensure that its services meet the highest safety standards in the states where it operates.
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“We’re sending an unmistakable message when it comes to responsible alcohol delivery on DoorDash: Safety comes first,” noted Jacob Moriello, general manager of alcohol and convenience at San Francisco-based DoorDash. “We strive to make getting alcohol delivered even safer than a typical in-store transaction. We hope that these improvements will continue to allow us to lead the industry forward when it comes to responsible alcohol delivery and offer a best-in-class experience for everyone who uses our platform.”
Additional details follow:
Strengthening Checks at the Door: As with any alcohol purchase, some underage people may try to use fake IDs to get alcohol delivered. With its third-party partner, DoorDash has implemented a more robust and sophisticated scanning technology nationally to better detect fake IDs and further prevent unlawful deliveries. The scanning technology has improved to automatically analyze barcodes for various characteristics, from order of fields to barcode size and encoding, and uses machine learning to instantly identify characteristics that don’t match the expected format for a given state to help identify fakes. Customers who use IDs identified as fake are also blocked from placing future alcohol orders.
Even before checkout, consumers must confirm their understanding that a digital ID verification scan is required before a Dasher can complete the delivery. At the door, the enhanced process combines a physical and digital ID four-step check using sophisticated scanning technology to analyze the customer’s ID and validate that the barcode is legitimate, as well as a physical check to ensure that it doesn’t display typical signs of fake IDs like texture or weight. Dashers also must check that the ID presented at the door matches the presenting consumer, and, as a final safeguard, Dashers must confirm that the consumer doesn’t display any signs of intoxication. Only after all of these steps are completed satisfactorily is a Dasher able to complete delivery.
Making Dasher Compliance Even Easier: DoorDash provides Dashers with a compliance module that contains best practices for managing alcohol deliveries, including how to check for a valid ID and the typical signs of a fraudulent ID. The module also covers how to identify signs of intoxication to prevent deliveries to an intoxicated consumer, and re-emphasizes the risks and legal repercussions of doing so. Where required, Dashers must also pass a test at the end of the module before they can deliver alcohol.
The compliance module is now conveniently available in the Dasher App for 100% of iOS and Android users of the Dasher App in states where alcohol delivery is legal. Dashers can also now toggle their alcohol delivery preferences directly in the Dasher App to see what types of deliveries they are qualified for and easily access these resources if they want to be able to receive the kinds of orders that they want.
By making these resources easier to access, DoorDash has seen considerable uptake from Dashers. From August through September 2024, there was a 229% rise in Dashers who received their certification to deliver alcohol in states where it’s legal, compared with the same three-month period in the prior year.
Improving the Dasher Return Order Flow: If a Dasher is ever in a situation where a customer is visibly intoxicated or a fake ID has been detected, DoorDash has implemented more robust safeguards to help them. Among them are providing direct prompts to alert them that a fraudulent ID has been scanned, offering immediate support for the Dasher, and instructing them how to proceed in the situation to comply with the law.
Further, if an alcohol delivery can’t be completed, Dashers are paid for the whole trip, including the original pay plus more for the return, and a Dasher’s ratings are not affected if they can’t complete the delivery.
Additionally, if Dashers have any questions before, during, or after a dash involving alcohol, they can get in touch with DoorDash through the Dasher App.
“Ultimately, the responsible service of alcohol is much more than just compliance with the law – it is about helping to promote safety for everyone who uses our platform,” the company noted in a news post. “We know there will always be more work to be done to help make sure that these deliveries are done as safely as possible.”
