To: DoorDash Executive Leadership, including CEO Tony Xu and the Operations/Product teams
Stop DoorDash from trapping drivers in unpaid “stuck orders”
Tony Xu, Chief Executive Officer, and the DoorDash Executive Team,
The DoorDash platform is forcing drivers into unpaid “stuck orders.” When an order sits unassigned for ten, fifteen, or even thirty minutes we have no option to unassign without damaging our completion rate. This converts independent contractors into captive labor, eroding trust and violating the spirit of gig work.
We demand four concrete fixes:
- Five-minute release: If an order is still unassigned after five minutes, the dasher must be freed automatically—no rating penalty, no questions asked.
- Immediate “Unassign” button: Give every dasher the ability to walk away from an unassigned or glitched order at any time.
- Compensation for platform errors: Pay drivers a flat wait-time fee when your app or algorithm causes the delay.
- Public transparency: Publish a timeline for rolling out these changes and disclose the safeguards that will prevent future unpaid downtime.
Our time is our income. Holding drivers hostage in app errors is wage theft, plain and simple. Implement these measures now or risk losing the workforce that powers your business—and the public goodwill that sustains your brand.
Respectfully,
Marsel Kaldarov – on behalf of DoorDash drivers and supporters
Why is this important?
Every minute a driver is locked into an unassigned, unpaid order, DoorDash quietly converts human time into free labor. That lost time isn’t just inconvenience — it’s rent unpaid, groceries delayed, childcare missed. When a multibillion-dollar tech company treats workers’ time as disposable, it normalizes an economy where algorithms trump basic fairness. If DoorDash can get away with unpaid “holding patterns,” other gig platforms will follow, driving standards even lower for everyone who relies on flexible work to survive.
Standing up now protects more than just dashers’ paychecks; it defends the principle that no one’s labor should be taken without compensation. Customers deserve a reliable service, investors need a sustainable business model, and communities depend on workers who aren’t being silently exploited.
By joining this campaign you add your voice to a growing call for transparency, accountability, and dignity in the gig economy. Together we can force DoorDash to adopt simple fixes that respect drivers’ time and set a fair precedent across the entire on-demand industry.