DoorDash Pays Delivery Drivers Extra to Beat High Gas Prices

DoorDash has launched a program to provide independent contractors who participate in its on-demand delivery service with assistance dealing with the rising price of gas.

The program offers U.S. delivery drivers, or Dashers, 10% cash back on gas when they use the DoorDash Crimson Visa Debit Card, the company said in a Monday (March 23) press release.

More than half of Dashers have a DoorDash Crimson card, and this program will offer them five times the standard 2% rate, according to the release. Any Dasher can apply for the card.

For Dashers who drive 125 miles or more per week for deliveries, DoorDash is also offering weekly fuel relief payments based on miles driven, the release said. This program offers weekly payments of $5 at 125 miles, $10 at 200 miles, and a maximum of $15 at 250 miles.

Those who qualify for both offerings could save between $1.40 and $1.90 per gallon, according to the release. The program will last until April 26.

“Rising gas prices have a real impact on Dashers, especially those who are delivering the most,” Cody Aughney, vice president, Dasher and logistics at DoorDash, said in the release. “This program is about giving Dashers real savings at the pump.”

The PYMNTS Intelligence and Ingo Payments collaboration “Instant Payouts: The New Paycheck for a Real-Time Economy” found that nearly one-third of millennials depend on transactional payouts from gig work and tips as their main source of income.

PYMNTS reported in February that DoorDash’s U.S.-based delivery marketplace is best known for restaurant orders but is positioning itself as a technology and infrastructure partner to merchants.

The company is leaning into its guest experience and customer relationship management platform for restaurants, SevenRooms, and its in-house ad technology platform that allows restaurants and retailers to buy sponsored placements within the marketplace, Symbiosys.

DoorDash said in November that it plans to invest “several hundred million dollars more” in its platforms and initiatives in 2026 than it did in 2025. The company said the investment in the tech platform will boost its efficiency, while the investment in new products will enable it to solve more problems for customers and do so in better ways.