Doordash has been reaching out to Dashers across the country, inviting them to participate in their Drivewell Pilot sweepstakes.
What is the Drivewell pilot from Doordash? Does it make sense for Dashers to participate? We'll examine the program and the pros and cons of the Drivewell pilot program for independent contractors.
- What is the Drivewell Pilot program and sweepstakes?
- What are the benefits of the Doordash Drivewell pilot?
- What are the disadvantages of participating?
- How do I know whether to participate in Drivewell?
What is the Doordash Drivewell Pilot and sweepstakes?
We're piloting a voluntary program to help Dashers understand and gain feedback about their driving performance. Select Dashers in your area will have free and unlimited access to DriveWell Go, a third-party app that gives you feedback about your driving.
Doordash message to Dashers introducing the Doordash Drivewell pilot program and sweepstakes
Doordash is working with Cambridge Mobile Telematics (providers of the Drivewell app) to make the Drivewell app available to Dashers. When Dashers opt into the program, they'll receive a link to download the Drivewell Go app.
Cambridge Mobile Telematics makes the Drivewell Go app. It uses motion sensors and GPS in your smartphone to monitor your driving patterns and provides feedback on how to drive more safely.
Many insurance companies, employers, and fleet managers use Cambridge Mobile Telematics technology to get data and analytics of one's driving patterns. Insurance companies often use Drivewell technology for their safe driver discounts, such as State Farm's Drive Safe and Save or Progressive's Snapshot.
What are the benefits of participating in the Doordash Drivewell pilot program?
Doordash lists two benefits:
- Unlock insights to help improve your driving performance
- A chance to win $250.
To encourage Dashers to participate, they are enrolling participants in a sweepstakes where Dashers can win $250. According toDoordash's Drivewell Sweepstakes rules, the sweepstakes will award one hundred $250 Tango cards. Winners can use that card to choose rewards and gift certificates from several major retailers.
To qualify, Dashers must have the Drivewell app active for at least 80% of their deliveries.
“The Drivewell Go app gives you daily trip summaries with helpful driving information about speed, distance traveled, and driving behaviors such as hard braking. It also gives you a score and useful real-time feedback about your driving performance.”
Doordash notice inviting Dashers to sign up for the Drivewell pilot program
Dashers may benefit from notifications from the Drivewell Go app informing them of unsafe and inefficient driving habits. Tips may help you avoid accidents and save on fuel.
Drivewell technology also provides a driving history to Dashers. That history may come in handy for researching business miles in the event that you forgot to track miles while Dashing. The app may not be the best permanent option for tracking miles, as it was not designed for that purpose.
What are the disadvantages of participating in the pilot program?
The biggest drawback is privacy. In particular, you are giving information to Doordash about your driving habits and patterns, even when you are not using the Doordash app.
Doordash can use that information any way they see fit. They could use it against you if you have an accident claim or could even contribute to a decision to deactivate you.
The issue at hand is that Doordash is not your employer. A company is not allowed to control or supervise the work of an independent contractor. Under the newly proposed independent contractor rule by the Department of Labor, monitoring employees and providing feedback on how you deliver could be evidence that Doordash should be using employees instead of contractors.
How do I know whether to participate in the Drivewell program?
Ultimately, it comes down to how much information about your day-to-day activity you're comfortable providing to Doordash.
Do you want Doordash to know where you've been when you're off the clock? Are you comfortable with them having details of your driving that could be used against you if there's an accident?
The opposing argument is that if you're driving safely, you shouldn't be concerned about who has your data. You could also argue that when Doordash has so much going on, they don't have the time or resources to care where you're going.
Then again, Doordash obviously has the ability to monitor whether you've had the app active for 80% of your deliveries.
Does the drawing and opportunity to get $250 make it worthwhile? With Doordash only giving away 100 gift cards to the tens of thousands of Dashers offered entry into the sweepstakes, the odds of winning are extremely low.
Ultimately, it's up to you whether the odds of winning a $250 gift card are worth your privacy. For some, the loss of privacy is a deal breaker. Others may be far less concerned.
I'm not sure what's in it for Doordash. Whether for insurance purposes or being a ‘good corporate citizen,' perhaps Doordash management is genuinely concerned about safer driving. I don't know how much it's about them getting more data on Dashers.
In the end, it's a decision you need to make based on how comfortable you are sharing your driving information with Doordash.
