Without tons of off-campus restaurant options within walking distance and a parking problem that makes leaving your parking spot an anxiety-inducing decision, DoorDash is sometimes a necessary evil for some students. DoorDash, however, costs significantly more than food on campus and more than going to eat at the restaurant itself. But the problem is even worse on campus when not only do students sometimes pay twice as much for food through DoorDash, but then the food is stolen before they get a chance to eat it.
While many people would think that the problem is because we have people looking to steal DoorDash on campus, this is usually not the case. It is rare that DoorDash is stolen within the first hour or so that it is delivered. The problem is that people will order DoorDash while in class or at another activity to their dorm and not go to get it for hours. Public Safety has reported many calls for stolen DoorDash over four hours past when the DoorDash was ordered. The problem is not thieves– the problem is the DoorDash orderers not caring enough about their order until it is gone.
DoorDash will deliver to many places on campus. If you are doing work at the library, you can get DoorDash to the library instead of your dorm. If it is a big order, for example, groceries from Instacart, then make sure you have a friend who can bring them inside. It does not take a mischievous person to see that the same order has been left in front of a dorm for hours on end and decide to take it instead of the food going bad or being left there for days.
Additionally, if you know that you will not be present when the DoorDash is dropped off, then schedule it to be dropped off when you will be there. Most of these thefts are completely preventable. Chief Morgan sent out an email about these preventable thefts before we left for break, but as we are back and the weather is increasingly cold, it is only natural that more people will order DoorDash instead of walking the extra couple of minutes to the dining hall for food.
In case you haven’t been yet, I also want to point out some new food options on campus this semester. Instead of DoorDashing All Star, the Commons now has breakfast sandwiches. The Commons salads are also back and they have new sides from tater tots to cheesesteak egg rolls. The sushi is now freshly made here on campus. They have new sandwiches and a variety of Poké bowls. All of us who live on campus have a dining plan, so we might as well use it. We can also give feedback to Dining so that we can see more improvements to dining spaces on campus and maybe have less of a need to use DoorDash in the first place.
Having food you find appetizing is always important, but please make sure that if you are ordering it from DoorDash, you actually grab your food within a reasonable amount of time. This simple act of planning for the delivery would save many complaints and lots of money.