You start working at sunrise. You get a call right away and see that it's for Jack in the Box. You accept the call since early morning calls are usually slow in your area. This isn't your ideal call as it is 4 miles away, but it may be a good start to the day. You start driving to your destination and everything is fine. You arrive at the merchant, but just when you are about to pull in the drive-thru, you hear Pac-Man die. Yes, the customer has canceled their order right when you arrived at Jack in the Box. This was my morning the other day, and this happens much too often with Postmates. By the way, I got paid a whopping 75 cents for my efforts.
If you have only worked Postmates and no other on-demand food delivery app before, then you have nothing to compare it to, but as a person that has done deliveries for many similar apps, I am telling you that Postmates customers cancel their orders much more than customers from the other apps. I figure that it must be really simple for Postmates customers to cancel their orders so I had to take a look in to this subject a bit deeper, and I learned a few things.
The three different Postmates cancelation stages
I did find out that there are three different stages in which Postmates customers can cancel their orders. The first stage is the easiest and most convenient for the customer. This is when Postmates has not place the order with the merchant yet and when the Postmates driver has not arrived at the merchant. From a Postmates driver's prospective, the sooner the customer cancels the better.
The second cancelation stage is when the Postmates customer's order has been placed with the restaurant and the Postmates driver is on the way to pick it up. This may make things a little bit more complicated for Postmates as they have already placed the order. With that said, the customer still has the right to cancel their order.
The final cancelation stage is when the order has been placed, the Postmates driver has picked up the food and is in route to make the delivery to the customer. Again, the customer still has a right to cancel their order if they want. At this stage, it would be foolish for a customer to cancel, and you will find out why later in this article, but they have all the right in the world to cancel their order.
Basically, a Postmates customer can cancel an order anytime they want. In my scenario a few days ago, I'm guessing that I was a stage two cancelation. Even though 75 cents is laughable, I think I would have been more angry if I did not receive anything. If I did not make it to Jack in the Box before they canceled I would not have received anything at all.
One thing that I have noticed with many Postmates orders is that the cancelations frequently happen when I am about to get to the restaurant. I mean, I would literally be like one block away from the merchant. Sometimes, it feels like the customer is just sitting there watching you on the map and cancelling when you are almost at the merchant on purpose. It's like they get their kicks off of it or something. Just my thoughts.
How easy is it for Postmates customers to cancel their orders?
It is very easy for a Postmates customer to cancel their order. All it takes is a push of a button. There is never a need to speak to anybody. If a Postmates customer simply wants to stop their order from proceeding they can do so at any time.
Besides Postmates, I have received customer cancelations from other on-demand food delivery apps in the past as well. The difference in the amount of times it has happened is staggering though. I would estimate that for every cancelation that I received from other apps, I will receive ten from Postmates. I do believe it is because it is just too darn easy for Postmates customers to cancel their orders.
Why are Postmates customers allowed to cancel their orders?
I think that it is great that Postmates customers can cancel their orders anytime they want. They are the customer, and no matter what the reason is, they should always have the right to cancel. As a Postmates driver, my problem is the small pay that Postmates gives the driver after a situation like this. Both Doordash and Uber Eats will pay their drivers around $3 when they arrive at a merchant and the customer cancels. With Postmates it is only 75 cents. That's pretty ridiculous! A Postmates driver would appreciate it if they could at least get their gas money back. A break-even is okay, but a loss because a customer changed their mind is not acceptable.
Do Postmates customers have to pay when they cancel their order?
Sometimes they do and sometimes they don't. It all depends on how quick they are to cancel their order. The cancelation stages that we mentioned earlier is what determines if, and how much they are going to pay. If the customer cancels during stage one they will not have to pay anything. This is great for the customer. A Postmates driver that has began driving to the merchant will receive the cancelation notification while on route to the restaurant. Not very fair to the driver for wasting their time and effort, but for the customer it is very convenient.
If a Postmates customer cancels during stage 2, they will have to pay something because Postmates will have to pay the merchant for the items and the Postmates driver for their time and effort. This is why it is important for a driver to arrive at the merchant before any cancelation. At least they will get paid something. The customer will have to pay for the items out of their pocket. They will also have to pay a cancelation fee. Any delivery fee and service fee is waived since the delivery will not be completed. Most customers have enough sense to not cancel once stage 2 has come, but you would be surprised.
All fees will be paid by the customer if they cancel during stage 3. It is very foolish for a customer to cancel at this stage. A Postmates customer will pay for the food, a delivery fee and a service fee. Even if a customer wanted to cancel at this stage, it is not worth it as they would be paying for everything. They might as well go along with their order and receive their food. If they did cancel their order, the only one that would benefit would be the driver as they would get paid fully for completing the order, and they would get free food.
Final Thought:
All in all it just seems much too easy for Postmates customers to cancel their orders. I mean, I do believe a customer always has a right to cancel their order, but there should be a little more effort involved than just a push of a button. The only ones that get screwed big time out of this are the Postmates drivers.
The stage 1 cancelations are the ones that can be really annoying to Postmates drivers. At least the drivers get something out of the stage 2 and 3 cancelations. In my opinion, no matter what stage a customer cancels, they should always be charged at least a few dollars. This includes stage 1 cancelations. If Postmates doesn't want to charge the customer anything for stage 1 cancelations, that is not a problem. Make the customer happy and satisfied, but geez, I am pretty sure that Postmates can afford to pay their drivers $3.
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