DoorDash plans to spend $100 million on gas benefits for its delivery drivers in the first half of 2026.
The additional cost — $50 million in the company’s first quarter and another $50 million it expects to spend in the second — is leading DoorDash to delay some other investments, CFO Ravi Inukonda said on the company’s earnings call on Wednesday.
In March, DoorDash started offering “relief payments” of up to $15 a week toward gas, depending on how far drivers traveled on deliveries. The delivery company also said that drivers who paid for gas using the company’s Crimson debit card could get 10% back on those purchases.
While the relief payments ended in April, DoorDash said it would continue to offer the cashback benefit until June 30.
If DoorDash extends the gas benefit program further, Inukonda said the company would find ways to offset the cost, as it already has by pushing some investments to the second half of the year. DoorDash said earlier that it would spend several hundred million dollars this year to upgrade its tech systems.
“We’re fully convinced that we are going to make these investments in the second half of the year,” Inukonda said.
Despite the growing costs, DoorDash’s first-quarter earnings per share and second-quarter outlook topped analysts’ expectations on Wednesday. The results sent the company’s stock about 12% higher in after-hours trading.
DoorDash is one of multiple delivery and ride-hailing companies that started offering discounts on gas after prices rose in the wake of the war between Iran and the US and Israel.
Uber, Lyft, and Instacart also announced a mix of cash-back offers and subsidies. Some drivers have said the benefits help, but don’t fully offset the extra gas costs they’re facing.
For gig workers, gas is often a major cost of delivering and driving passengers. Some ride-hailing drivers have said that rising gas prices have affected which orders they take and how they drive.
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