Does DoorDash Actually Deliver Food To Alaskans By Plane?
Imagine living out in a little Alaskan town out in the tundra. It's not a bad life, but you're pretty isolated in the miles of frost-covered trees and snowdrifts. You can safely say there aren't fast food restaurants for well beyond the next couple miles, and you can't just get in your car and head down the corner to grab a burger or some pizza. Fortunately, your desire for some Kentucky Fried Chicken or McDonald's needn't be ignored because of distance. Thanks to DoorDash, you place an order for your favorite food and soon enough, your food is on the way in the co-pilot's seat as a small plane races across the clear blue Alaskan sky to your backyard.
Okay, maybe that's not exactly how it happens — or is it? Alaska, known as the Last Frontier, has its fair share of isolated cities spread across the vast and wild state. Granted, you can go to Anchorage or Juneau and find some good eating, but some places in Alaska aren't exactly as easy to reach. Take for example, St. Matthew's Island, which is described as being the most remote place in Alaska at 200 miles away from human contact (via Alaska Public). The state even has one town — Whittier — that's literally located all under one roof in one gigantic apartment complex (via NPR).
But do the brave men and women of DoorDash really have to fly a plane out into the wilderness just to make a delivery?
DoorDash can deliver by plane, for a price
While DoorDash isn't exactly air-dropping Happy Meals out of a plane, it's actually not uncommon for the food delivery service to use a plane to deliver its customers' orders.
As The New York Times reports, the process of getting your food delivered by plane in Alaska is a bit more complicated than placing an order as one normally would. An example would be that a person in an isolated village could place an order for pizza from a place in Anchorage. Once the order is placed, the pizza is shipped to an airport hangar, where it's kept in the fridge until the plane's next delivery schedule to the area. Then, it'll be flown out to the remote town.
Is it cold? Yes. Is it a bit later than what the customer was expecting? Of course. But does it scratch that itch? Pretty much.
Of course, getting your meal delivered by flight isn't exactly cheap. It costs around $10 to $30 just to have your food shipped by air-mail, but to most DoorDash users in Alaska, it's far cheaper than having to head into town for it (via Food & Wine).
If you thought you needed to be a pilot to be a DoorDash driver, you'd unfortunately be mistaken, though this is just one thing to know about what it's really like to work for DoorDash.