DoorDash’s CEO has slammed claims on social media that a food delivery service rates drivers based on how “desperate” they are for their jobs, saying he will fire anyone deemed acceptable.
Co-founder and CEO based in San Francisco door panel Shared an unverified screenshot Reddit post Four days ago, an anonymous user claiming to be a developer at a food delivery company made allegations about internal practices.
The post’s legality is in dispute: After it went viral on social media platforms, declared a scam Produced by technology and democracy website Platformer. But by then, it had drawn attention and condemnation from a CEO who is at the forefront of food delivery.
The Reddit user claims that an unnamed delivery service company holds weekly meetings where product managers discuss how to squeeze more resources out of “human assets” (i.e., delivery drivers). “They talk about these people like they are resource nodes in a video game, not moms and dads trying to pay their rent,” the post said.
The user, who said they had recently resigned from their jobs, posted the message on their laptop at a public library and claimed drivers were given “desperation points” based on their behavior on the job. Presumably, this hidden metric flags drivers who do not hesitate to accept low-value “junk” orders and then prevents them from viewing higher-paying orders.
Other unsubstantiated claims include that priority orders are not faster than previous standard orders – regular orders are just slowed down by 5 to 10 minutes, so priority orders appear to be faster in comparison. The post also claimed that the wording of driver “benefit payments” was intentionally vague so that users thought they were helping drivers, when in fact the money was funneled into a “corporate slush fund.”
The post, which ended with: “I’m drunk and I’m angry,” caught the attention of DoorDash’s Tony Xu. exist XXu retweeted a screenshot of the post with the caption “OMG.”
Xu responded: “OMG that’s right! This is not DoorDash and I will fire anyone who promotes or tolerates the culture described in this Reddit post.”
God damn right! This is not DoorDash and I will fire anyone who promotes or tolerates the culture described in this Reddit post. There are so many errors in this article.
– Dashers are not “human assets”.
– Having a metric like “Despair Score” is… https://t.co/tStwfQAcpI— Tony Xu (@t_xu) January 3, 2026
Xu – worth $2.7 billion, according to data Forbes— continues “Sprinters are not a ‘human asset'” and “Having a metric like ‘Despair Score’ is abhorrent.” He added that DoorDash has never charged a driver benefit fee.
He concluded: “We are not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but we work hard every day to make our platform better for everyone who comes here. What is described here is appalling and, if true, anyone operating in this manner should be ashamed.”
wealth DoorDash was contacted for further comment.
The legislation is slowly keeping pace with the take-off of food delivery services in recent years. for Take California as an exampleby 2026, it will be illegal for food delivery platforms to use tips or gratuities to offset the base salary of food delivery workers.
The AB-578 law also requires food delivery platforms to disclose to delivery drivers an accurate, clear, and detailed breakdown of delivery income, including base pay, tips or gratuities, and any promotional bonuses.