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Schedule deliveries using windows

By default, deliveries you create are picked up and delivered as soon as possible (ASAP). If you want to enable your customers to order ahead for a later delivery time, you can use delivery windows.

tip

Delivery windows are generally best for when you're delivering non-perishable goods that don't need to be picked up or delivered at a specific time. If you're delivering perishable goods like food and drinks that you want to schedule for a specific time in the future, use scheduled deliveries.

1. Prerequisites​

If you're new to Drive and haven't yet created your first delivery, you should start with one of our tutorials. The tutorials will walk you through getting the credentials you need to call the APIs and making some basic API calls.

2. Set up delivery quotes​

For delivery windows, we recommend using delivery quotes; if you're not already using quotes, you should follow the quotes how-to guide before this one.

When you create a quote for a windowed delivery, DoorDash's fulfillment systems will evaluate if we can meet the requested windows and provide our estimated pickup and dropoff times in the response to your quote request. You can then validate whether these estimated times meet your requirements, either using logic built into your app or by showing the estimated times to the end customer.

3. Schedule a delivery​

TO create a windowed delivery, include both the pickup_window and dropoff_window fields. You may also want to enable SMS notifications for the dropoff contact.

  • pickup_window: A Dasher will show up within this window to collect your order
  • dropoff_window: The Dasher will deliver the order within this window
  • dropoff_contact_send_notifications: When this is set to true, DoorDash will send SMS notifications to the dropoff_phone_number with updates on the status of the order and a link to the tracking page

The windows are validated according to the following rules:

  • Each time must be formatted in ISO-8601 format using the "complete date plus hours, minutes, and seconds" format that looks like this: "2023-05-02T17:00:00Z"
  • Each window must be at least 60 minutes long
  • Each window's start_time must be before its end_time
  • The dropoff window's start_time must be the same or later than the pickup window's end_time (dropoff_window.start_time >= pickup_window.end_time)
{
    ... // other fields
    "pickup_window": {
        "start_time": "2023-05-02T17:00:00Z",
        "end_time": "2023-05-02T18:00:00Z"
    },
    "dropoff_window": {
        "start_time": "2023-05-02T18:00:00Z",
        "end_time": "2023-05-02T20:00:00Z"
    },
}

The response to your quote request will include a few estimated time fields that you can reference to see when DoorDash can fulfill the delivery.

  • estimated_pickup_time: When we expect the Dasher will arrive at the pickup location
  • estimated_dropoff_time: When we expect the Dasher will arrive the dropoff location

4. Set up webhooks​

When using delivery windows, it's important to have set up webhooks so that you receive real-time notifications when a Dasher is assigned and on the way to pick up your delivery.

Next steps​