Since its founding in 2013, DoorDash, the food-delivery company, has grown into a global phenomenon. At CHS, while ordering from DoorDash has become a large part of campus life, students and staff have conflicting opinions about its impact.
The service’s increasing popularity among students has sparked debates about its safety for use in schools. Sophomore Adiah Levison feels students should be permitted to use DoorDash.
“Sometimes people don’t have time to pack their lunch or they forget to, but they don’t like the school lunch very much,” Levison said. “We should also be able to DoorDash because it’s our money.”
The DoorDash app allows customers to track their driver and add specific notes for them to follow, such as slipping it through the fence. While it provides students with a simple and fast way to get food, sophomore Keandra Weis says that the potential safety risks of DoorDash should be taken seriously.
“It’s essentially bringing a stranger onto the school campus, whether they are actually inside or just on the borders of it,” Weis said.
To avoid teacher interception, most students request that the driver pass the food bags through the gates instead of sending them to the office. Assistant principal Charles Threatt says that while DoorDash is used to deliver food, it’s possible that food may not be what’s in the bag.
“We don’t know who the person is that’s passing things onto the campus,” Threatt said. “Anyone could be passing anything like illegal substances. So, we just want to try to minimize the possibility of something bad happening.”
As the service poses such threats to student safety, limiting its use could significantly reduce the risk of danger. Threatt says that the school is doing everything it can to ensure students don’t order through DoorDash during the school day.
“We have campus supervisors all over campus,” Threatt said. “We are being communicative with students and their parents, saying how we don’t allow this, and the hope is that students take that [seriously].”
Student integrity plays a significant role in whether DoorDash activity will decrease. Levison feels that ordering DoorDash at school can lead to defiance and dishonesty.
“Students can kind of sneak around,” Levison said. “If their parents don’t want them to eat McDonald’s, they can just DoorDash it while they’re at school.”
DoorDash charges a delivery fee, making popular fast-food places like Starbucks and Chick-fil-A even more expensive than they already are. Sophomore Madi Hanna believes that this can lead to inequality at school.
“It can cause a divide because it’s expensive and some students probably can’t afford it,” Hanna said. “If students who can’t afford [DoorDash] are seeing everyone else with it, then they’ll feel bad about themselves and just be more disappointed.”
Due to rising safety risks and equality issues, CHS now has a policy in place prohibiting DoorDash. While many appreciate the convenience of the service, students are learning to recognize the risks.
“People don’t have to go out of their way to drive to where they want to eat,” Weis said. “But, I do think having a policy is necessary because a lot of people take advantage of [DoorDash] and it’s causing safety risks for everyone.”
