DoorDash adds cheaper subscription tier for takeaway-hungry students

Food delivery platform DoorDash is adding a new cheaper subscription plan called DashPass for Students. It costs $4.99 a month, half that of its regular $9.99 DashPass subscription, and offers similar benefits including: free delivery on eligible orders over a minimum threshold (generally $12 for restaurants and $25 for grocery orders); 5 percent credit back on pickup orders from certain restaurants; and access to other members-only promotions.

DoorDash’s announcement says the student membership will be available to “all undergraduate and graduate students at accredited colleges and universities in the US,” and it’s working with SheerID to verify student status. Its website adds that subscribers are free to “cancel anytime,” with no fees or penalty for cancellation.

Subscriptions like these are typically offered as a way of shoring up loyalty from customers who have an ever-increasing range of delivery apps to choose from. Uber offers a subscription of its own for $9.99 a month, which includes similar free delivery options on Uber Eats in addition to perks with Uber’s ride-hailing service. Grubhub also offers a $9.99 monthly subscription.

By focusing on students, DoorDash is hoping to cash in on a lucrative section of the market. It cites a recent survey that suggested 70 percent of college students use a delivery app at least once a week — and that they average four orders every seven days. That’s a lot of delivery fees that students could cut out with DoorDash’s new, more affordable, subscription.