Meet the Dasher About to Reach His 30,000th Delivery

Mentorship and competitive dashing at its finest.

PHOTO: COURTESY OF LARRY COLLINS, DESIGNER: MARISSA DICKSON/THRILLIST
PHOTO: COURTESY OF LARRY COLLINS, DESIGNER: MARISSA DICKSON/THRILLIST

They say, “not all heroes wear capes” — and that’s certainly the case for food delivery drivers. There are countless instances where a delivery saves the day, like for a last-minute lunch between meetings or after a long day. With a few clicks on the phone or computer, a meal is at your doorstep. But after we’re handed the goods and send off the tip, we don’t think twice about the delivery person who made sure our order was handled with care.

For Dashers like Larry Collins, dashing is more than just dropping off food: it’s a space for comradery and a bit of healthy competition. Collins began working part-time with DoorDash in Santa Monica at the start of the pandemic, but after he lost his job, he began dashing full-time. “DoorDash was hot. People had to stay at home,” says Collins, who was previously working for a private company that delivered packages and goods to movie sets and celebrities’ trailers. "'Okay,’ I said. 'I'm not going to become a movie star at home or in a studio. I'll just do [DoorDash] full time.’”
It didn’t take long for Collins to discover that some of his fellow Dashers were delivering thousands of meals, and he wanted in on the competition. He recalls meeting a Dasher who, at the time, had reached 15,000 deliveries and Collins was inspired by her tenacity. From there, he set off to beat her record.

“I'm like, ‘I'm going to catch you. I know. I'm so close. I'm going to catch you,’” he remembers saying to the other Dasher. By the time he rounded the corner on his own 15,000 mark, Collins had become friendly with other Dashers who, of course, were shocked by his number of successful deliveries. In time, he became a mentor, helping Dashers use their time efficiently and make the most out of their deliveries. “I've met a few Dashers and usually they ask about, you know, tricks of the trade,” he says. “‘How are you doing?’ or ‘How long have you been doing DoorDash?’ or ‘How many dashes have you done?’” Of course when he answers this with 29,500 (at the time of this interview), most people are shocked — and rightfully impressed. Collins says he does about 500 to 600 deliveries a month (around 17 to 20 dashes a day) and by December he will have reached the 30,000th-delivery mark.

So, what are his personal tricks of the trade? Collins uses his time efficiently and doubles up his orders when he can. “I'm doing two deliveries at a time. So I'm like, okay, now I have eight or nine in a span. [Sometimes] I would get like four. So yeah, my numbers just kind of jumped real quick,” he says.

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Thanks to his immense amount of experience in just barely three years, Collins has become a mentor of sorts to other Dashers who are looking to gain an edge for their own dashing experience. “We've gotten to a point where there are several Dashers who call me daily, just to see where my numbers are or where their numbers are,” he says. He’s even helped one mentee figure out how to make $2,000 a week; now that same Dasher is making $2,500 a week and raking in hundreds of dollars in tips. Collins modestly adds, “I'm just keeping up with him, you know, kind of inspiring him to keep on going.”

As Collins connects with more Dashers in his area, he finds more people who are just as competitive as he is — many having delivered nearly 10,000 food orders — but no one is near his number of deliveries.

Collins’ success rate can also be attributed to his car adornments. After nearly getting a few tickets while delivering (because local parking enforcement didn’t realize he was making a quick drop-off), Collins added a bunch of DoorDash stickers to his car. “I have a lot of DoorDash stuff on my car so that people definitely know I'm with DoorDash now,” he says. The stickers helped Collins park where he needed to quickly and get through security gates for private communities. It was also a great hack for getting customers to find him easily — just look for all the DoorDash paraphernalia.

And Collins didn’t stop there; he also has clothing with the DoorDash logo to guarantee smooth sailing for every type of delivery. “I have DoorDash pants, DoorDash shoes, the DoorDash placemat, mask, and head gear. So I make sure that [restaurant workers] know I'm with DoorDash,” he says. “Even when I go into restaurants, they don't ask me what I’m picking up for. I'm the kind of “give it to me automatically” person. They see me with the DoorDash car and they give it to me real quick. So it does make a difference.”

This advice has also helped other Dashers, even those Collins has personally inspired to get on the app. “I got a few of my friends to DoorDash for themselves and they were like, ‘Wow, I'm surprised I can even get into this so easily.’ So yeah, I've been trying to help some other Dashers dress up as well.”

It’s not just about numbers though, Collins also prides himself on his customer service. He tries to deliver the kind of experience he would want for his own delivery — most importantly, that the food is still hot when it arrives. To guarantee that happens for every customer, Collins keeps heated bags plugged into his car to keep his deliveries warm. He also has a portable freezer in his car to keep ice cream from melting and specialty cup holders with handles to avoid spills. “One guy was amazed that I took his beer out of my ice chest and gave it to him,” he says. “He gave me a $35 tip because no one ever did that.”

Anyone can just deliver food, but for Dashers like Collins, it’s a special way to show people kindness and thoughtfulness. By going the extra mile, Collins not only gets orders to people on time and in the condition they expect, he’s also sharing a dash of positive energy.