What’s Your Plan If You Get Deactivated?

Deactivations are the single most terrifying issue for me as a full-time gig worker. Back in 2024, I got deactivated from DoorDash out of the blue for repeated lateness. I had been a Dasher since the pandemic, only doing it part-time while I worked my full-time job. I used to be a huge gambler, playing slot machines, so needless to say I needed extra cash.

Fast forward to 2024 — I was one year into doing gig work full-time, and when I logged into my main app, there was a huge red X saying “Deactivated.” My heart sank instantly. It wasn’t the end of the world because I had multiple apps in my back pocket, but it still hurt because it was by far the easiest app, and I made the most money on it at the time.

I was an avid multi-apper (working simultaneous orders on different platforms). It was fine when I was in my hometown because I knew the area really well, including traffic patterns. But I was in a new city — and that city was busy Los Angeles. For those of you who live in or have even visited Los Angeles, you know how overwhelming it can be. As a result, I received two contract violations on the same order — one for pickup and one for drop-off.

For a while, I played it safe to complete 100 orders so my violations would drop off. They eventually dropped off, so it was back to business as usual — or so I thought. I was late to a drop-off by about seven minutes, and the next morning when I went online… BOOM. Deactivated.

Back to my original question: What What will you do if you get deactivated?

I appealed my deactivation by explaining that I was in an unfamiliar city, with very heavy traffic and difficult parking. I emphasized that I spent extra time making sure my customer's orders were correct hence, why all of my stats with nearly 2000 deliveries were near perfect outside of on time (but they claim that it doesn't put you at risk for deactivation). None of that mattered they denied my appeal and my account remained deactivated. Approximately 3 months later they sent me an email saying I can reappeal my DoorDash deactivation. I made the same argument again and about 48 hours later I was reactivated. This journey has taught me a lot of lessons and as a result I now give each order my undivided attention.

Unforseen issues arise in this full-time gig life and there are not a lot of centralized resources for us gig workers navigating the unpredictability of doing this full time. That's why I built GigWorldToday.com that compiles different gig platforms with detailed info to help drivers create a real backup plan instead of relying on just one app.

Full-time gig work isn’t just about maximizing orders — it’s about protecting your income. Getting deactivated taught me that the hard way.

So I’ll leave you with this: if your main app locked you out tomorrow, would you be ready?

What’s your backup plan?

If you're interested in bullet proofing your gig delivery business and earning more money check out book 1 of my 3 book series " The 5-Star Gig Worker: Mastering Ratings Across All Platforms" I have more real life examples like this and what I did to resolve them. Tips on getting increased tips from customers and keeping your ratings high.