The Tiny Feature That Keeps Me Loyal to DoorDash over Uber Eats

Every year around Thanksgiving, I make the same Costco run. Not for the turkey, but for the food delivery gift cards: $100 reloads for $80. That’s 20% off every meal I order for weeks, and it’s one of my favorite small money-saving habits.

Both DoorDash and Uber Eats sell these cards, so you’d think it wouldn’t matter which one I pick. But I always go with DoorDash, and the reason comes down to one tiny feature.

The Redemption Step

Each gift card comes with a 16-digit code. Before you can use the balance, you have to enter that code in the matching app.

Sixteen digits isn’t a lot, but it’s enough to be annoying. Type one wrong and you start over. Squint at a tiny printed number under the store lighting and you’ll second-guess yourself. $100 typically comes in 2 gift cards of $50 each, so if you’re redeeming a few cards at once, the typos pile up.

The Catch

The DoorDash app has a camera scan feature for gift cards. Point your phone at the card, and the number is captured for you. No typing, no mistakes.

Uber Eats doesn’t have this. You enter all 16 digits by hand.

What Makes This Odd

Here’s the part that surprises me: both apps already have this feature in another place.

When you add a credit or debit card, DoorDash and Uber Eats both let you scan it with your camera. (Setting aside the expiry date and CVN scanning, the core feature is the same.)

So, Uber clearly has the technology. It just hasn’t extended it to gift cards.

Small Feature, Huge Impact

It’s easy to dismiss this as a minor convenience, but small details like this shape how a product feels. Scanning takes a couple of seconds and almost never goes wrong.

Typing 16 digits random alphanumeric code is slow and error-prone, and it makes redeeming a gift card feel like a chore instead of the reward it should be.

If you’re picking up gift card reloads this Thanksgiving, I’d go with DoorDash. The discount is the same, but the experience isn’t.