By the time students become hungry at night, the dining hall is closed, and the dorm snacks won’t cut it anymore—So, they pull out their phone and turn to online orders.

After taking a stratified random sample of all 286 boarding students I was able to calculate that students spend an estimated $26.62 per person or $7,613 per week on DoorDash. That is equal to approximately $1,087.50 a day, $30,452 a month, $91,356 a trimester, and a whopping $251,299 a school year (excluding Thanksgiving break, Winter break, and Spring break). This survey was done with the help of AP Statistics teacher Karla Schaffer.

DoorDash and Uber Eats are free apps that can be used to online order food. The apps are simple: go online to the restaurant you want to get food from, select the item you want to purchase, and then proceed to checkout and your food will be delivered to you.  The delivery will come with a little extra price that make some people shy away from ordering. The order fees include the standard cost of the food, a delivery fee of a couple of dollars that varies based on the deliver distance, and a service fee that goes towards helping DoorDash operate, plus tax and a tip for the delivery driver.

DoorDash was launched in June of 2013 by a Stanford student. Uber Eats was established in August 2014 by owner of Uber, Travis Kalanick. Williston first allowed students to online order food at the start of the 2025 year. Students are not allowed to pick up food during study hall hours from 7:45 to 9:45, and are not allowed to leave the dorm after 11:00 p.m., so if food arrives after that no student is permitted to leave to claim their order.

Anyone who is 18 years old, has a vehicle, and owns a smart phone can sign up to be a DoorDash driver. Then the company will run a background check and make sure you have no arrest or standing warrants. The drivers are given a base pay from the company but make a majority of their money off tips from customers. 100 percent of the tips will be given to the drivers. Promotions will allow the workers to make more money such as delivery streaks.

Aditya Mahtani, a senior from Hong Kong, believes that sometimes the order arrives incorrectly.

“Sometimes the food gets deliver to the wrong location such as the College Advising office,” he said, adding, “Sometimes Chipotle messes up by forgetting the sour cream or guacamole.”

Archie Glazer, a resident of Ford Hall from Newton Mass., orders food twice a week and has an issue with the prices, specifically with the driver’s share of money. He believes the delivery drivers are “getting paid too much” and thinks “the tipping should go away and be replaced with a pay from the DoorDash company.”

Will Lee, Varsity football kicker, orders approximately three times a week has a one of a kind go-to order.

From McDonald’s, “two double cheeseburgers with no onion, pickle, or mustard, a small fry and six piece count of nuggets.” He adds that he often “tags along the 13 chocolate cookie tote.”