The 10-Cent McDonald's DoorDash Order That Never Needed To Happen

There's something to be said for leaving things to the imagination. Like those six-word short stories that suggest a greater narrative ("For sale: baby shoes, never worn" being the most famous, even if Hemingway didn't actually write it), you sometimes see an odd little detail — a quick snapshot — that sets your mind racing. You can only speculate as you peer through this small window into a story you'll never truly understand. And so we arrive at the 10-cent DoorDash order from McDonald's.

Compiling some of the most notable trends and curious happenstances of the past year, DoorDash took note of a peculiar order a customer placed. This person ordered exactly two items from their local McDonald's: a small carton of Creamy Ranch dipping sauce (the second-best McDonald's sauce) and a straw. It cost the customer a mere 10 cents before tax and tip; the toll it's exacted upon our psyches, however, is incalculable. What drives someone to order a single dipping sauce and a straw? Were they items they forgot to add to a previous order? That has to be it — otherwise, we're forced to assume that they were going to drink the sauce through the straw, and down that path lies only madness.

Of course, anyone who's used a delivery app knows that this wasn't really a 10-cent order. There are plenty of fees and taxes that DoorDash applies to your order so that getting someone to drive fast food to your house remains a sustainable business model. There's the Service Fee, which DoorDash applies to every order with a minimum fee. There's the additional Small Order Fee, which is placed upon especially tiny orders like this sauce-and-straw nonsense. There's the Delivery Fee, which is intended to cover the cost of driving to the restaurant and your house (although DashPass members don't have to pay this). And that's not even getting into local fees and taxes like in New York City, or the tip that we seriously hope this person gave the driver who chauffeured a carton of ranch dressing on their behalf.

So how much did this bizarre little order come out to? It's impossible to say for sure without knowing the specifics. But with a typical minimum $5.99 service fee, on top of delivery fees and the roughly $2.50 small order fee, then taxes and tip, this order would have likely been closer to 10 dollars than 10 cents. Is it worth it? You'd have to ask whoever ordered it, if you can reach them in Cloudcuckooland.