For being a first-world country here in the United States, some cities are starting to see a heavy dose of third-world garbage and debris in our roads. My time doing DoorDash can attest to this, or at least in my hometown of Salem, Oregon. Mind you, my home city wasn’t anywhere like that until things started to deteriorate in city government—including increasing homelessness. Over the last 10 to 15 years, potholes and tire-shredding junk in our roads has increased tenfold.

Hopefully your town or city isn’t as bad, though it perhaps is. I’ve had a theory that the homeless sometimes deliberately leave large pieces of debris in the roads as sabotage to those with expensive cars. Although some of that road garbage is just random from heavy winds or other circumstances.

Whatever the reality really is, you’re going to encounter a lot of things in your local roads that could cause endless headaches for you if delivering food all day for Uber Eats or DoorDash.

It’s time to look at what kind of shit in the roads you might encounter, how to avoid running over these items, and how to report it. Plus, you need a plan to deal with tire maintenance since that road debris could give you a flat every couple of weeks.

What is the Worst Road Debris Out There?

One thing for sure is broken glass is one of the top five road debris issues on a wide scale. It’s nothing new, and it’s been a problem here in America for multiple decades. You probably even remember your parents or grandparents swerving in the road to avoid shattered glass from a recent car accident—or someone deliberately breaking bottles in the road. 

THAT was what caused most flat tires, long before DoorDash or Uber Eats were even a spark in a corporate exec eye. Second runner up was nails that usually and somehow fell off trucks or other vehicles. This used to be a more random problem, but it’s increased in recent years due to either more vehicles on the road, or more sabotage.

Broken glass has also increased somewhat here in Salem due to more accidents and our explosion in population. Regardless, most of the flat tires I experienced while Dashing were seldom from glass or nails. 

The worst piece of road debris I ever encountered was random pieces of wood lying in our streets. One day, while in a hurry to deliver food to someone via DoorDash, I saw what looked like a block of wood in the middle of the road. After realizing that it was a THICK block of wood almost strategically placed in the center of the lane, I didn’t have enough time to swerve to avoid running right over it.

Of course, it shredded my left front tire. Thanks to being not far away from a local tire repair place, I was able to get there (after somehow making the delivery) to have the tire replaced. If you have tires from a particular tire repair center, they’ll often repair a ruined tire for free. 

You might be surprised to learn that wood is one of the worst things to run over. I have no doubt it was some kind of diabolical trap by someone to deliberately ruin someone’s tires. Not that you still can’t get a flat from other debris if going on non-paved roads.

Avoid Gravel Roads If You Can

I’ll admit a couple of flat tires I had were due to nails. However, I’m fairly sure they were lying in a few gravel roads I took while delivering in remote locations. You’d think every road here in the valley of Oregon is paved by now. Well, we still have gravel roads around farms and other outskirt areas where wineries reside.

One particular remote area in the southern regions of Salem had me delivering to some recurring customers on very long and bumpy gravel roads. It required more than a couple of miles driving through heavy gravel, no doubt littered with various categories of tire-damaging items.

In my case, there was no alternative to get to these locations, so I had to take the chance. The bad thing is it’d take several days for one of my tires to show it was damaged after driving these rough roads. Driving an unpaved road is basically a one or two-week slow leak suicide for rubber wheels.

Unless you have an SUV and some very hefty tires, try to avoid driving on unpaved roads if you can. It’ll save you a lot of slow tire damage, not including saving your vehicle’s suspension system. You may still have to drive there, unfortunately, since some DoorDash customers order food because they’re living in these remote locations. 

Also keep in mind it’s not just gravel roads that hide tire-damaging junk. You may also encounter offbeat side roads containing massive potholes. I’ve had to drive on side roads like this, and the potholes were nearly like deep moon craters. These often hide sharp objects like nails and random pieces of garbage. Even a sharp rock gouging into your tire could cause a flat tire either in minutes or a matter of days.

Your Tire Maintenance Plan

It may sound dirt dull to come up with a tire maintenance plan when out on the road delivering food. But it’s mandatory since you don’t want to waste your earnings on buying a new tire if not covered by a warranty. I can almost guarantee you that you’re going to encounter flat tires more often than you ever imagined based on how much road travel you’ll do. 

The best option here is to get your tire warranties in paper form. Here in Oregon, we have a tire franchise called Les Schwab where they literally give you an envelope with your warranty every time you buy a tire. While Schwab’s is generally more expensive, I still recommend them if you happen to live or do DoorDash in the Oregon valley.                                                                                                                                                               

Not that they don’t have record of you buying tires there once you show up (with a flat tire). But having physical proof of the warranty will save you some time at the counter when first going in. Believe me, any time you can save when getting a tire replaced or fixed is worth the effort. That being said, expect at least an hour’s wait to get your tire patched or exchanged.

Sure, the waiting time to fix a tire is the worst aspect of this, especially when you allot time to do DoorDash and expect to make a certain amount. Your best bet is to set aside an emergency fund exclusively for tires. Because once you get a flat, it’s going to screw up your intended schedule for the day. 

Hopefully your town or city is different, yet expect a flat at least once per month, if not more often. Much of this, again, depends on the type of tires you invested in earlier. A more expensive tire (close to $1000) with thick tread may last a lot longer when doing DoorDash than a $200 one. 

Just be sure that you know where each tire was bought so you can get a free replacement. Buying a new (or used) car means you should really replace all four tires soon. 

What Can We Do About All the Debris In Our Roads?

All you can really do to combat growing road debris is call your city leaders and tell them what you encountered. They may not do anything, particularly because the increasing homeless crisis continues without many cities being able to control it. No one can really monitor what’s going to end up in America’s roads either. 

Also, if it’s safe, remove any debris from the road yourself to prevent other drivers from running over the object. I wish I would have removed that above block of wood from the road. It couldn’t be done since it was right in a busy part of that street. The good news is, when I drove by there a couple days later (with my new tire), someone removed the wood—no doubt a city worker. Someone clearly reported it being there.

Potholes are an additional reportable issue to your local city management. Many people DO report them here. Some get fixed right away, and others still fester. The worst ones as big as the Grand Canyon are still out there on various main arterials and side roads. When it’s raining, it’s almost like driving through a swimming pool that was a previous landfill. 

In Chapter XXXVI, I’ll cover the new trend of door safety from customers. Some women (and men) are setting up extra safety methods with DoorDash deliverers to stay safe from potential house invaders pretending to deliver. I saw this covered on an X video recently, so I’ll offer my opinions on the subject.

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