DoorDash, Uber Eats bump service fees for Twin Cities customers
After the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul placed temporary caps on what food delivery apps can charge restaurants, at least two major apps have added about a dollar to their customer fees.
DoorDash has added a $1.50 "regulatory response fee" and Uber Eats is charging a $1 "temporary local fee."
Minneapolis in December joined a wave of cities nationwide to limit what delivery services can charge restaurants during the pandemic. An emergency order, set to expire 90 days following the end of the city's COVID-19 state of emergency, keeps the apps from charging restaurants more than 15 percent of each order value. Soon afterwards, St. Paul adopted an emergency order using the same language.
As restaurants turned to third-party delivery services because of the pandemic, some were being charged up to 40 percent of order values, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said at the time.
The companies say the added customer fees are needed to "maintain a reliable delivery marketplace," Axios reports.
A DoorDash spokeswoman told BMTN: "We understand the challenges restaurants are facing and are committed to supporting them while providing the best possible experience for our entire community. Operating our platform, paying and insuring Dashers, and ensuring high-quality service can be expensive, which is why in many markets, where local governments have passed pricing regulations, we have begun charging customers a small additional fee.
"We realize this isn’t ideal, but with these regulations in place, these fees help us to continue providing convenient delivery for customers, meaningful earning opportunities for Dashers, and valuable services that help drive orders for merchants."
