SEATTLE — DoorDash says it is increasing prices in Seattle this month.
The company says it’s the most expensive city in the U.S. to facilitate food delivery.
In a news release, the company blames Seattle’s ‘costly regulations’ and says that the laws meant to help workers – are actually hurting them.
“Seattle’s local businesses, Dashers, and consumers are all feeling the squeeze of this overregulation. We do not want to be in a position where we have to increase prices, but unfortunately we can’t avoid these changes under all of these costly regulations,” Anna Powell, Senior Manager of Government Relations, Northwest tells KIRO 7 News. We hope that the Council will listen to the countless advocates urging them to make common sense changes to these policies.”
The food delivery service says it anticipates an increase of roughly 15 to 30% to service fees.
The company says Seattle’s new rules governing deactivations implement a time-intensive and costly review process around every deactivated Dasher. The rules also make changes to the way we facilitate delivery that will make all deliveries more expensive.
The city already requires platforms to pay delivery workers nearly $30 per hour before mileage and tips.
“A year after Seattle’s delivery pay law went into effect, Dashers were receiving half as many daily delivery offers as they were before and waiting three times longer for potential deliveries,” DoorDash says.
The company says Seattle’s fees are two times higher than average fees per order in similar cities like Portland and San Francisco.
“Despite frequent warnings to the City Council about the costs of these regulations, the combination of Seattle’s strict pay laws and new regulations governing DoorDash’s deactivations policies have put us in a position where we must increase fees yet again,” the company says.
DoorDash says it operated at a loss in the Seattle market for 2024.
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