DoorDash raises prices on Seattle deliveries again

SEATTLE - DoorDash is once again raising its prices for Seattle area users in response to a City Council ordinance.

On August 1, the food delivery service implemented an additional $1.99 fee on certain long distance orders. There's now also a $1.99 minimum service fee for orders from DashPass subscribers.

In a release, DoorDash blamed the Seattle City Council's "PayUp bill," which requires gig workers to have a guaranteed minimum wage. In Seattle, the minimum wage is $19.97/hour.

After the PayUp bill started in January, DoorDash added a $4.99 regulatory response fee for all Seattle-area deliveries. This led to a "drastic reduction in orders from Seattle merchants and therefore Dasher earnings," according to the company.

The release states the bill has prompted countless complaints from small businesses, dashers, and consumers. DoorDash said during the first three months of the PayUp ordinance, there were an estimated 300,000 fewer orders made in Seattle.

DoorDash says it held off on further increasing fees throughout 2024 despite them continuing to lose money in the market because the Seattle City Council was debating a proposal that would have lowered the delivery driver minimum wage law.

The proposal, titled CB 120775, would have paid gig workers based on an hourly rate when making deliveries to keep the wage at $19.97, as well as add a per-mile minimum of $0.35.

However, DoorDash claims "a few members of the Council" did not move forward with the proposal, which prompted them to add the extra fees last week.

The Seattle City Council tells FOX 13 Seattle that the proposal hasn't been killed, but it's essentially on hold.