SEATTLE — If you're a Seattle resident, and you have been getting calls, emails, or online advertisements asking you to help repeal that food delivery pay ordinance, you’re not alone.
City of Seattle records show in the month of March alone, DoorDash spent more than $130,077.92 on lobbying efforts to "repeal [the] app-based delivery worker minimum pay ordinance."
Their outreach was from a lobbying group called Washington Alliance for Innovation and Independent Work, and it comes ahead of a possible vote on May 9 that could mean an end to that $5 fee on Seattle food delivery orders.
"DoorDash does really well," said Alexander Kim, a delivery driver. "Maybe they could be using that to cover some of the customer fees, so people could be ordering more... If they had spent a little bit of that on us, then maybe they wouldn't be in this position right now."
I presented Kim's concerns to DoorDash, and a spokesperson responded, saying, in part, "Our goal is always to reduce costs for consumers, and the only way to reduce costs for delivery in Seattle is for this law to change. That's why we have invested in elevating the voices of dashers and small businesses."
Another delivery driver, John, who preferred not to share his last name, said he's been getting fewer orders since the apps imposed the fee. He told KING 5 Thursday, "People are not ordering as much."
He said because of that, his bottom line has been negatively impacted, even though apps like DoorDash are now required to pay a minimum hourly rate.
However, a new bill is being drafted to revise that. John said he hopes the revised version will pass.
"The market has collapsed here," said John. "And they have made, you know, kind of nod-wink-and-a-nod agreements that if the bill is revised, they will revise the fees."
Kim, however, said he believes he is making about 80% more under the PayUp Ordinance. As was evident in council briefings, delivery drivers are largely divided over whether the current ordinance is a good thing or bad thing for their pocketbooks.
According to DoorDash, "Dashers stand to lose hundreds of thousands of orders this year alone on our platform... it’s time for this broken law to change.”
