SEATTLE — Thursday afternoon, for the first time since apps like Doordash charged customers that extra $5 dollar fee on orders, a committee of Seattle City Council members revisited the controversial PayUp Ordinance.
KING 5 attended the meeting in our efforts to get your question answered: will that fee go away?
"We really need you to reconsider this, take a look at this," said a woman giving public testimony.
Like so many other restaurants these days, that woman owns a restaurant in South Lake Union that relies on delivery to stay in business.
"It is common to wait 30+ minutes for an offer to come in," testified Lynn Reed, representing Drive Forward, a group of delivery drivers and advocates.
Council President Sara Nelson told KING 5 she is eager to let those impacted know that she hears their cries.
"These are lives on the line. Frankly, people can't pay their rent," said Nelson. "I'm hungry to help out the people that are being really hurt by this legislation.’”
Those who championed the current ordinance, PayUp, acknowledge the challenges that many say it is creating. But they place the blame on the app companies.
"They can afford to cover these fees. And if they're worried about how many people are using their apps, they should be covering it," said Kyle Graham, an Uber Eats delivery driver.
The apps, however, want a better deal. So when Drive Forward wrote up a new proposal, the apps provided them with feedback. The proposal includes a new minimum wage model, which would structure it like a pay period system, unlike the current model. Under this proposal, apps would still be required to pay their drivers Seattle's minimum wage of $19.97 per hour.
"We’re hoping that if we act fast enough, that there will be a return to the app," said Michael Wolfe, executive director of Drive Forward.
He said the proposal "probably lowers costs for the company, so they can get to the point where they can remove that $5 fee. And that’s one of the goals of Drive Forward here.”
Will the apps remove it? I asked a Doordash representative over the phone.
"If those costs can be decreased, we will definitely explore all options to increase affordability to consumers, including a reduction of the fee," said Anna Powell, government relations manager for Doordash in the northwest region.
Powell added that, ideally, they would want the PayUp Ordinance to be repealed, but she also said they’re willing to come to the table.
In the meantime, a new report by the Seattle Chamber of Commerce shows that Seattle's small restaurants are hurting, and many are pointing their fingers at the new ordinance, which results in delivery app fees.
The ordinance went into effect two and a half months ago, and during that time, the restaurant owners surveyed reported that their sales dropped, on average, 38%.