A New NYC Law Asks You To Tip Before Delivery On DoorDash & Uber Eats

If you’re a New Yorker, you may have noticed an update to the DoorDash and Uber Eats apps. On Monday, January 26, a new prompt was added that asks customers to tip their delivery driver at checkout, instead of after the order is received, suggesting a minimum tip of 10%. 

The tipping prompt was added thanks to the passing of a new law that’s intended to increase worker’s pay and to incentivize customer tipping. DoorDash and Uber responded by filing a lawsuit, with a spokesperson from the former saying that restaurants “will likely see an immediate drop off in orders” due to the law. 

The spokesperson added, “Forcing platforms to solicit a tip before checkout at a time when New Yorkers are sick of tipping culture and facing a growing affordability crisis is bad policy—plain and simple.” The judge who presided over the case, George Daniels, struck down the motion, admitting that the lawsuit raised “important constitutional questions,” but didn’t provide enough evidence to warrant a preliminary injunction. 

In July 2023, New York set a mandatory minimum wage for delivery workers. When the news broke, DoorDash called it an “extreme policy” in a statement that also said the company was considering fighting the law. “Today’s deeply misguided decision by the DCWP ignores the unintended consequences it will cause and sadly will undermine the very delivery workers it seeks to support,” the statement said.  

Delivery apps responded to the law by increasing delivery fees, and DoorDash and Uber Eats moved the tipping prompt post-delivery. According to NYC’s Department of Consumer and Workforce Protection, adjusting the tip placement had a considerable impact on how much people tip. Whereas the average tip on DoorDash and Uber Eats was $2.17 before the switch, it is now 76 cents.

As a result, delivery workers for those apps have missed out on an estimated $550 million in tips. Under the new minimum wage requirement, however, delivery workers’ earnings have increased by $1.2 billion. Delivery workers on DoorDash in particular earn over $30 per hour before tips. New York City is one of the few places where delivery apps are forced to pay workers a minimum wage. 

In the response to the judge’s motion to dismiss the injunction, the spokesperson for DoorDash added, “We’re disappointed in this ruling, but are confident in our position and will continue working to prevent further losses for local businesses and higher costs for consumers.” 

In many ways, that statement echoes the sentiments of the threat made in 2023 by the company to fight the minimum wage, framing the issue around the city’s supposed interference. Could these continual attempts at pushing back at laws put in place to ensure that delivery workers receive fairer pay just be a thinly veiled red herring to absolve Uber Eats and DoorDash of addressing the bigger issue, which is their controversial business models?

According to a new Market Leader Report from Restaurant Business and Nation’s Restaurant News, half of restaurants cite exorbitant fees from third-party delivery apps as the top hurdle preventing them from making money via delivery, not the amount that customers tip, and not how much workers are paid.