Gig workers in Seattle and beyond came together to fight for minimum wage because gig companies have shown since the beginning that they can’t be trusted to pay workers fairly.
And after nearly two months of tracking the retaliatory efforts of corporations like DoorDash and Instacart against Seattle’s minimum wage ordinance, we’ve seen how far the apps will go to gouge us all.
These tactics have included:
- DoorDash, UberEats, and Instacart all piling excessive new fees onto Seattle customers (who already are expected to cough up money for mysterious service and operating fees), and then misleadingly suggesting the new fees are required by Seattle law – hurting Seattle’s customers, businesses, and workers alike. These fees have no apparent connection to order cost or worker pay, and have jacked up order fees.
- UberEats was caught charging the same “local ordinance” $5 fee on orders in places nowhere near to Seattle, including Lake Stevens – a city nearly 40 miles away, in an entirely different county. The company then quietly walked that fee back once local press started asking it to explain itself, but not before continuing to rake in some extra cash by charging the fee for 4 more days just to see if it could get away with it.
- And now, right after insisting its fees are driven by “operating costs,” UberEats has started cutting the fees it charges in cities around Seattle. Hard to believe they’re the cash-strapped little businesses acting in good faith that they pretend to be when they’re wildly and confusingly manipulating customer experiences like this.
No matter how the apps try to spin it, the takeaway is clear: these fees are not driven by operating costs, or workers being paid fairly, or by a desire to support Seattle’s local businesses or consumers.
They are all about finding ways to make sure the companies’ profits continue to grow. The apps are in total control of the fees, and as they’ve shown, they can cut them whenever they want, with no delay.
The apps are using workers being paid minimum wage as an excuse to price-gouge Seattle restaurants and customers along with workers. The result has been rising costs for customers, less business for restaurants, and inconsistent work for workers.
The good news? This is a manufactured crisis that the apps could put an end to right now. All they have to do is cut it out with these outrageous new fees. If they don’t, we’ll start looking for ways to rein them in.
Been ripped off by an app lately? Send us your order screenshots here!