"Back in 2023, many food delivery apps in the city moved the tip suggestion box to after purchases had been completed. This is sort of how rideshare apps work. It followed NYC mandating a minimum pay rate for food delivery workers, the first in the country. The new law simply switches the tip suggestion box back to checkout, with a suggestion of ten percent. Customers are still free to set it to zero, if that's their thing."
"The two companies say this law violates the First Amendment by requiring them to "speak a government-mandated message." They also say the rule would cause customers to use the app less because they were suffering from "tipping fatigue." As a customer of food delivery apps, I am not stricken with tipping fatigue. I have, however, come down with a serious case of "what are all of these mysterious fees on my bill and why is my burrito $45?" fatigue."
"NYC food delivery workers have experienced a sharp decline in tips since the apps switched the suggestion field to after a purchase has been completed. It's extremely easy to ignore an app notification while in a food coma on the couch. "Removing the tipping option is to keep workers in poverty and make them depend on taking more orders," said Ligia Guallpa, co-founder of Workers Justice Project."
Uber and DoorDash filed a joint federal lawsuit challenging a New York City law that mandates tip suggestion placement at checkout with a ten percent suggestion. In 2023 many apps moved tip suggestions to after purchases following a city-mandated minimum pay rate for delivery workers. The companies argue the law violates the First Amendment and could reduce app usage due to tipping fatigue. Tip amounts dropped after the post-purchase change, and worker advocates say removing prominent tipping keeps workers in poverty. City delivery spending rose to $265 million in H1 2025; estimates put delivery workers at about 80,000.
Read at Engadget
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]