Government Ruins Everything: Seattle's Mandated 'Living Wage' Fee Hurting App Delivery Drivers

Government makes everything worse. It's like the reverse Midas effect: instead of turning things to gold, they turn things to rusted heaps of garbage. Seattle recently mandated an ordinance that added a $5 fee to delivery apps, meant to 'help' delivery drivers get a 'living wage.' And guess how that's going? Seattle introduced a mandatory $5 fee on delivery apps to cover their driver’s living wage and sales were almost cut in half. Now the drivers can’t make rent. https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/seattle-ordinance-intended-app-delivery-workers-hurting-them/281-9516c79c-3161-41f3-a662-798b9db16d3f -- Whoops. A new Seattle City ordinance designed to give food delivery app drivers a more livable wage is "backfiring," according to several drivers. You may have noticed that new $5 fee on Doordash and Uber Eats orders, but it is not just causing frustrated customers to delete their apps, as we reported. We are now learning the people the ordinance was designed to help are hurting.

What used to be considered "hotspots" for workers on those apps, feel a little colder since Jan. 13, according to several drivers we heard from. That includes Gary Lardizabal, a longtime, app-based, food delivery driver in Seattle. "Sundays before the ordinance," Lardizabal. "You know, we'd be thinking breakfast. Today, I didn't even touch it. They're not going to order. It is definitely backfiring.” Since the ordinance went into effect last month, Mia Shagen said her delivery opportunities have been slashed. "I've got nothin," Shagen said. "I'm not gonna sit here for hours for one frickin' order." Even on typically busy delivery days, groups of drivers can be seen waiting around together in groups in high-density restaurant areas. "Instead of it stopping at 2:30 or 3:00, it's stopping at like one o'clock, sometimes even a little bit before," Shagen said. "So literally at like one o'clock, suddenly, there are no orders anymore."

Well done, Seattle. I've been following this in the Seattle subreddit. Someone ordered an $18 bowl of clam chowder and with taxes and fees (before gratuity) the total was $41. In this economy, people aren't going to pay that for long, "level playing field" and "living wage" coming out of a bureaucrats mouth generally translates to "make the public suffer". And 'harm the people we say we're helping.' They either thought the restaurants or delivery app companies would eat this fee. No. It's always passed along to the consumer. And the delivery drivers suffer.

• Video: https://www.king5.com/embeds/video/responsive/281-375d8d52-a524-447c-a40f-735ed99e46a5/iframe
• More at: Twitchy - Government Ruins Everything: Seattle's Mandated 'Living Wage' Fee Hurting App Delivery Drivers
https://twitchy.com/amy-curtis/2024/02/06/seattle-delivery-fee-n2392594
KING 5 News Seattle: 'It's definitely backfiring': Seattle ordinance intended to help app delivery workers is 'hurting' them
https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/seattle-ordinance-intended-app-delivery-workers-hurting-them/281-9516c79c-3161-41f3-a662-798b9db16d3f