DoorDash Says Seattle Is the Most Expensive Delivery Market in the Country

Eater

a day ago

Last month Uttam Mukherjee got an email with some bad news: DoorDash was raising prices again.
Mukherjee is a co-owner at Spice Waala, the popular mini chain that serves Indian street food snacks. With limited seating, the vast majority of Spice Waala's customers order takeout and delivery. So the business was hit especially hard last year when, in response to new city requirements mandating higher delivery driver wages, DoorDash and other third-party delivery apps raised fees across the board.
This July, DoorDash raised prices again. 'We are increasing some fees in an effort to continue delivering in the city – a market in which DoorDash operated at a loss in 2024,' the company wrote in a blog post. 'Seattle's leaders have once again forced through extreme regulations that will increase the costs of operating. Under these regulations, Seattle is now the most expensive market to facilitate delivery in the United States.'
The regulations in question govern the 'deactivation' of delivery drivers, the term used to describe kicking a worker off the platform. The new rules require DoorDash and similar apps to follow set procedures around deactivations, allow workers to appeal, and keep records. They went fully into effect on June 24 after a legal challenge from the apps failed earlier this year.
DoorDash did not say how much it was increasing its fees, and a spokesperson declined to elaborate, though they did say that increases rolled out over the course of July. As an example of how high fees currently are, if I want to be extremely lazy and DoorDash a deluxe and a chocolate shake from the Dick's 400 feet away from my house, the food is $9.80, while the 'delivery fee' (which can fluctuate) is $0.99 and additional 'fees and estimated tax' add up to $9.93, including a $4.99 'Seattle regulatory response fee.' That's more than $20 total for a relatively simple burger and shake.
These higher fees have had an undeniable impact on local restaurants that rely on delivery orders, as Eater Seattle reported last year. Mukherjee says that app-based orders declined 50 percent over the course of 2024, and an additional 15 percent so far this year. 'That's 100 percent because of extra fees,' he says.
Businesses are struggling to adapt to this new environment. Last year the fried chicken chain Bok a Bok tried hiring in-house delivery drivers, but later had to scale back its operations, closing all but one location. One enterprising delivery driver launched the app Tony Delivers on which drivers can set their own fees, but it has yet to take off and become popular.
Spice Waala has considered hiring its own delivery drivers, but couldn't make the math pencil out. 'It's essentially a route optimization problem,' says Mukherjee. 'You need enough people on the road at all times to make sure that you can fulfill all the orders that are out there, but [also] make sure that they have enough orders to be paid a fair wage.'
The Spice Waala co-owner doesn't have any insider information about why DoorDash is raising its fees, but says, 'I can totally understand why DoorDash would just say, 'Hey, this is going to cost us a lot of money. Let's just raise fees again.''
Since last year, DoorDash has been lobbying relatively openly for the Seattle City Council to roll back regulations, arguing that the higher fees are hurting restaurants and the decline in orders also makes it harder for delivery drivers (which the company calls 'Dashers') to earn a living, despite the higher wages. Worker advocacy groups, who pushed for the regulations in the first place, have argued that the higher wages have benefitted drivers and that DoorDash is raising fees higher than it needs to in order to pressure lawmakers to reverse the regulations. There is no indication that city officials (who are in the middle of an election season) will act on the issue.
Meanwhile, Spice Waala is doing what it can, trying to drum up orders by offering more specials, and by cutting costs. 'We've had to scale back on people in our locations, and we've had to become a little bit leaner and meaner,' says Mukherjee. 'That's the only way that I can see us growing.'
Eater Seattle
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