Labor Day cautionary tale for gig workers: How Seattle crashed its food delivery industry

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After the Seattle City Council imposed minimum wage laws that required delivery apps to pay drivers more, the food delivery business model for hundreds of gig workers in Seattle has all but vanished. The cost of delivery is now so great that people have changed their habits and are no longer ordering over the apps. Instead, they’re ordering food to-go and going to pick it up themselves.

Food delivery grew in popularity across the country during the Covid pandemic policies, which scared many people into not going out to eat, and which made economics of the restaurant and hospitality industries challenging. People started driving for extra dollars, sometimes as their chosen work, and other times to fill in between other jobs or gigs and earn extra money. People could make decent money on the tips alone.

In Seattle, the socialist-run city council put in a minimum wage rule that required the app companies to pay drivers $5 per order, or 44 cents per minute, and an additional 75 cents per mile. It was supposed to ensure that delivery drivers make the same as Seattle’s minimum wage of $19.97 per hour.

Immediately after the “PayUp law” went into effect in January, restaurants reported they had fewer orders. Drivers have quit driving as contract workers for new companies like GrubHub, Uber Eats, and Door Dash because they found they were losing money, with fewer and fewer customers.

In May, the city council was set to reconsider its actions, but as of Sept. 1, has taken no action, and has not scheduled any action in the future.

Seattle and New York City are the first two cities in the country to introduce such a minimum wage for contract drivers

One driver told the Seattle Times that she worked for five and a half hours, hanging around Belltown during what should have been a busy time for orders. Instead, she only was able to deliver two orders during that five and a half hours, for a total of 40 minutes of work. For her day of mostly waiting for orders, she made $23.71.

The owners of Spice Waala in the Capitol Hill neighborhood told a reporter that since the law took effect, delivery orders have declined 40%. It’s made his Indian Street food out of reach for the service. A kati roll used to cost a customer around $10, he said, and now it costs $20. Nobody is ordering them for delivery anymore.

37 COMMENTS

  1. Seattle’s local government implemented the so-call “blue laws” a long time ago for reasons that still baffle me. I supposed these laws were designed to protect people from themselves – a socialist model that really was about power and control.

    Now, continuing its long tradition of attacking small businesses, Seattle now has laws that have all but killed the local food delivery industry. And, such laws have a trickle-down effect that is felt in the restaurant industry and ultimately in other industries as well. It is right to make the conclusion that the Seattle local government is made from a bunch of bumbling idiots.

  2. I first paid into Social Security when I was 12 years old trimming Christmas trees. As I look back at my career in the construction trade, all democrats have done is take more money out of my paycheck and shut down or delay projects…..

  3. Here’s an idea. Why don’t people just go to the grocery stores, buy their food, take a few classes in cooking, and make their own meals. Home Economics 101. For boys and girls. Men and women.

  4. This is by design. The global elitists want to control the production, sales, and means of distribution of all foods. During Covid we saw the direct assault on small, privately owned restaurants and bars. These current actions will further diminish the means to survive for small food outlets. We’re seeing the consolidation of grocery stores and now government run grocery stores where all food is free. Socialized food here we come.

  5. It’s amazing how all these blue states become so damn greedy and corrupt that they’re willing to chase away what made their cities so special, it’s tourists. WELL DONE SEATTLE, WELL DONE.

  6. When the government dictates wages instead of the market everyone loses. This is just the beginning. This is going to be a very tough period for young people, everything is very much overpriced.

  7. Its a rare bird that learns from the mistakes of past generations; most must learn life lessons the hard way. .
    Its primarily because of our inherited sense of hubris and the misguided belief the human race is actually evolving intellectually. Each successive generation, for the most part, falls into this trap.

  8. Its a rare bird that learns from the mistakes of past generations; most must learn life lessons the hard way. Its primarily because of our inherited sense of hubris and the misguided belief the human race is actually evolving intellectually. Each successive generation, for the most part, falls into this trap.

  9. Just as well.
    You can cook your own food Seattle or sit in traffic on your way to pick up.
    But most importantly: DON”T MOVE HERE.
    We have enough brain dead, progs already.
    We’re full.

  10. There has indeed been a decline in orders over time, but Seattle city council shouldn’t be bashed because they tried to help workers earn an income that covers the gas, mileage, insurance, and maintenance necessary to provide a service to Seattle residents. Before the ordinance, one had to work 50+ hours to make a decent wage in the area. After, at least with the app I do gig work for, the wage was there, but the media coverage caused a surge in drivers. Suddenly, 3-5 max during busy times exploded to 12-14. Working outside of Seattle in places like Tacoma or Bellingham, which do not offer ordinance incentives, a driver simply cannot stay afloat. They are basically paying to deliver. This article was very hateful and biased. People still order. Ghost kitchens are also affecting warehouse-based gig workers.

    • They ARE paid to deliver. That’s the job.
      Or was until Seattle killed it.

      How much work are people getting now?

    • James, the “gig” work didn’t pay enough to cover expenses & make a living.
      Then don’t do the work! ….. Let the annoying “tech …. gig” whatever fools go broke
      Crash the stock!
      Now, that government has come to save you James, the work STILL doesn’t pay enough for expenses & wages, does it?
      SO …. don’t do it James, use your head.
      These delivery models are a scam on workers like yourself.
      They are companies only built to enrich shareholders & screw workers (sound familiar?)
      Then stop doing the work James.
      The government will NEVER produce the utopia you were promised.
      Wise up.

    • Oh… I am so sorry. Your “job” does not pay you enough to get by.
      And, instead of getting a job that does pay enough, you instead petition the government to pass laws requiring your employer to pay you more.
      .
      Not exactly the grown up thing to do, is it?
      .
      Last time I checked, the only person who holds responsibility for your salary is… YOU! If you are not getting paid what you think you should, get a job that pays more. If you choose to stay as a delivery driver, well… sorry, that is your choice. Whining about it speaks volumes about your character.

  11. This might have been an unintended ‘good use’ of social engineering, if such a thing exists….Cooking your own food is notoriously better for your health and generally far cheaper to boot.

    • You can try to polish that turd all day long, but you cannot make it shine.
      Seattle did an incredibly stupid thing, and they must now suffer the consequences.

  12. With the costs of delivery increasing:must be why our public servant Assembly needs more tha $60,000 plus medical insurance to supplement the private/ public income they are making.now:
    Let’s see: one is a real estate star w/25 years in the biz; one runs the homeless community @ 6 figures, another is a public policy writer for a company w/city contracts; one runs a social welfare agency @100k+; one is an optometrist…. Nearly a voting majority.
    And these entrepreneurs need help getting their medical paid??? Los Gatos must be in the wrong biz.

  13. Some folks don’t realize that the real minimum wage is $00.00/hr. Once government dictates a higher wage, some folks no longer have a job and the real minimum wage, $00.00/hr, becomes their wage.

  14. Well, you know, if people are going sit in front of the TV all night binging on Netflix and fast food, at least they can get off their butts to go pick it up. Door Dash and the like are the worst contributors to sloth, gluttony, and obesity that I’ve ever seen.

    • Yeah.
      It is preferable to destroy an entire industry that thousands rely on in order to make sure some fatties get off their duff and go pick up their food. Yeah, helps the environment as well, instead of a single driver delivering multiple meals in a single run, lots more cars out there.
      .
      Face it, Seattle fudged up, and they did it because they refused to consider any possible adverse outcomes. And, here you are trying to make it sound like a win?

  15. Editor: Someone changed my spelling from “bingeing” to “binging”. According to Merriam-Webster, either form of the word is correct.

  16. All the negative comments are so short sighted. The thinking NEVER takes a look at the long term effects of behaviors.

    Like higher health insurance costs due to poor eating habits. More crowded roads and pollution from all the delivery vehicles. People working a job and having to be on public programs because the pay doesn’t support rent/food.

    Maybe Seattle was tired of subsidizing these small businesses. Forcing them to figure out a business model that pays workers a living wage AND prospers. No more Business Nanny State.

    • Do you actually think a requirement to raise the pay for gig economy drivers (door dash/uber eats/etc…) was put in place so that people would exercise more? Seriously?
      .
      Pretending that the adverse outcome is somehow a benefit. That is just as childish as the initial action.

  17. Myles…do some research. You will see a long long long history of what Democrats have done to this country and most of it is not good!!!

  18. Children… errr… I mean leftists have zero concept of adverse outcomes.
    Ask a five year old about how to help the homeless, and they will say give them houses. Ask them how to help people afford food, and they will say give those people money for food. Simple solution is the choice of children without regard for any potential adverse impacts.
    .
    No different here.
    .
    This is what happens when you vote based on emotion, not logic or facts. You get children in the assembly, and they will invariably screw everything up.

  19. Perfect example of what Socialist Policies do. Just like Commifornia imposing the $20 minimum wage for fast food workers results in less workers to stay above the profit margin. No person goes into business to pay out they go into business to make money.

  20. But liberal ideas are not supposed to help anyone. They are designed to make liberals feel better about themselves by being morally superior to us.

    • Well said, Ig.
      A leftist will spend no end of other people’s money in order to make themselves look morally superior.

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