Mamdani Secures $104m in Tips for Delivery Drivers

New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani’s crackdown on delivery apps has secured drivers in the city an estimated $104m (£77m) in extra tips since January.

Delivery drivers are now taking home roughly double what they used to in tips, according to a report from the New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection.

“For years, delivery apps buried the tip button to pad their own bottom line, and delivery workers paid the price,” said Mamdani. “We changed the law, enforced it, and it’s working: $104 million has gone back into the pockets of the workers who keep this city fed, rain or shine. 

“New York will not allow billion-dollar tech companies to boost their profits by taking money from working people.”

In the same week that new minimum pay protections were enforced in December 2023, Uber Eats and Door Dash had rolled out new versions of their apps that made it harder for consumers to leave tips for drivers. 

If apps only offer the chance to leave a tip after a transaction is completed, consumers are less likely to abandon a purchase because the cost is too high. In effect, critics say, the new changes made sure that companies kept earning money at the expense of workers’ take-home pay. 

Last year, the city passed legislation forcing apps to offer consumers the option of leaving a tip before or during checkout. The city fought off a lawsuit brought by Uber Eats and Door Dash in January, then Mamdani’s team began enforcing the new rules four days later. 

Some 70,000 delivery workers in New York are now on track to earn an additional $2,287 in tips annually, the report says. 

“In the middle of an affordability crisis, the New York City council has turned tipping into an added tax by forcing platforms like Door Dash to pressure consumers to tip at checkout,” Door Dash told the New York Post in a December statement.

“Moving tipping to after checkout isn’t novel or nefarious – it’s how tipping works in many areas of life.”

In January, the city won restitutions worth $5m from Uber Eats, Hungry Panda and Fantuan over violations of minimum pay rules.