DoorDash announced this week that it will be raising its service fees on all deliveries in Seattle, which they say already takes the cake for the most expensive city to order food in.
The company didn’t specify how much they would be raising the fees by, but they blamed the increase on the city’s regulations around app-based worker pay and deactivations. DoorDash claims a law, which takes effect on July 31, 2025, will require more time and resources to review Dasher account deactivation. The increased service fees will take effect later this month, a blow to customers already grappling with high delivery costs.
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“Seattle law already requires platforms to pay delivery workers nearly $30 an hour before mileage and tips–well above the city’s minimum wage. Now, the city is imposing additional costly regulations, including a drawn-out and intensive review of any Dasher deactivations,” the company wrote in a statement on its website. “Despite frequent warnings to the City Council about the costs of these regulations, the combination of Seattle’s strict pay laws and new regulations governing DoorDash’s deactivations policies have put us in a position where we must increase fees yet again.”
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This isn’t the first time DoorDash has hiked prices in response to the city’s regulations. The company slapped a flat $5 service fee on all orders after Seattle City Council unanimously passed a law in 2022 guaranteeing a minimum wage for app-based workers. DoorDash argues Dashers have seen fewer deliveries and longer wait times to pick up orders as a result of the law, which results in decreased earnings.
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“A year after Seattle’s delivery pay law went into effect, Dashers were receiving half as many daily delivery offers as they were before and waiting three times longer for potential deliveries. This resulted in average hourly Dasher earnings for all time spent on the app in Seattle decreasing by over 20% between the end of 2023 and the end of 2024– a downward trend that has continued into 2025.” the company wrote.
DoorDash says that its drivers aren’t the only ones seeing decreased earnings – the company reported that it operated at a loss in Seattle in 2024, despite bringing in $10.7 billion dollars nationwide. Its report also pointed out that local businesses saw a 2% drop in revenue, while businesses in Denver, Portland, and San Francisco saw a 10% increase – noting that orders in these cities have lower service fees.
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Fox News Digital reached out to Seattle City Council for comment.
