Op-Ed | Instacart's new junk fee is a choice and New Yorkers are paying for it | amNewYork

"Last month, New York City's strengthened delivery worker protection laws finally took effect. After years of organizing and advocacy, delivery workers are now guaranteed a minimum pay rate of $21.44 an hour and the opportunity to earn tips before customers checkout. These are fair, common-sense updates designed to honor the dignity of grueling work and protect the tens of thousands of delivery drivers who make our city run."

"Unfortunately, Instacart's response was to slap a new regulatory response fee on every order placed in the city and then blame the city and its very own workers for it. This extra fee of $5.99 is a choice. And it's a familiar one, especially from a multi-billion dollar company that increasingly thinks it can reach into its customers' wallets to pad its own profits."

"This brazen profit-seeking is even more outrageous as we come off Super Bowl Sunday, where Instacart reportedly spent $7 million dollars to fund a star-studded 30 second TV ad, leaving many workers wondering how they can spend over $230,000 per second, but not $21 for a decent hourly wage. This is the same exploitative playbook we've come to expect from large corporations."

"The city's delivery worker protection laws were implemented because companies offering app-based delivery services built lucrative empires on poverty wages and unpredictable pay that left workers struggling to survive. We should all be extremely proud of the steps our city has taken in recent years to correct this imbalance and go to bat for working-class New Yorkers. Nowhere in our worker protection laws does it say that companies like Instacart must institute new surcharges."

New York City's strengthened delivery worker protection laws guarantee a minimum pay rate of $21.44 per hour and allow drivers to earn tips before customer checkout. Instacart responded by imposing a $5.99 regulatory response fee on every order in the city and blamed the city and workers for the surcharge. Instacart reportedly spent $7 million on a Super Bowl ad, drawing criticism for prioritizing marketing over fair wages. The laws target app-based delivery companies that relied on low, unpredictable pay, require basic fairness and protection for drivers, and do not mandate new surcharges.

Read at www.amny.com