Rivals DoorDash Inc. and Uber Technologies Inc. jointly sued New York City to block requirements that the delivery tipping option be available at the time of checkout and set to at least 10%, which the companies worry could worsen sticker shock for inflation-weary consumers.
New tipping laws set to become effective Jan. 26 and were enacted in response to measures the delivery companies took after the city’s minimum-wage rule for delivery workers was instated in 2023. At the time, apps like DoorDash and Uber raised customers’ service fees to subsidize the new pay rate and moved the in-app tipping function to after checkout so that the upfront delivery costs would seem lower.