Want to order takeout in NYC? You’ll now be asked for a tip before you even checkout

NYC makes apps show tips at checkout

New York City started enforcing new rules on Jan. 26 that require food and grocery delivery apps to show a tipping option before or at checkout.

The laws cover major platforms like DoorDash, Uber Eats, Grubhub, and Instacart.

Each app now has to suggest a tip of at least 10% of the order total, though customers can still type in a different amount.

The city’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) enforces the rules as part of a bigger package of delivery worker protections.

Apps moved tip screens after pay rules hit

The backstory matters. In December 2023, DoorDash and Uber Eats quietly moved their tipping prompts from before checkout to after a delivery was done. The timing was no accident.

New York City had just started enforcing a minimum hourly pay rate for food delivery workers that same month.

Both apps also raised delivery fees to cover the new pay rules and buried the tip screen where customers were less likely to see it. The goal, the city says, was to make upfront prices look lower.

Tips dropped from $3.66 to 93 cents

The numbers tell the story. According to a DCWP report from January 2026, average tips on DoorDash and Uber Eats fell from $3.66 per delivery to 93 cents within a single week of the switch.

Over 18 months, workers lost about $554 million in tip income, which works out to roughly $5,800 per worker per year. At the time of the report, the average tip on those two apps sat at 76 cents.

On rival apps that kept their tip prompts at checkout, the average was $2.17.

DoorDash and Uber sued the city

DoorDash and Uber filed a federal lawsuit in December 2025 to block the tipping rules before they took effect.

The companies argued the law forces them to deliver a government message about tipping, which they say violates their First Amendment rights.

DoorDash went further, calling the required tip prompt “essentially an added tax” on delivery orders. The case set up a high-stakes fight over how much control cities can have over app design.

A federal judge sided with the city

The apps lost their first round in court. On Jan. 23, U.S. District Judge George Daniels denied DoorDash and Uber’s request to pause the law while their case moves forward.

He found the companies had not shown a strong enough chance of winning on their free speech claims. The judge also said the city’s rules were not too burdensome and helped advance transparency and worker protection.

DoorDash and Uber appealed right away, but the law took effect three days later.

Grocery workers now get minimum pay too

The same Jan. 26 package extended the city’s $21.44 minimum hourly pay rate to grocery delivery workers, including those on Instacart. Before this, only restaurant food delivery workers got that guarantee.

The New York City Council passed the grocery worker protections in July 2025, but then-Mayor Eric Adams vetoed the bills in August.

The Council overrode that veto on Sept. 10, 2025, reaching the two-thirds majority it needed to push the laws through.

Instacart lost its own court fight

Instacart’s parent company, Maplebear Inc., filed a separate federal lawsuit challenging the grocery delivery worker laws.

The company argued federal and state law should override the city’s rules and that they violated the commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution.

U.S. District Judge John Koeltl rejected those arguments in a 35-page order on Jan. 23, the same day Judge Daniels ruled against DoorDash and Uber.

Both rulings cleared the way for the full package to take effect on schedule.

DoorDash says workers already earn well

DoorDash pushed back hard on the new rules. The company says its New York City couriers already earn more than $30 per hour while actively making deliveries, before tips.

That figure only counts time on an active trip, though, not the time workers spend waiting for orders.

DoorDash also called the DCWP tipping report “flat out wrong” and said workers get 100% of tips placed through the app. The company warned the law will mean fewer orders and higher costs for everyone.

City says workers earned $1.2 billion more

The city sees it differently. DCWP says delivery workers have earned about $1.2 billion more since minimum pay enforcement began in December 2023.

The agency described the apps’ post-checkout tipping switch as deliberate design changes meant to cut tips.

DCWP Commissioner Samuel Levine said the new laws end practices that cost workers hundreds of millions in tip income. Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who took office in January 2026, has backed strong delivery app regulation.

Customer costs rose modestly overall

So what did all this mean for customers? After the minimum pay rule kicked in, delivery fees rose about 45% per order, according to a Bloomberg analysis of data the apps gave the city.

Customers tipped about 64% less per order over the same stretch.

But the total average cost to consumers only went up about 76 cents per order, or roughly 2%, in early 2024 compared to the year before.

DoorDash says its operating costs per delivery run about 95% higher in New York City than the national average.

Pay goes up again in April

The minimum pay rate for all delivery workers, including grocery, will rise to $22.13 per hour starting with the first pay period on or after April 1, 2026. That bump reflects a 3.2% inflation adjustment.

Apps also have to pay workers within seven calendar days of a pay period ending and give them detailed, itemized pay statements.

DCWP sent compliance warnings to more than 60 companies, including every major delivery platform. The appeals from DoorDash, Uber, and Instacart are still pending in federal court.

About 80,000 workers stand to benefit

DCWP estimates about 80,000 delivery workers operate across New York City on food and grocery platforms. That number may count some workers more than once if they use multiple apps.

The workforce is mostly made up of immigrants, and many rely on e-bikes to make their deliveries.

The advocacy group Los Deliveristas Unidos, which organized delivery workers in Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx, played a major role in pushing for these protections.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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