Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro and District of Columbia Attorney General Karl Racine worked with Uber Eats in order to help ease visibility into the discrepancies in pricing between the app and ordering in person, according to a press release.
They want to make sure companies are transparent in their pricing, Racine said in the release. Going forward, Uber Eats will be letting customers know that its prices could be more expensive than they are in restaurants themselves.
Racine said in the release they “strongly encourage” other apps to follow suit or else risk investigations from high-level offices.
“Online food delivery platforms can be very convenient, but hidden fees have driven up costs for consumers and hurt struggling neighborhood restaurants at the worst time,” Shapiro said in the release. “You deserve to know where your money is going, and I’m pleased that by working together, Uber Eats made their pricing more transparent.”
He added in the release that the solution is “another step towards making the marketplace more fair for restaurants and consumers — and I call on all food delivery platform companies to provide this same information as soon as possible.”
The attorneys general said in the release that they want consumers to know about the fees charged by delivery apps, including that more money might be charged for heavier items and when there are high volumes of customer demand. They also want consumers to know that restaurants pay commissions to the delivery apps, for those who instead want all their money to go to the restaurants.
To combat what they said are the adverse effects of using the apps, some restaurants might try to set up their own ordering channels and hire their own delivery staff. That option is being made available by tech service providers like Lunchbox, Traiilo and BentoBox, which can give restaurants more control.
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