Santa Clara County and San Jose have both imposed limits on how much food-delivery apps can charge mom-and-pop restaurants struggling to survive the pandemic.
The county’s ordinance tops the fees at 15 percent of the cost of an order and will last as long as the ban on full-capacity indoor dining remains in effect. San Jose’s fee restriction will expire in June, at which point the City Council may decide to extend it.
San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo applauded his council colleagues for unanimously supporting the fee limit.
“I’m grateful that we could reach a compromise with food delivery companies … like DoorDash, as they provide a lifeline to our local small businesses,” he said of the proposal he co-sponsored with Councilman Lan Diep.
At the county level, supervisors Cindy Chavez and Joe Simitian introduced the proposal, which takes effect this weekend and applies to all 15 cities and unincorporated areas in the South Bay—except for jurisdictions with more restrictive fee caps.
“I’m pleased we were able to turn this around in a week to meet the urgency of the situation,” said Simitian, who initially brought the referral to the Dec. 8 Board of Supervisors meeting. “Many of these restaurants don’t have the infrastructure to host their own platforms for takeout and delivery, so they are often forced to accept the excessive fees and commissions, which can be up to 30 percent or more.”
Covid-related shutdowns already place an extraordinary burden on small restaurants, he noted, especially now that they’ve been limited to takeout only.
“Many of these businesses rely on third-party delivery vendors such as DoorDash, Uber Eats and Grubhub to meet their business’s delivery needs,” Simitian said. “While delivery vendors provide an important service, and are certainly within their rights to charge for such services, the current pandemic unfortunately creates opportunity for price gouging. That’s the problem we’re tackling.”
Click here to read San Jose’s policy and here for the county’s.
> San Jose, Santa Clara County Cap Fees for Food-Delivery Apps
Stupidity on steroids.
Bozo, Clarabelle, and Krusty the Clown in Santa Clara County DON’T KNOW how the free market works.
PAY ATTENTION!
Everyone in the supply chain has to be paid!
The guy that makes the food needs to be paid.
The guy that delivers the food needs to be paid.
If government bureaucrats limit what the delivery guy can be paid, there will be a shortage of delivery guys.
The guys who make food won’t be able to get it to their customers.
Food customers won’t get their food.
Santa Clara County bureaucrats will bow and pat themselves on the back for “doing something”.
will you ever learn?
no, that’s why your life sucks
why do these leaders always manage to do the wrong thing
Our City Council is not smarter than the invisible hand that controls the marketplace. Micromanaging economic transactions is a counterproductive means of ameliorating the impact of already counterproductive policy decisions, i.e., the lockdowns. The virus is not destroying restaurants and other small businesses, our political leadership is.
Instead of idiotic price controls, the City Council should simply waive all fees on small businesses for the duration of the lockdowns. Additionally, because they like to virtue-signal, every city councilmember and the mayor should forego their salary for the duration of the lockdowns. It is shameful they have not done so already. When the pain is shared by our oppressors, the oppression will end.
Why stop at Door Dash Sam? Eliminate all San Jose business fees, donate your salary to the oppressed restaurant owners and let them open up. You say you want to help. This is all grandstanding. By the way, please put a cap on the amount a pizza restaurants can charge me for a large. $20 is way too much. You know how much profit is in that pizza? The way we are printing money my Starbucks coffee won’t be $5 anymore, but will cost $20. Can you make sure that won’t happen?