DoorDash has threatened yet again to add more fees to customer orders, claiming it “will have to make changes to remain operationally sustainable in Seattle.” Since we love to be helpful, we decided to help DoorDash look around for some extra cash it could use to cover its costs before gouging customers for more money – and we found some! $1.5 million, in fact.
That’s how much DoorDash has spent in six months – one company, in one city – trying and failing to repeal minimum wage for gig workers that it claims it can’t afford.
That amount would have covered 304,420 customers’ $5 junk fees.
Let’s break it down:
Here is DoorDash’s most recent expenditure report for direct lobbying, revealing that the company spent $642k in its efforts to roll back Seattle workers’ wages just from April 1-June 30. In the three months before that, it spent $188.3k in January-March.
(This is a screenshot from a publicly available expenditure disclosure. Entities that directly and indirectly lobby need to file these. Direct lobbying is defined as costs associated with individuals who are paid to communicate with councilmembers, staff, the executive, or agencies.)
This is a separate sum of money from the indirect lobbying money the company has spent on digital ads that they run through the Washington Alliance for Innovation and Independent Work. Those reports show that DoorDash spent over $15.1k in January, $20.1k in February, $130k in March (which King5 reported on), $124.2k in April, $204.5k in May, and $197.9k in June – $691.8k.
So, doing a little back-of-the-napkin math here:
$188.3k in Jan-March (direct)
$642k in April-June (direct)
$691.8k in Jan-June (indirect)
We get: $1,522,100 that DoorDash has spent on ads and other lobbying tactics trying to bully the Seattle City Council, Seattle customers, Seattle restaurants, and Seattle workers. With that amount of money, they could’ve not charged 304,420 customers a $5 junk fee, and simply paid workers minimum wage just like every other employer in every other industry has to.
But no. DoorDash thinks it deserves a pass and that it can extort Seattle to get one. And the company expects us to believe that these $5 fees and now these additional $1.99 fees are necessary while spending millions on lobbying and reporting record-breaking quarterly revenue this year. Goofy.
Our sincerest condolences to the corporations that spent millions on failed advertising rather than simply… paying us a living wage. Turns out it’s expensive to pay workers poorly.