Delivery platforms are using a new delivery services law as a pretext to raise fees on partner restaurants without offering them a meaningful choice, the National Delivery Industrial Union said today, calling on regulators to investigate.
The Legislative Yuan passed the Delivery Workers' Rights Protection and Delivery Platform Management Act (外送員權益保障及外送平臺管理法) in January.
The law establishes a legal framework governing the rights of delivery workers, customers and partner merchants, and incorporates a regulatory system for delivery platform operators.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
The union today said that Uber Eats recently notified partner restaurants of planned service fee adjustments.
Due to the new law set to take effect in the middle of next month, Uber Eats in its letter said it must adjust its pricing structure to reflect “significant cost changes” and maintain operational efficiency, the union said.
Starting on July 21, the platform is to raise the fee it charges restaurant partners per order by 2.5 percentage points, capped at 35 percent, the letter said.
As the platform controls customer traffic, the ordering system and user data, restaurants have little bargaining power, the union said.
Even if the fee is framed as being capped at 35 percent, it could still be pushed higher over time, it said, adding that without strong regulation or competition, the platform effectively sets the terms.
Uber Eats is requiring restaurants opposing the fee increase to terminate their partnership by July 7 or be deemed to have accepted the new rates, which means they either have to accept the new fee or leave the platform, the union said.
While large chains may be able to absorb the impact, small and medium-sized restaurants would lose a major source of orders if they leave the platform, it said.
This structural dependence is no longer a free market, but one in which the platform holds unilateral control over businesses’ survival, it added.
The union said that the purpose of the new law is to establish order, correct market imbalances and protect rights, not to allow platforms to profit from it or use their market power to pressure others.
It called on the Fair Trade Commission and other authorities to investigate whether this contravenes the intent of the law, warning that if regulators remain silent at this stage, it would amount to tacit approval of platforms turning the law into a tool for raising prices.
The union also urged the commission to examine market consolidation concerns involving Uber, Grab and Foodpanda, and called for a thorough investigation into data-sharing agreements and operations between Grab and sensitive Chinese companies to eliminate any national security concerns.
If market concentration continues, restaurants would have even less bargaining power, delivery workers would find it harder to secure fair conditions and consumers would lose choice, the union added.
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