DoorDash says its new service fee isn’t really a new fee

Consider this a public service announcement for DoorDash customers. In the coming weeks, you’re going to start seeing something new on your bills — a service fee.

However, a spokesperson for the food delivery service said it’s not actually a new fee, and the total cost won’t change. Instead, it’s a new way to present the fees you were already paying. While some restaurants pay DoorDash a commission for each delivery, others don’t, and when you order from the ones that don’t, DoorDash charges you a little extra.

Previously, DoorDash incorporated that extra cost into the price of each menu item. So the prices in DoorDash were different from the ones you’d see in the restaurant, but you knew exactly how much you were paying. Now, in response to customer feedback and internal testing, the company will just show you a separate fee (which will vary from restaurant to restaurant).

doordash service fee

That DoorDash spokesperson sent me the following statement:

We built DoorDash around the principles of transparency, choice, and value and we have recently been testing a change to the DoorDash check-out flow that breaks out restaurant service fees separately. With this change, menu prices on DoorDash will be the same as those in-store and customers will have more transparency about fees associated with their order. We plan to release this update in the coming weeks and believe this change will make the DoorDash experience even more compelling for everyone.

Okay, end of PSA. You can go back to talking about DoorDash’s valuation now if you’re into that kind of thing.