Fast-Tracked Folly: NYC’s Misguided Grocery Delivery Ordinance Hurts New Yorkers

New York City is rushing an ordinance that threatens the wallets of hardworking New Yorkers by reducing earnings opportunities for many residents and making grocery delivery more expensive.

The ordinance recklessly applies a deeply flawed minimum earnings standard for restaurant delivery workers to grocery delivery workers, ignoring the unintended consequences it will have on shoppers, customers and retailers across the five boroughs.

Missing the Mark for Workers 

The City Council is looking to extend an already problematic ordinance that clearly isn’t working for the very people it was designed to serve – delivery drivers. 

Since implementing the existing minimum earnings standard for restaurant delivery, New York City drivers on restaurant platforms have experienced crippling lockouts when trying to earn. Restaurant delivery companies have changed their operations to create controls limiting the number of drivers as a result of that industry’s pay standard, and Uber has also indicated it would effectively lay off New York City drivers if the Taxi & Limousine Commission (TLC) decides to raise its utilization based minimum pay standards as well.

If this legislation passes as written today, grocery delivery workers in New York City – some of whom came from restaurant delivery apps after the implementation of the existing ordinance – will likely face similar access issues, negatively impacting the flexible earnings opportunities they’ve come to rely on. 

Risking Essential Services & Ignoring Rising Costs 

At Instacart, our mission is to give people more access to the food they love and more time to enjoy it together. And a big part of that work is creating more ways for people to access the nutritious food and goods they need no matter their circumstances – that includes supporting individuals who face health, mobility and transportation barriers, as well as those who rely on EBT SNAP to feed their family. Today, Instacart reaches more than 98% of households living in food deserts – including more than 93% of households in urban food deserts – which is why having access to affordable grocery delivery in a place like New York City where 1.2 million people are food insecure is critical. This legislation threatens to put the most vulnerable New Yorkers who rely on essential services like Instacart even further at risk.

We also know affordability and grocery prices are a top concern for NYC residents. In fact, it was a top issue during the 2024 election – 9 in 10 voters said the cost of groceries was very concerning, according to an AP VoteCast poll. This legislation ignores the voices and votes of many New Yorkers who are eager for lower prices. Introducing this legislation on top of the costly congestion pricing taking effect in January means grocery delivery services will be hit twice, resulting in customers likely seeing higher prices at checkout to account for the increased cost of doing business in New York City.

A Better Path Forward 

When the New York City Council first took on the restaurant delivery earnings standard issue in 2021, they spent months debating and engaging restaurant delivery stakeholders, and studying the potential effects before implementing an ordinance in 2023. This time around, the council is introducing these proposals that could potentially pass as quickly as this month. Spending a literal New York-minute on legislation with broad ramifications like this is inexcusable.

When it comes to regulation, we don’t believe one size fits all, and effectively forcing grocery delivery into a flawed regulatory framework designed for restaurant delivery is dangerously short-sighted and shows a clear lack of understanding by the City Council between these different services.

We’re disappointed that the New York City Council is rushing to pass legislation without consideration for all of the unintended consequences and ignoring the glaring issues we’re already seeing with the existing law. Instead of pushing ahead, we urge the City Council to slow down, study the impacts, engage a broad cross section of stakeholders, and find a better solution that does not jeopardize New Yorkers’ access to affordable groceries and flexible earnings opportunities.

Instacart

Author

Instacart is the leading grocery technology company in North America, partnering with more than 1,400 national, regional, and local retail banners to deliver from more than 80,000 stores across more than 14,000 cities in North America. To read more Instacart posts, you can browse the company blog or search by keyword using the search bar at the top of the page.