Uber eating users in Pennsylvania and Washington, DC will now see a notification on the checkout page that says that the items they will order may be more expensive than in restaurants. The application will display the disclosure that reads “the price may be lower in the store” after the lawyer General requested the change.
The Uber Eats application already has some price disclosures, according to Uber. Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro and the District Prosecutor’s District of Columbia General Karl Racine said additional notifications made prices more transparent.
“Because more consumers use applications such as Uber Eats, it is very important that these companies are transparent about their pricing and the fact that getting food directly from a restaurant is often cheaper,” Racine said in a shared statement from AGS. “We really like other shipping applications to follow the trail of Uber Eats. Those who don’t risk investigations and supervision by our office. Consumers deserve clear information so they can make decisions based on the most suitable information for them.”
Uber told Bloomberg that his partners set their own prices at Uber Eats. “We think it is important to give this flexibility to our trading partners, especially during local trade recovery,” said a spokesman.
Not only food delivery platforms such as Uber Eats, Doordash and Grubhub asked users to pay service fees, they charge the restaurant up to 30 percent. Given that the restaurant industry has been operating on thin margins, it makes sense that traders raise the price of menu items on the application to offset the commission costs.