He’s trashing junk fees.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani signed a pair of executive orders Monday cracking down on junk fees and tricky subscriptions that trap unwitting New Yorkers into seemingly never-ending — and ultimately costly — tiny debts.
Gyms are notorious for shadily billing customers with fees or underhanded subscriptions, Mamdani said at an outdoor gym along the Long Island City waterfront.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani unveiled a crackdown on junk fees and subscription traps. Gregory P. Mango
“It is by no means limited solely to the gym industry — we reckon with it when we try to buy concert tickets, when we book a flight, when we settle our credit card bill, or even when we pay rent,” he said, noting $5 and $10 fees add up quickly.
“These fees are not only making it harder for our neighbors to afford life in this city, they are also a sign of disdain and disrespect that corporations and bad landlords hold for working people.”
The first executive order creates a junk fee task force that will target businesses leveling hidden charges against customers.
The city’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, under the second order, will work to fight subscription traps, officials said.
The crackdown dovetails with state Attorney General Letitia James leveling a $600,000 fine against the luxury gym Equinox for making it too strenuous for customers to cancel memberships.
Mamdani signed two executive orders. Gregory P. Mango
James attended Mamdani’s news conference, along with incoming City Council Speaker Julie Menin and Samuel Levine, the city’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection commissioner.
“We’ve seen these hidden costs referred to as service fees, as add on fees, as profitable fees,” James said. “At the end of the day, the bottom line is that they were all hidden fees, and it was difficult for individuals to cancel these fees, but not anymore”
Mamdani had tapped former Federal Trade Commission chair Lina Khan to scour city laws for ways to protect consumers. He tied the junk fees crackdown to his affordability agenda.
“It is hard enough to live in New York City without having to worry all the time about whether you’re being ripped off,” he said.