Going into effect on Monday, Jan. 26, a new tipping law in New York City will require delivery apps, such as DoorDash and Uber Eats, to prompt users to tip before checkout
17:30 ET, 25 Jan 2026Updated 17:48 ET, 25 Jan 2026
A delivery worker carries a DoorDash bag in New York, US, on Tuesday, May 6, 2025. In a matter of five hours, the US delivery firm DoorDash Inc. announced two multibillion-dollar acquisitions that stand to turn what is already the largest food-delivery service in the US into a formidable global player. Photographer: Yuki Iwamura/Bloomberg via Getty Images(Image: )
As many Americans continuously wonder if tipping culture has gone too far, a new New York City tipping law might prove it hasn’t gone far enough.
Days before a new tipping law requiring delivery apps to offer users the option to tip at checkout, U.S. District Judge George B. Daniels declined a plea from DoorDash and Uber Eats to strike down the New York City legislation on Friday, Jan. 23.
Starting Monday, Jan. 26, the new law will require delivery apps, such as DoorDash and Uber Eats, to prompt users to tip delivery workers before completing their order, rather than after placing it. Additionally, the default tipping suggestion must be at least 10%.
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Uber and DoorDash filed a joint lawsuit last month in the Southern District of New York seeking to overturn the law, arguing that the legislation would violate their “constitutional rights to express whatever gratuity message they want on their platforms—or to express no such message at all.”
Additionally, the companies stated that, with rising “prices” and “tipping fatigue,” they “expect that customers in New York City will react to a mandated tip suggestion by reducing their engagement with Plaintiffs’ platforms.”
However, the Manhattan federal judge denied the request, writing that the delivery app giants “have not successfully demonstrated that the balance of equities weigh in their favor and that a preliminary injunction is in the public interest.”
What is New York City’s new delivery app tipping law?
New York City officials have backed the new delivery app tipping legislation as the city continues to improve wages and working conditions for delivery workers.
In late 2023, New York City enacted a landmark law that increased the minimum wage for delivery workers to at least $21.44 per hour. According to a report from the NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP), when the minimum wage increased, the total delivery worker pay increased by $1.2 billion.
In response to the minimum wage increase, delivery companies publicly announced they were raising their service fees and moving the in-app tipping function to appear after checkout.
The DCWP’s report claims that when Uber Eats and DoorDash “engineered design tricks in their interfaces to make it harder for consumers to tip delivery workers,” delivery workers lost more than $550 million in tips. In a recent news release in response to the DCWP report, DoorDash said, “Consumers are free to make their own choices about how much to tip, especially given they know workers earn a guaranteed $21.44 per hour and have seen earnings rise by over $1 billion dollars.”
When the decision was released on Friday, City Councilmember Shaun Abreu, who introduced the tipping legislation, applauded the victory, writing on X, “Greedy apps, furious at delivery workers for asking for a minimum wage and bathroom breaks, have cost workers $550 million by discouraging customers from tipping.”
Continuing, he said, “We drafted a bill to stop them, and today we won our fight in court to implement the law.”
A report found that total NYC delivery worker pay increased by $1.2 billion after the boost in minimum wage(Image: Getty Images)
New Yorkers react to the new tipping law for delivery apps
On the NYC subreddit, users shared their opinions on the new tipping law for delivery apps, with one user writing, “100% not tipping before my food comes or my ride to somewhere.”
Others shared their confusion over the new law, writing, “As somebody who worked in the service industry for a long time, I say always tip your drivers. But how does tipping them BEFORE receiving anything make any sense.”
Many agreed, commenting things like, “I’m not tipping before my food arrives. I’ve had super late deliveries plenty of times,” and, “Im all for helping our drivers, but it feels like a lot is being passed down to the consumer.”
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