When New York City\u2019s new minimum-wage rules for grocery delivery workers kicked in last week, they immediately hit us at the checkout.<\/p>\n
The evidence pops up as soon as you open your Instacart app<\/a>.<\/p>\n Click to pay for your grocery order and there it is: a fresh $5.99 line item labeled \u201cRegulatory Response Fee.\u201d<\/p>\n Just below, the tip box isn\u2019t blank like it used to be \u2014 the app now pre-loads a 10% tip on your order.<\/p>\n Surprise!<\/p>\n That \u201cRegulatory Response\u201d surcharge isn\u2019t some random cash grab.<\/p>\n It\u2019s how Instacart is spelling out exactly what the City Council just did<\/a> with a new law setting a $21.44 hourly wage for app-based grocery delivery workers \u2014 who, as independent contractors, previously worked mainly for tips and earned as little as $5.39 an hour in wages.<\/p>\n That might sound like good news for the 80,000 deliveristas who help keep Gotham fed.<\/p>\n But delivery companies warned for months<\/a> that if City Hall made them pay workers more, they\u2019d have to make us pay more.<\/p>\n A higher minimum-wage floor would mean higher prices and more fees, they said \u2014 reducing orders and accelerating automation<\/a>.<\/p>\n Instacart isn\u2019t the first company to respond to a City Council wage initiative with a Gotham-only surcharge: DoorDash and Uber Eats have quietly done the same, tied to a 2023 pay law for restaurant-delivery workers.<\/p>\n Worse yet, the rising wage floor is now on autopilot.<\/p>\n Under the law, it will start ratcheting up every January based on the three-year average of Northeast inflation \u2014 and it\u2019s already set to jump from $21.44 to $22.13 on April 1.<\/p>\n That means the \u201cregulatory fee\u201d for consumers is just at its starting point.<\/p>\n And while you can legislate a higher wage, you can\u2019t legislate away the cost \u2014 it just finds a new home, often in the customer\u2019s wallet.<\/p>\n The result might be some real wins for labor.<\/p>\n Make no mistake, though, the money is coming out of New Yorkers\u2019 pockets one way or another.<\/p>\n Now imagine how your costs will rise if Albany jacks up wages even higher.<\/p>\n Last week state Sen. Julia Salazar kicked off her campaign for a $30-an-hour statewide minimum wage, indexed to the cost of living, as part of a \u201cLiving Wage for All\u201d package.<\/p>\n It\u2019s an understandable sentiment: Who can live in New York on today\u2019s minimum wage?<\/p>\n Salazar\u2019s plan would effectively double the current base \u2014 now $17 in NYC, $16 upstate<\/a>.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\tGet opinions and commentary from our columnists\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSubscribe to our daily Post Opinion newsletter!\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\tThanks for signing up!\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n She\u2019s not wrong that affordability is a problem, but the $6 fee staring me in the face on my latest grocery order teaches a more nuanced lesson about the solutions.<\/p>\n \u201cSo what if prices go up a bit?\u201d proponents of $30 by 2030 essentially argue. \u201cAt least workers won\u2019t live in poverty, and that benefits us all.\u201d<\/p>\n Yes, we want workers to earn more.<\/p>\n