No. On major delivery apps, the Priority Fee and Driver Benefits or Regulatory Response fees are not tips and are not paid to the driver. These are platform-imposed surcharges the companies retain to fund operations or offset regulatory costs. Drivers are paid separately via base pay, in-app promotions, and customer tips.
What are the Priority Fee and Driver Benefits or Regulatory fees?
Delivery apps label extra charges in a few common ways:
- Priority Delivery fee: An optional charge that promises a faster delivery window.
- Driver Benefits, Regulatory Response, City, or similar fees: Surcharges added in specific markets after new laws or rules raise company costs, such as minimum pay standards or benefits mandates.
Examples include California’s Proposition 22 era fees added by platforms to help cover new benefit obligations (The Verge), New York City surcharges following its minimum pay rule for app-based delivery workers (NYC DCWP; coverage in The Verge), and added fees in Seattle after a local pay ordinance (GeekWire).
Do delivery drivers receive these fees?
In general, no. These fees are not passed through to drivers as pay. Platforms describe them as company charges, not gratuities.
On DoorDash, base pay and promotions come from DoorDash, and “you will always receive 100% of customer tips.” (DoorDash Dasher Help)
Grubhub tells customers that delivery or service fees are not tips. “100% of your tip goes to your driver.” (Grubhub Support)
Uber similarly states that couriers keep 100 percent of tips, while fees are separate customer charges retained by the platform to operate the marketplace and comply with local rules (Uber).
How do delivery apps pay drivers and where do tips fit?
Across Uber Eats, DoorDash, and Grubhub, driver pay is a combination of:
- Base pay: A dynamic amount based on estimated time, distance, and order desirability.
- Promotions: Time-limited boosts, peak pay, or quests.
- Tips: Customers can add tips in app or in cash, and current policies say 100 percent of tips go to the driver.
Tip handling has been a flashpoint. DoorDash, for example, changed its model in 2019 after criticism that customer tips could offset guaranteed pay; it now states tips are always paid on top of base and promotions (The Verge; DoorDash Help). Platforms still adjust base pay based on supply, demand, and order characteristics, but they publicly commit that tips themselves are not taken by the company.
Does paying for Priority actually make delivery faster?
Platforms say Priority Delivery can reduce your wait by changing how your order is handled, such as by making it more likely to go directly to you instead of being batched with another stop.
DoorDash describes Priority options that can “get your order faster,” typically by reducing batching or routing tradeoffs. This does not change who receives your tip or create an extra payment to the driver (DoorDash Consumer Help).
Uber Eats’ help materials similarly frame Priority as a customer experience upgrade rather than a driver bonus (Uber Eats Help). In other words, paying for Priority may change dispatch or routing, but it does not earmark money for the courier beyond whatever base, promotions, and tips they already earn.
Why you see Driver Benefits or Regulatory fees
When cities or states adopt new rules, platforms often add line items that reference those policies. Common reasons include:
- Minimum pay rules for app-based couriers (for example, in NYC and Seattle).
- Benefits mandates like California’s Prop 22, which requires health stipends and other benefits for qualifying gig workers.
These fees are set and kept by the platform to offset the higher cost of doing business under the new rules. They are not tips, and they are not a per-order pass-through to a specific driver. The companies still have to fund required pay and benefits from overall revenue, which includes base prices and these surcharges.
How to make sure more of your money goes to the driver
- Tip directly: In-app tips go 100 percent to the driver per current policies. Cash tips work too if you prefer.
- Do not confuse fees with tips: Priority, service, and regulatory fees are company charges. If your goal is to support the courier, add or increase the tip.
- Consider pickup: Ordering for pickup or directly from the restaurant can reduce fees while letting you tip staff or the courier if applicable.
- Watch post-delivery tip windows: Some apps allow you to adjust a tip shortly after delivery if service was exceptional.
What to know about algorithms and order access
Dispatch and pay are algorithmic, and acceptance behavior can influence what orders a driver sees. DoorDash, for example, has a Priority Access program that gives qualifying Dashers earlier access to higher-paying orders. These systems are complex and vary by platform and market, but they are separate from the customer fees discussed above.