Yahoo Finance Your Uber Eats is about to get more expensive
Your Uber Eats and Netflix night could get more expensive, with Uber Eats announcing a trial of a new pricing model which would see hungry Aussies charged more during peak periods and for food that has had to travel a longer way.
Announcing the trial, Uber Eats said that its users care about speed and reliability in addition to affordability, and the trial aims to see how it can deliver more delivery options.
Uber Eats has not yet provided details on what the dynamic pricing will mean in dollar terms for eaters.
“The new delivery fees depend on the distance between the eater’s delivery address and your restaurant and the average cost of orders for your restaurant,” the company said in a blog post to restaurants.
However, it did confirm that as of 11 November, eaters might have to stump up an extra ‘Busy Area Fee’ if they’re ordering from a restaurant in peak times. This fee would be capped at $10 and would be displayed in the app before eaters confirm their order.
“With the rollout of delivery partner surge, delivery partners may receive a higher fee for completing deliveries during periods of high demand,” Uber Eats said.
“This is designed to encourage delivery partners to deliver meals when it’s busy and help keep the marketplace reliable.”
Similarly, Uber Eats indicated that eaters ordering from local restaurants will enjoy lower fees.
“By making food delivery more affordable for people ordering from nearby restaurants, we hope [restaurants] might ultimately see an increase in the number of orders.”
At the same time, Uber Eats did not deny that the new pricing could see eaters living further out of town pay more.
“Every restaurant will have more than one delivery fee tier. Eaters will be able to see which restaurants have the lowest delivery fee for their delivery address upfront in the Uber Eats app,” the food delivery service said.
“The new delivery fee structure is being introduced so that if people order from restaurants closer to their delivery address they pay less – or more if they choose to order from restaurants that are further away.”
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