Uber Eats Delivery Fees Cancelled For Black-Owned Restaurants

Amid protests to end police brutality against African Americans Uber
UBER
Eats has found a way to to support Black communities and businesses by cancelling its delivery fees. Hungry diners in major U.S. and Canadian cities can now order from Black-owned restaurants delivery fee free through the end of 2020. How likely are these changes to its food delivery app actually going to support Black-owned restaurants?

The Breakdown You Need To Know:

CultureBanx reported that food delivery in general has benefited from the coronavirus pandemic, with consumers sheltering in place during government-imposed lockdowns. This new in-app Uber Eats feature highlighting Black-owned restaurants in your community, could also be away to further bolster its bottom line. Especially  because Uber’s global rides business is still down 70% from a year ago, Uber Eats had more than doubled year-over-year as of May. Shares of Uber are up 25% year to date.

Currently, the Black-owned restaurants featured in the app for this promotion were compiled by Uber employees based on publicly available sources, along with information from local organizations and business associations. “We are committed to supporting the black community,” Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in a statement. In the coming weeks Uber plans to offer discounted ride-hailing trips to Black-owned small businesses that have been affected by the coronavirus pandemic, though it did not mention how much of a discount would be given.

Delivering Diversity:

Beyond the Black community, diversity issues have plagued Uber since its founding and they have a lot of room for improvement. In 2019, some 45% of Uber’s U.S. employees were white, 33% Asian, 9% black and 8% Hispanic, a company report showed. These numbers do represent small gains from previous years where the overall percentage of Black employees at Uber stood at 8.1% in 2018, and 8.8% in 2017.

Approximately 22% of Uber’s drivers are African American, with the average driver making around $19 per hour. For rideshare drivers the average number of rides per day is down 74%, weekly pay has fallen by 67%, and hourly pay hit a sharp decline decreasing 59%, according to The Hustle. 

Fee-Less Food Delivery:

Uber isn’t the only company extending an olive branch to Black-owned businesses, Postmates is as well. The company’s fee-less delivery initiative for Black-owned restaurants on its platform is currently rolling out in 130 cities across the U.S, and funded at no cost to the restaurants. Postmates is asking customers to tag black-owned restaurants on social media to be included in this promotion.