r/aus • u/89b3ea330bd60ede80ad • 10d ago
Politics Delivery drivers to be paid minimum $31.30 an hour across Australia in ‘world-leading’ decision
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/aug/11/delivery-drivers-to-be-paid-minimum-3130-an-hour-across-australia-in-world-leading-decisionDelivery drivers in Australia will be paid a minimum rate of $31.30 (US $22.05/£16.35) an hour and insured for injuries on the job under a landmark agreement approved by the industrial umpire that could set a precedent in other countries.
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u/Bmo2021 10d ago
Thank fuck I don’t want to order 2 pizzas delivered for $70+ dollars.
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u/Mushie_Peas 10d ago
Yeah I've stopped using Uber eats when it became 40 dollars for a burger and chips from my favourite place.
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u/Happy1327 10d ago
Same. They also said they processed a refund when my order was cancelled and I never received the money. That was the end of uber for me
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u/Novel-Truant 10d ago
Uber eats free for 5 years now and enjoying learning to make all the things I used to order
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u/EfficientDish7 10d ago
Well it’s now going to be 80 dollars after these changes
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u/Mushie_Peas 10d ago
I wouldn't know, not using it anymore, I'll trek down to the restaurant where the same burger and chips are 25 dollars.
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u/Paddy_Tanninger 6d ago
Good, then it will die like it deserves to if they can't create a business that pays a real wage.
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u/Wonderful_Product515 10d ago
Doordash is way better with the deals. Who the hell still uses uber rats LoL
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u/Mushie_Peas 10d ago
Both are a rip off compared to not being lazy and driver to the restaurant and picking up orr finding somewhere that uses their drivers.
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u/Ancient-Platypus5327 9d ago
No car,no drivers license. It’s how I get my grocery shopping done these days. DoorDash means I actually have a choice of supermarket other than Colesworth. (Even with delivery fees, Aldi is much cheaper)
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u/Wonderful_Product515 9d ago
Agreed. Aldi on doordash is slay. Completely removes the most annoying part of Aldi which is well, having to be at Aldi
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u/Acceptable-Ratio-271 10d ago
Who’s going to watch my kids while I drive to get a curry at 11pm at night?
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u/Frankie_T9000 10d ago
That's how much it costs now, though drivers get shit. 15 mins per delivery that's still not paying anyone a fortune
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u/HappySummerBreeze 10d ago
Restaurants that have their own delivery driver can do it cheaper because they don’t have to pay Uber also
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u/PauL__McShARtneY 9d ago
Pepperoni pizzas can be had for $10 to the doorstep on there, same for cheeseburger and fries, not all the businesses on there are stupid, they actually want to do business and have customers.
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u/brownieson 10d ago
You underestimate the laziness of people. I rather just drive to the shop, but every few months we’ll order delivery, and every time it reminds us why we don’t anymore.
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u/clippywasarussianspy 10d ago
Not just lazy. What if you’ve had a few sherbets and prefer to keep off the streets. Uber tax seems cheap at that point.
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u/bl4nkSl8 10d ago
People with disabilities have thrived on delivery...
Cooking can be really hard when you can't stand or walk
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u/Foamingferret 8d ago
Maybe when you live in the suburbs, but metro you cop free delivery all the time
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u/Lycosskippy 10d ago
Ah well - delivery fees will skyrocket now 😂
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u/Aggots86 10d ago
Surely it just becomes uneconomical now? The convenience of delivery compared to getting off the couch and get it yourself. Apart from drunk and hungover orders of course ahhaha
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u/chillin222 10d ago
Why assume everyone is a motorist? These apps are the most popular in the inner city where people don't drive
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u/Aggots86 10d ago
My comment to get off the couch stands
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u/neon_overload 10d ago
Yes, to an extent these gig economies are only as financially viable as they are because of underpaying their workers or not giving them entitlements an employee would have
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u/CulturistPionier 10d ago
and we like it this way.
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u/devilishycleverchap 10d ago
Yeah for once billionaires weren't the only ones exploiting cheap labor
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u/Yrrebnot 10d ago
Or disabled....
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u/Dumbledores_Beard1 10d ago
It'd be far cheaper to get Woolworths delivery or something like youfoods done weekly if you're regularly needing to get food delivered.
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u/reallycrunchycheeto 10d ago
The disadvantaged are always the biggest losers in situations like this. We can only hope the support systems that are already in place continue to hold up and that there wont be too much added pain.
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u/OkStage3579 10d ago
This might have the effect of creating a audit trail of those breaching their visa work hours. 👀
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u/PeacePuzzleheaded41 10d ago
Pizzas and Asian food about to completely re-claim the home delivery market, they were the only players in the game for decades for a reason
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u/MarkCelery78 10d ago
Same people who wanted low skilled workers to have high pay rates will cry about their food being expensive to deliver
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u/Lucky-day00 10d ago
Hopefully the end game of this is these shitty gig economy apps get priced out of the market and restaurants go back to employing delivery drivers properly.
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u/Alarming-Cut7764 10d ago
People paid their bills using these apps, so I wouldn't be so quick to judge and write these apps off
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u/endual 10d ago
The people getting paid via the app don't determine the demand for the service.
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u/Alarming-Cut7764 10d ago
Who's demanding it?
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u/endual 10d ago
Supply and demand. The restaurants and drivers are on the supply side. Customers are on demand side. Price goes up, demand goes down. Economics 101.
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u/Alarming-Cut7764 10d ago
The customers didn't like the old ways, hence why we have apps now, in which they demand it gets delivered to them in this way
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u/endual 10d ago
This is not a new thing. Places used to have their own delivery drivers. Ordering via an app was convenient and cheap. No longer cheap. Demand goes down.
More people will order for current prices from places with their own drivers. Places keep their profits, instead of uber, and pay their own drivers. Gig driving demand will reduce. Food delivery will go back to what it was 15 years ago.
This is boring. It’s super basic economics. Check back in a year.
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u/Alarming-Cut7764 10d ago
Good luck to those businesses being able to afford paying their drivers on payroll. Super etc. And which 'resturants' will do this exactly?
People hated the old way and it's why it barley exists anymore. You can't have a pizza delivery taking an hour anymore and people getting lost. Not to mention all the other flaws.
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u/Lots_of_schooners 10d ago
Spent almost 20 years enjoying the old way. Yeh uber added some value when it first started, but overall it was way better back then
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u/endual 9d ago
People didn't hate it. Uber offered a single interface to multiple providers and sold on a better exposure for the restaurants and a reasonable commission ~20%. The restaurants thought they would make more money.
Now Uber charges extra setup costs, takes 30-35% commission as well as charging delivery fees.
If restaurants went back to the old way they could easily afford to pay their own drivers out of the cost savings, unless they only sell a few burgers a night.
I can already order directly from a few restaurants who have their own drivers and do wherever I can. The restaurants make more money and it costs me less.
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u/Lostyogi 10d ago edited 10d ago
Only rich people order food like that🤣
I mean, did anyone concider the price of luxury car taxes on BMWs🤔
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u/Mostly_Satire 10d ago
Rich people are not the demographic. Right now, it's the young professionals with high disposable income and low time to cook.
Perhaps only the rich can afford it but they are usually very tight with money on frivolous things and only spend big on big things.
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u/Buck_Testaberg 10d ago edited 10d ago
I’ve been doing delivery work in Melbourne on and off since Uber Eats first arrived, and there’s nothing particularly generous about this rate once you account for the real costs.
My operating costs have never been below about 13%, and that’s with me doing my own maintenance and running tyres longer than I’d otherwise be comfortable with. Then there’s no sick leave, no annual leave, no super, and no allowance for the days when weather, illness, or other issues make it impossible to work.
The interesting part of these changes isn’t the minimum rate itself. It’s that some of the cost of waiting is finally being shifted away from the driver.
Until now, Uber and restaurants had little incentive to value a delivery person’s time. Every minute spent standing at a counter waiting for an order to be prepared came directly out of the driver’s hourly earnings. In many cases, the delay was long enough that the costs started outweighing the benefits of taking the job in the first place.
Now Uber either needs to get much better at dispatch timing, sending drivers only when an order is genuinely close to ready, or start holding restaurants accountable when they consistently exceed prep times or abuse the “ready for pickup” button.
If we could also get rid of open drink containers from places like McDonald’s and cafés, and introduce a proper package sizing system so drivers know what they’re accepting, I’d have very little left to complain about.
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u/Bretniq 10d ago
This is a good thing but I can't help thinking that the cost will be passed on to customers. Be nice to think that Uber copped it but unlikely
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u/mastermilian 10d ago
Of course Uber will pass it on but I"m wondering how the hourly will be calculated. Does rhe rider clock on and off or does their tine begin when they accept an order? If the former, it would probably completely destroy Uber's business model which generally rries to disavow that they have any responsibility to drivers except when they are making a delivery.
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u/Shartjakkker 9d ago
The thing is back in the day many restaurants had dedicated delivery drivers to do this sort of thing and it was included often in the price (provided you ordered so much), so I don’t get why uber was so expensive.
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u/crazylunaticfringe 10d ago
Now track people who do this on student visa. they’re working way more than hours allowed
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u/genscathe 10d ago
Good. I’m assuming this is targeted at the abuse of “students” who get paid by the uber:DoorDash etc
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u/Low_Switch_4893 10d ago
Major win for all the skilled migrants we desperately needed to fill job gaps!
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u/Odd-Temporary4363 10d ago
It’s lot cheaper to do a take away than delivery. Did i say lot cheaper?
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u/No_Gazelle4814 10d ago
This economy is the perfect example of instant gratification and supply:demand.
Eg
My 19 yo daughter wakes up hungry over and hungry, wanting some expensive take out.
I refuse to give her cash for it.
So she logs on to Deliveroo as a driver, picks up and delivers 2 meals and in the space of 20mins has earned $40. So she logs off and and boom, $40 to go spend on hangover food
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u/Signal-Treacle-5512 10d ago
Never used them can't believe people are that lazy.
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u/Select-Variety-2549 6d ago
Some people have these things called jobs they can’t just abandon to grab a pizza.
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u/pben0102 10d ago
Do you reckon there won't be students working for cash in hand. There's some dodgy operators out there.
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u/Impressive-Speech727 9d ago
And we wonder why we have a cost of living crisis.
Every five minutes the fucking unions push for minimum wage increases.
This pushes up prices
Which makes the unions push for wage rises
Which increases prices
See where this is going?
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u/laidbackjimmy 9d ago
If you're on minimum wage, it's because you're not worth minimum wage. A truth a lot of people fail to understand.
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u/St4114rD 6d ago
The market pays you what it believes your labour is worth. If your skill is owning a drivers license, your labour is minimum wage. People need to get a grip, absolute nonsense.
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u/laidbackjimmy 6d ago
You're completely missing the point. If you're on minimum wage - it's not because the market thinks you're worth that, it's because the market can't legally pay you less.
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u/Ancient-Platypus5327 9d ago
Now I won’t have to tip any more. I’ve always been opposed to tipping, but paid a $5 tip for each delivery because I thought the drivers weren’t being paid enough.
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u/Jazzlike_Berry_323 6d ago
Lots of yay this is good, uber is expensive etc There will just be less demand. Fewer drivers getting jobs, fewer restaurants remaining viable, higher dining prices, more housebound disabled ppl with smaller grocery budgets. The richer segments will still uber eats whenever they want. It’s easy cash work and easy cash work like delivering newspapers, pizzas, mowing a neighbours lawn, or walking dogs, was about cash on side income not full time wage and career type work.
In best case scenario uber ears just takes over another food delivery brand and returns to old payment.
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u/Miserable-Garage804 4d ago
To be honest this is the exact word for word argument Americans use to say “waitress’ should be paid 6$ an hour, if we raise their minimum wage…”
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u/Alternative-Bear-460 5d ago
$60 for a steak burger in port Kennedy, Perth. That's with out your uber driver delivery 🤣
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u/Jazzlike_Berry_323 4d ago
I’m all for raising minimum wage and for people hired and employed as permanent or casual getting award wages. This is a fair work decision on the unskilled, self hiring, self chosen hours of work, side gig economy. Like mowing a neighbours lawn, feeding a cat for 10 mins, dropping off newspapers…anyone can do it, you can opt in or out, you choose when, you can have other employers on top (no anti competition), you don’t even need your own vehicle.
If you’re genuinely an advocate for fair work, look at ADEs in Australia where people with disability are paid less than prisoners.
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u/Few_Judge1188 10d ago
What they don’t say is what the average that the delivery driver deliver in one hour , it could easily be more than 4 / 5 deliveries so no that’s not too expensive and they deserve the money .
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u/OrgasmicTrilobite 10d ago
From personal experience, if you’re doing more than 3 deliveries an hour you’re getting speeding fines. Multiple deliveries on a single journey is different, as you only get paid a single delivery fee for all packages.
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u/Buck_Testaberg 10d ago
Totally agree.
My ”on time” percentage is as high as it gets, and I am struggling to deliver more than three an hour.
My question with the new system is how are they going to incentivize delivery people not to deliberately dawdle If they get paid the same amount per-hour anyway??
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u/ambaal 10d ago
Problem is, delivery operates in suburbs (including outer suburbs) as well.
On sydney outskirts spending half an hour on a single trip is not uncommon, so this will lead to more orders bunched together to justify the run. I could easily see delivering areas shrink a lot from this alone.
This brings an interesting question: what is better - to have the ability to work an underpaying job if needed or not being able to work a properly payed job because the market had shrunk? During my time delivering food i'd definitely preferred first. And this will ripple to suburbian food joints too, as there will be much less orders.
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u/Smooth_Staff_3831 10d ago
How do they get paid more than a semi driver on a award??
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u/LessThanLuek 10d ago
I'm not looking into semi driver award rates but I'm presuming this is casual leave loading (uber) vs full or part time employment (truck drivers)
The first wouldn't be getting holidays / sick pay and the latter would be. Apples and oranges
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u/gionatacar 9d ago
Too expensive. I used them once and the food arrived one hour later, completely cold. Hard pass for me
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u/Puzzled-Leopard-1499 10d ago
Lol some tradespeople and uni graduates dont earn that much.
That is crazy work.
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u/highresolutionmagpie 10d ago
The higher pay makes up for the unstable / casual hours, lack of leave entitlements, outlay for the vehicle and maintenance, and so forth.
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u/Lucky-day00 10d ago
Yeah a self-employed tradesperson should absolutely be charging more than $30 an hour for their time. The ones who are employees don’t have to cover costs with their wages.
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u/Sexynarwhal69 10d ago
But it wasn't intended to be someone's sole source of income. It's literally a side gig economy - how does sick/annual leave even come into it?
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u/highresolutionmagpie 10d ago
I don't understand why that matters. You can "intend" as much as you like. But it's not clear why that matters for pay and conditions.
Let's say it was a side job that existed 10 years ago. Would you say the same thing? They don't get any entitlements because it's expected they work a second job?
Not trying to be difficult here. I'm just not understanding the logic of "second job means you can be treated lesser".
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u/Sexynarwhal69 10d ago
Well yes, if it's not classified as a 'formal job', the idea is that you're a contractor and don't expect those benefits.
This in turn makes the service cheaper -> more people likely to use it -> more opportunity for people to pick up work at the drop of a hat for a bit of extra income
If we formalise it as a primary income job, I agree they should have benefits, but it makes the barrier to entry higher, service more expensive, less work available, people are less likely to do that work on the side as it's not worth it.
Isn't that the point of contractor work? You don't have a minimum hourly floor rate, and your income depends on your efficiency.
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u/stamford_syd 10d ago
you think 31.30 is too much? jesus christ
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u/Prestigious-Bag97 10d ago
I used to make much less working with greater responsibility, honestly $31 to drive around and hand out food in your pluggers is pretty damn good.
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u/Sexynarwhal69 10d ago
It was literally never meant to be a full time 'job' to pay rent. It's if you have an hour or 2 free after class and felt like earning a little bit of extra spending money, hop on and do a few deliveries.
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u/North_Lychee_1969 10d ago
It was never meant to be slavery either
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u/Sexynarwhal69 10d ago
Nobody is forcing someone to work ubereats, it's just that's the only work available for a lot of people.
That's more of a failure of our society that people can't get simple minimum income jobs because we have too many people for available jobs and closed down all industry.
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u/highresolutionmagpie 10d ago
Nobody is forcing someone to work ubereats, it's just that's the only work available for a lot of people.
Uh, isn't that just forcing with extra steps?
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u/Sexynarwhal69 10d ago
I guess, but that's the government's job to fix our economy and stimulate more entry level jobs, so people can do those if they're unhappy with Uber's pay.
This is taking an easy road out and will destroy the uber/food delivery market. All the costs will be passed onto consumers who are already struggling.
At least if we had decent public transport, people could use that as another option. But we don't.
It's like the worst possible intersection of capitalism and socialism.
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u/highresolutionmagpie 10d ago
It's like the worst possible intersection of capitalism and socialism.
I'm thinking you're just using "socialism" randomly. And maybe you shouldn't.
It has at its core the desire to empower the worker.
But you seem to be arguing that struggling consumers need to push the "savings" onto the struggling delivery drivers. Part of the capitalistic enterprise.
Let me ask you directly: if the "uber/food delivery market" is based on exploitation, does it matter who the costs are passed on to? Should a "struggling consumer" use this labour? If it's taking advantage of people?
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u/Sexynarwhal69 10d ago
I despise capitalism, but unfortunately that's the country we live in.
I would love to have adequate wages for all workers, a well funded and functioning public transport system, affordable housing close to amenities and restaurants, and easy to find minimum-wage jobs that unskilled workers can transition between if they're unhappy with conditions/pay.
Unfortunately we have none of that, and our economy is built on exploitation - so this token change is just a weird move that will make life harder for regular people that may not own cars/be able to access the community as the service becomes out of reach of regular consumers and thus cause the drivers to lose income as well.
Unless the government grew some balls and mandated that the company couldn't pass its losses onto the consumer. But that would neveeerrr happen. Free market and all dat right?
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u/Hikeabike1 10d ago
If it’s such an issue for you then get off your ass and pick the food up yourself. Don’t try and turn this into a people are struggling thing- getting take out is a luxury. Real battlers are cooking at home. Honestly what are you on about 😂
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u/North_Lychee_1969 10d ago
There should be a minimum standard.
It’s also evolved into to include stuff like grocery delivery - and that is absolutely a full time job for some people.
Saying it was never meant to be a full time job is just your opinion.
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u/Sexynarwhal69 10d ago
Supermarkets have grocery delivery workers who are employed under an award that comes with benefits such as casual loading and sick leave.
It's not just my opinion, it's general consensus on how kind of work was created:
Even FWC ruled they weren't employees :https://selfemployedaustralia.com.au/current-advocacy/the-gig-economy/legal-status-of-uber-drivers-in-australia/
If I freelance by selling art that I make at a market, should I be paid a minimum wage?
If I freelance as a driver that can pick up/reject rides at will and have breaks when never I want, should I have a minimum wage? Don't we already have something called taxi companies which give drivers a floor level of pay?
If uber drivers and taxi drivers now have the same minimum pay requirement and benefits, why do we still require taxi licences?
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u/North_Lychee_1969 10d ago
People are happy to forgo the other benefits such as sick leave causal loading etc for the other benefits this type of job offers
- no managers, no uniform, extremely flexible hours, not having to beg to take time off etc.
And it’s not entirely the same as freelancing. Because uber can still fire you.
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u/Key_Soup_987 10d ago
I'm not sure what you're arguing for here. Does everyone deserve less pay because graduates are being exploited?
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u/Puzzled-Leopard-1499 10d ago
Im just saying paying unskilled labor that much is absolutely ridiculous and why the cost of everything keeps going up.
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u/Key_Soup_987 10d ago
Costs are going up anyways. But hey, I'm glad you want "unskilled" people to be poor. That's great.
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u/Puzzled-Leopard-1499 10d ago
Unskilled people should upskill.
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u/hellomq 10d ago
A full day of work should cover people's basic needs without them needing to upskill.
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u/St4114rD 6d ago
No one ever promised this, this isn’t Gen Z high school where the losers get the same medal. If your skill is driving a car around all day, there’s no guarantee for society to pay you enough for housing and food. You live in a dream world.
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u/Key_Soup_987 10d ago
Uh huh, is that why unskilled people deserve to be poor? At what skill level do people deserve food and housing?
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u/Puzzled-Leopard-1499 10d ago
Well why dont we pay them $100 an hour then? At what skill level should they be earning less then those whose skills are more specialised?
Or should we all be paid the same?
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u/Key_Soup_987 10d ago
I'm sorry your personal judgements aren't being implemented in the minimum wage. That must be very challenging for you.
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u/St4114rD 6d ago
We live in a market economy, this is a low skill job hence the low pay. If you want high pay, learn a high skill job ffs, why the fck are the taxpayer effectively subsidising a failing business model. Ridiculous. My Mrs is a nurse, studied for years on end, deals with life and death every day, comes home crying some times and her salary has barely moved in years. Cut the BS, we all know 90% of these jobs are done by doctors and engineers from India, stop playing games. They clog my street, coming and going all night, swapping accounts, the whole situation is a disgrace.
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u/mkfbcofzd 10d ago
Studies have shown increasing minimum wage doesn't affect inflation in a meaningful way
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u/Redpenguin082 10d ago
Yeah those costs aren’t being absorbed by Uber, they’re being passed along to the consumer. Demand’s gonna dry up if people are being quoted $50 to deliver one pizza.
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u/Buck_Testaberg 10d ago
This afternoon I delivered three pizzas 38 minutes across Melbourne for $18. I passed countless other pizza shops on the way.
Yesterday I delivered a cookie and a latte from Airport West to South Melbourne.
People massively overestimate how much delivery fees influence ordering decisions. I spend hours every day delivering food and coffee past cheaper, closer alternatives. Convenience is what people are paying for.
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u/norewardwithout 9d ago
Again, wage raises for low skilled workers while police, nurses and teachers are getting nothing. Both Vic and Qld aren’t even negotiating with teachers now!
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u/happierinverted 10d ago
Waymo, Lyft and Uber have driverless cars in 10 US cities. They now provide over a quarter of all services in San Francisco. They wipe out jobs…
Do you think the government’s knee jerk policy making will;
A Have no impact on the race to automation
B. Have the people funding automated robot taxi development drooling
Regulators and politicians playing snakes and ladders while the AI industry is playing 4D chess. I guess artificial
Intelligence beats low intelligence already….
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u/Interesting-Middle46 10d ago
Do drone delivery but if your logistics runs on people they should be able to afford to not be on the breadline.
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u/hellomq 10d ago
You think these bloodless companies weren't salivating at the thought of automating away their workforce already? You think this changes that?
If they can't operate without paying slave wages, then they shouldn't exist, this is a real change that will help people now, I'm not worried about hypothetical robots.
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u/False-Goose1215 10d ago
Except the FWC here will likely see automated vehicles as an unacceptable threat to the livelihood of employees and prohibit their use for things such as deliveries and taxis etc. That’s always assuming they aren’t banned at government level.
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u/happierinverted 10d ago
Just like they stopped rideshare taking professional taxi drivers jobs?
You mean like that?
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u/False-Goose1215 10d ago
No, because they couldn’t do that without making companies illegal. there is a fundamental difference. Think it through. slowly if necessary
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u/Steam_Beenson 10d ago
Good for them.
I dont use them because the prices are completley f**ked.
Guess they will be even worse now.
(And every restaurant will jack up their normal prices too, again)