Online food delivery startup Swiggy plans to charge Rs 20 per delivery on food orders placed on holidays, festivals and rainy days, when the availability of delivery boys is low, according to a Mint report. The report adds that the charges will be paid to its delivery personnel, supposedly providing them incentive to work on order-heavy days (which usually tend to be weekends, holidays etc.). This is being called a 'Surge fee", as indicated in the tweet below, and comes at a time when there has been a heated discussion on the validity of surge fees in India. Swiggy is the new uber ?? pic.twitter.com/IH5o4Ao3oB — Unni Krishnan (@unnikrsnan) May 5, 2016 @unnikrsnan Hey Unni! Due to rainfall an additional convenience fee of Rs. 20 is applicable to ensure more delivery (1/2) — SwiggyCares (@SwiggyCares) May 5, 2016 @unnikrsnan executives brave the rain and take orders. The extra charge is passed on to the DE. (2/2) — SwiggyCares (@SwiggyCares) May 5, 2016 We’ve written to Swiggy for more details. What we have so far: - It is testing this in Bangalore and Hyderabad but plans to extend it to all its cities of operation including Pune, Mumbai, Chennai and Delhi. - Mint states that Swiggy previously tested charging a delivery fee of Rs 30 in October 2015 and increased its minimum order value from Rs 150 to Rs 250. Currently, it does not claim to have a minimum order value, at least in Pune. MediaNama’s take: 1. Not surge pricing: Swiggy’s…
