TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A group of Kaohsiung city councilors suggested on Wednesday (July 28) that the central government work with domestic nonprofits to form “national delivery teams” to compete with international delivery platforms that charge high service fees, UDN reported. 

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Kaohsiung city councilor Kuo Chien-meng (郭建盟), along with others from his party, said on Wednesday that the food and beverage industry has been among the hardest hit during the pandemic, with many businesses having been forced to close their doors and former employees migrating to the delivery sector 

The two largest delivery service platforms in Taiwan, Foodpanda and Uber Eats, both charge high fees for their services, leaving little profit for stores and delivery people, Kuo said. Taking a NT$350 (US$12) order as an example, he pointed out that the store will receive about NT$196–200, or 57%; the delivery person will get about NT$50, or 14.3%; and the platform will rake in NT$104, or 28%. 

KMT Kaohsiung city councilor Kao Min-lin (高閔琳) agreed with the DPP councilors, saying the 30% chunk taken by the delivery platforms makes it hard to earn money in the low-margin food and beverage industry. She also urged the city government to make a proposal to the central government about setting up national delivery teams and establishing a nonprofit app that takes only 5% from each order and gives back the 25% to stores and delivery workers. 

In response, Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said he will do so and try to make the proposal a reality, per UDN.