Food delivery platforms like DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub employ personalized pricing, where the cost of an identical order can vary between users. This practice, often called price discrimination or dynamic pricing, uses algorithms that consider a user's location, order history, device type, and even how frequently they use the service to determine the final price shown.
Companies have acknowledged this strategy in their terms of service and regulatory filings. For instance, DoorDash has stated that prices can differ for a variety of reasons, including "promotions, availability, and other factors." Uber Eats has similarly noted that final prices may be personalized.
Regulatory bodies, including the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), have scrutinized these practices for potential consumer harm. The FTC has warned that opaque algorithmic pricing can make it difficult for consumers to comparison shop and may lead to unfairly higher costs for certain groups.
Consumer advocates recommend checking prices across different accounts or devices, using browser incognito mode, and looking for direct ordering options from restaurants to potentially find better deals and avoid personalized markups.
