Taiwan's New Delivery Law: Experts Fear Stacking Ban's Unintended Consequences

Taiwan's "Food Delivery Worker Rights Protection and Platform Management Act" is set to launch on July 21, drawing significant attention. While the law does not explicitly prohibit "stacking" orders – where a delivery person handles multiple orders simultaneously – experts express concern that the regulatory design could inadvertently disrupt the practice. The Taiwan Digital Platform Economy Association (DEAT) highlighted that if the law mandates individual payment for each order, the efficiency gained from stacking might be lost. This could affect delivery speed, customer experience, and the number of orders available to gig workers.

“

Although the "Food Delivery Act" does not explicitly prohibit "stacking" orders, if the system design affects platform dispatch efficiency, it may still impact delivery efficiency, consumer experience, and delivery workers' opportunities to accept orders.

Citing international experience, particularly from Seattle in 2024, experts noted that a similar reform increased per-order minimum pay significantly. However, this also raised delivery costs, leading to reduced consumer demand, fewer orders, and increased pressure on businesses. In some cases, it even resulted in fewer delivery opportunities for workers, demonstrating how a narrowly focused regulation can overlook broader market dynamics and create new pressures for those it aims to protect. Small and medium-sized businesses were particularly hard-hit, with some reporting over a 20% drop in monthly orders.

“

Stacking is the same principle. Although the law does not explicitly prohibit stacking, if each order needs to be re-calculated and remunerated separately, platforms naturally lack the incentive to arrange stacking.

The concern is that a "stacking" mechanism, which benefits consumers with potential discounts, delivery workers with higher potential earnings per trip, and platforms through increased exposure for partner merchants, could diminish. If each order requires separate remuneration, the incentive for platforms to facilitate stacking disappears. This could mean consumers lose out on price advantages, merchants see less exposure, and while per-order pay might increase, a potential drop in overall order volume could negate any gains for delivery workers. Experts also warn of a "gig worker professionalization trap," where increased compliance costs for platforms might lead them to favor full-time, highly efficient workers, potentially excluding part-time or casual gig workers the law intended to support.

“

The law originally intended to protect gig workers, but it may end up affecting their job opportunities, which is worth continuous observation.