‘They are detached from reality’: Gee criticizes Seattle leaders for ‘political theater’ as gig worker law backfires

KIRO host Gee Scott predicted Seattle’s gig worker law would backfire. Two years later, drivers are earning less.

The policy aimed to increase labor standards for app-based delivery drivers working with companies like DoorDash and Uber Eats. Under the law, the companies are required to pay Seattle drivers not just for base pay, but also for mileage and time spent in traffic.

But as anticipated by critics, including Gee, consumers ended up getting the brunt of the fees. By the third quarter of 2025, the average fee per order paid for by Seattle customers was more than three and a half times higher than the average paid by customers in Denver, San Francisco, and Portland.

Therefore, fewer people have been paying for the convenience of delivery, leading Seattle drivers to actually make 20 cents less per hour than before.

‘I knew this was going to be a problem,’ Gee says

“Told y’all,” Gee said on “The Gee and Ursula Show” on KIRO Newsradio. “I tried to tell you.”

Gee said he knew the law wouldn’t work because he had experience with DoorDash.

“I used to order DoorDash six times a month. I’m gonna order one time a month, and everybody started to decrease. When they started decreasing, there were more workers on the road, more gig workers, because they thought, ‘Hey, everybody, they’re going to be giving you a guaranteed X amount of money per hour,'” Gee said.

“And what happens is it punishes the people who are really just going, going, going, and the one who’s like, ‘I could just kind of sit here and chill, because I know I’m going to get it.’ I knew this was going to be a problem, and it’s a problem now,” he continued.

‘Seattle, this sucks’: Gee says law hurt both drivers and restaurants

Gee added that both drivers and restaurants have suffered under the law.

“Seattle, this sucks. And guess what, the restaurants, the business owners, they suffered too. I said twofold. Two people I wanted to protect. I wanted to protect the gig workers because they were going to make less money, and I wanted to protect the restaurants because they were going to make less money,” he said.

KIRO host Ursula Reutin said she would rather drive to the store and pick it up than pay the fee.

“I’ve done it one time, and otherwise it is worth it for me to just get into my car and go get it myself,” she said. “Because at some point, the convenience is not worth it. And why am I going to pay that huge amount when I could just go get it myself?”

Gee: Local leaders ‘don’t see these things coming’

Rather than gloat, Gee directed his frustration at local decision makers.

“I’m not gonna sit here and gloat about that I told you so. If anything, it makes me more angry. And what I’m angry about are, and usually are: the decision makers, locally, here, who don’t see these things coming. You want to know why? Because they are detached from reality and what really goes on,” Gee said.

“So a lot of times they’ll do these things as political theater to make themselves look good,” he continued. “‘Hey everybody, I’m going to make it so that it’s guaranteed, where the gig worker is going to make X amount of money.’ They would know better if they maybe had a cousin or loved one who actually drove for DoorDash and knew to say, ‘Hey, that’s not a good idea.'”

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to Gee and Ursula on “The Gee and Ursula Show” weekday mornings from 9 am to 12 pm on KIRO Newsradio.