Mamdani Against Prime Delivery

National Review Online

Thursday, August 13, 2026

 

Progressives have long been happy to put their projects above consumer convenience. Their aversion to flexible labor markets, another hallmark of free enterprise, is a similiarly old story. In New York City, socialist mayor Zohran Mamdani has discovered how to merge both these tics into one destructive policy.

 

Mamdani endorsed a bill recently introduced in New York’s city council, the misleadingly titled Delivery Protection Act, that would impose a straitjacket licensing regime on package delivery services. To win permission to keep operating, warehouse operators would have to abide by myriad safety, training, and employment requirements. Most disruptively, it would mandate that operators directly hire their drivers, barring them from contracting out last-mile delivery.

 

Supposedly in the name of worker protection, the bill would effectively abolish an entire thriving industry of delivery businesses and sole proprietors. Both Amazon and FedEx rely on these independent contractors to carry packages to doorsteps (as opposed to UPS, which employs all its drivers).

 

Where most Americans see wonder in same-day delivery, Mamdani has only scorn. As he declares unabashedly, the Delivery Protection Act threatens the fundamental model that customers have come to depend on for efficient service. Amazon warns that it may relocate its warehouses outside New York City limits, meaning longer waits and pricier fees for residents. The jobs of Amazon’s 5,000 subcontracted delivery drivers, who earn $24 per hour on average, would also be put at risk. More certainly, all the small businesses that now employ them would be wiped away.

 

For what upside? It is not at all clear that the legislation would help the workers it purports to care for. Amazon and FedEx would be required to provide health insurance as drivers’ direct employers, but most already receive benefits from their existing third-party companies. Those firms must follow the same labor laws as the delivery giants.

 

In fact, the bill might make workers worse off. Drivers are presently free to work for dozens of contractors under whatever terms they negotiate. Mamdani would transform this competitive labor market into one dominated by just a few companies, drastically reducing drivers’ ability to switch bosses. With that lost freedom comes lost leverage.

 

A similar story to what Mamdani envisions already played out in California. The state enacted a law in 2019 that forcibly reclassified millions of independent contractors as employees across several industries, foisting greater costs on businesses. In response, self-employment fell without a commensurate increase in overall employment. The law was so damaging to popular services that voters opted to exclude app-based delivery workers a year later.

 

The sole beneficiary of the Delivery Protection Act, it seems, would be the labor unions that Mamdani holds dear. The Teamsters love the bill, likely because they have found it difficult to conquer delivery contractors one by one. Federal law makes it far easier to unionize large workforces under single companies, which the bill would proactively consolidate. Amid dwindling membership, collective bargaining may also become more appealing once the number of potential employers is winnowed down to three. What protects workers genuinely — the existence of many employers — would be replaced by union dues.

 

The last thing that New York needs is another economic cartel, as the city’s affordability woes stem largely from an ever-bristlier thicket of supply constraints. Mamdani’s proposal to layer on a functional delivery tax would further inhibit companies from meeting consumers where they are.

 

New York City has many problems. Convenient shipping isn’t one of them.