Amidst the holiday rush, with everyone preparing dinners and presents for their loved ones, one of the most-talked-about issues this December was with Lalamove charging a “December Fee” of up to Php 100 for parcel deliveries, on top of other charges like Holiday and High Demand charges. These charges alone inflated Lalamove’s delivery rates to more than twice the usual fee, prompting the DTI to ask Lalamove to explain the additional charges.

In one example, a delivery from Pasig to Taguig using a car would normally cost around Php 400. However, the additional charges caused the delivery fee to balloon to almost Php 800.

In a text message to Rappler, DTI Undersecretary Ruth Castelo explained that such charges are not allowed and that Lalamove has to explain why they imposed these additional charges. In its defense, Lalamove replied to Rappler via email, explaining that the extra fees are typically seen in all delivery platforms, and it does so to ensure that delivery orders are fulfilled.

Aside from Lalamove, other platforms like Grab and Transportify have surcharge adjustments but are only limited to high-demand adjustments. In the case of Lalamove, however, additional charges like the December Fee made their services one of the most expensive during this month.

“Similarly, this also allows our partner driver to assess whether he wants to accept such an order at that fees. Drivers are able to take home the combined amount of base fare and surcharges net of commission,” Lalamove explained, adding that they disclose these additional charges to their customers prior to booking.