Proposal would add online shipping surcharge in NYC

NEW YORK - 'Tis the season for online shopping. But what if every time you ordered something online for delivery you had to pay a surcharge?

"That would definitely impact what I purchase, I would probably go to more stores in person," said one Upper East Side shopper.

That's one goal of legislation introduced by Brooklyn Assemblyman Robert Carroll: encouraging more people to shop local. But Carroll says his proposal to tack on a three dollar per order fee for every online delivery to New York City carries additional benefits.

"It's to nudge people to shop local and incentivize that," he said, "It's also to say 'hey there's a cost to online delivery, there are multiple trucks, delivery trucks on my block every single day, there are tons of cardboard and plastic."

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Essential goods like food, medicines, and diapers would be excluded from the surcharge, but anything else would be fair game. Carroll says the revenue would go to the ailing MTA.

But New Yorkers wonder if discouraging shopping from home during the pandemic is such a great idea, and others just don't want the state meddling in how they spend.

Carroll says the fee is a small price to pay to give our city a boost

"This is going to help save those small businesses, help save our transportation network, and actually I think make New York a little more liveable," Caroll said, "And it will make people think before they click."

Carroll introduced the legislation in January, and plans to reintroduce it in the new year. He think it will have support given the need for creative solutions to New York State' massive budget shortfall.