Food delivery apps give refund to more than 4 times’ orders

A government-provided dining coupon program for non-face-to-face food delivery service is scheduled to be resumed next month to give a 10,000-won discount to food delivery app users who pay more than 20,000 won four times each.

The Ministry of Economy and Finance announced on Sunday that it will revive coupons to citizens who use food delivery service in non-face-to-face settings before Chuseok holidays from Sept. 18 to 22. It aims to prevent domestic demand from shrinking due to the worsening of the COVID-19 pandemic by resuming the coupon offer initiative in dining only, which has been put on hold since its launch.

With the return of the dining coupon program, food delivery users can get 10,000 won back via their payment credit card or bank account when they pay 20,000 won or more four times each. They can either get 10,000 won deducted from the payment amount or get an equivalent discount when a credit card billing is issued.

The amount of 20,000 won in question is the final payment sum with a delivery fee and any discount applied to it. Up to two orders a day are effectively applied to the coupon system for non-face-to-face dining. Order counts during the first round of the coupon provision period from May 24 to July 4 are reflected in the number of orders required for the receiving of dining coupons. That is, if two orders worth than 20,000 won were made during the previous coupon period, it only takes two more orders worth than 20,000 won to get 10,000 won back on food delivery apps.

A total of 14 food delivery apps are subject to the upcoming coupon offer initiative including Baemin, Yogiyo, WMPO, Delivery Express, Coupang Eats, Kakao Talk Order, Dilly Us, etc. The program does not apply to orders from convenience stores and supermarkets. The budget limit of the dining coupon program is 20 billion won and is run on a first-come-first-served basis.


Choong-Hyun Song balgun@donga.com