Starting this summer, you may notice a new fee when you get a delivery.

The state put out an alert Wednesday that a fifty-cent charge will soon be added to most deliveries over $100.

“The idea is that it helps augment transportation funding, there’s some decline in gas tax revenues,” explains Bruce Nustad with the Minnesota Retailers Association. “So, the idea is it’s a new way to boost transportation funding.”

The fee, which takes effect in July, is expected to raise about $60 million.

The money is to go to local governments to help pay for road maintenance.

“I usually don’t have anything over $100, so it’s not going to apply to me,” says Christine Locke, who was shopping in Roseville Wednesday evening. “But fifty cents is fifty cents, so it’s not that much.”

Last year, DFL lawmakers said the fee would offset the loss of gas tax revenues because of increased use of electric cars and trucks — but also fund repairs from wear and tear on roads from delivery vehicles.  

“The House file is a major step toward fixing and catching up on our transportation infrastructure,” Representative Erin Koegel (DFL), the author of the law, said during a debate about an $8 billion transportation bill.

Republican lawmakers were not happy, pointing to last year’s surplus.
 
“I think this is an additional tax on consumers in an era where we already have a little bit of high inflation,” Nustad says. “But frankly, for a lot of Minnesotans, they rely on delivery. Think of your elderly and those types of scenarios. It could simply be a convenience, too — busy families.”

There are exceptions for drugs, medical devices and supplies, food and some baby products.

Businesses earning less than $1 million in sales will also be exempt.

Koegel says 1% of revenues from the fee will go to food delivery services like Meals on Wheels.

Still, Amy Anderson from New Brighton says she’s not happy about spending more.

“Fifty cents for a delivery? How many deliveries in a day?” she asks. “I mean, you’re talking about a lot of money.”

Minnesota is the second state to do this.  

Colorado imposed a twenty-seven-cent fee in 2022.  

Locke says she hopes Minnesota’s fee will make a difference.

“If it fixes the roads, then it’s a good thing,” she notes. “Fifty cents is not that bad.”