When New York City’s new minimum-wage rules for grocery delivery workers kicked in last week, they immediately hit us at the checkout.

The evidence pops up as soon as you open your Instacart app.

Click to pay for your grocery order and there it is: a fresh $5.99 line item labeled “Regulatory Response Fee.”

Just below, the tip box isn’t blank like it used to be — the app now pre-loads a 10% tip on your order.

Surprise!

That “Regulatory Response” surcharge isn’t some random cash grab.

It’s how Instacart is spelling out exactly what the City Council just did with a new law setting a $21.44 hourly wage for app-based grocery delivery workers — who, as independent contractors, previously worked mainly for tips and earned as little as $5.39 an hour in wages.

That might sound like good news for the 80,000 deliveristas who help keep Gotham fed.

But delivery companies warned for months that if City Hall made them pay workers more, they’d have to make us pay more.

A higher minimum-wage floor would mean higher prices and more fees, they said — reducing orders and accelerating........

© New York Post