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Google Takes on Uber with New Ride-Share Service

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Re: Google Takes on Uber with New Ride-Share Service

#311

Post by snoman »

williamscales wrote: post #295
aianus wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> only in the US has zero tipping almost become equivalent to not paying the tab in full. Canada is the same way, do not tip 0% in Canada unless the waiter was abjectly rude or spilled something on you.

I find it strange that the same tipping norms exist in Canada as in the US, since, if I'm not mistaken, Canadian waitstaff are paid at least minimum wage. In the US, the fact that waiters are paid less than minimum wage and expected to make it up on tips is often cited to explain why it is so bad to not tip at all.

Unfortunately, you are mistaken. Minimum wage for tipping jobs is much less than normal, in all of the 4 provinces I've lived in (AB, SK, ON, QC).

Re: Google Takes on Uber with New Ride-Share Service

#312

Post by adevine »

iamcasen wrote: post #2

Uber and Lyft have had to tackle so many legal issues already. Drastically improving and modifying how they deal with drivers on a daily basis from both an operational and legal standpoint. If what the article says is true about google vetting problem drivers with mere user reviews, they don't know what they are getting into. I think the idea is great of course, and I imagine it would cut down on freeway traffic duri…

The article doesn't really make clear that this is really shared carpooling (which has existed for decades), NOT driving for hire a la Uber and Lyft. The reason for the 54c/mile limit is that is the IRS standard mileage rate, so anything that and below is not considered drive-for-hire.

Re: Google Takes on Uber with New Ride-Share Service

#313

Post by rtpg »

themartorana wrote: post #260
res0nat0r wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, very true. The fact really is in the USA if we eliminated tipping, the cost of the food on the menu would just go up by $X number of dollars, and people don't want that, they want low prices for the items on the menu which is why the system also is the way it is.

I don't believe you. No one I know likes tipping. It's awkward no matter how you slice it. We would all much rather just pay what it costs and not have to tip. -- Looked it up. You were right. Well, at least in the pay structure. 85% of surveyed people prefer a tipping pay structure to including it in the price of food. I think it has to do with the perceived idea that tipping leaves the diner in control and leaves t…

There was a freakonomics episode on this. People believe they have control, but it turns out that , even if the amount people tip differs per person, people basically never change how much they tip.

Re: Google Takes on Uber with New Ride-Share Service

#314

Post by nommm-nommm »

kylec wrote: post #79
mmanfrin wrote: post #3

Honestly I wish they wouldn't try to compete on price. Maybe I'm alone with this, but I'd rather not feel obligated to tip a driver because the ride is so cheap. Pay them a living wage, let me pay the exact fee, and let me not have to carry goddamn cash like I used to in the era of Taxis. e: Addressing common replies: "This is for people commuting already" -- okay, point taken; my point about Uber/Lyft still stands.…

"Tipping isn't obligatory" -- yes, it kind of is. Uber used to bar drivers form asking, but they recently lost a lawsuit over that rule and so now Uber drivers will occasionally ask for tips (which will cause it to slowly become the norm). I'm pretty sure I was recently given a low rating by a driver on Uber because I didn't tip. From my perspective the ride went perfectly fine, and I wasn't even asked for a tip, but…

Drivers rate passengers? Where can I see my rating?

Re: Google Takes on Uber with New Ride-Share Service

#315

Post by Myrmornis »

euyyn wrote: post #277
Myrmornis wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How should I reword this in order not to get downvoted? Is this better? When I've used Waze in the past, I notice that the default UI features cartoon spermatozoa moving around a road system. Such an aesthetic is going to be off-putting to most serious adults, but it sounds from this article that Waze is playing an important role in some actively developed Google products. I'm curious whether anyone here can shed lig…

Come one, most serious adults don't give a rat's ass about how cartoonish or not their mapping app looks, as long as it works well.

When I said adult, I was thinking of people over 40. I think you're thinking of younger people. There's no way, for example, my parents would use it. They'd feel uncomfortable, that they were stumbling into some sort of "thing for young people".

Re: Google Takes on Uber with New Ride-Share Service

#316

Post by zik »

jonahx wrote: post #55
imgabe wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There should never be an obligation to tip. The whole point of tipping is that it's not obligatory. I get that we've messed that up for a lot of professions, like restaurant servers, but Uber et al have a chance to reset the social norms at least around taxi-esque services and they should take it.

as a practical matter, i don't believe it's possible to have "optional" tipping that doesn't create obligation (even if that would be desirable). either you create a cultural norm where tipping isn't allowed or expected, which Uber has effectively done, or you have a situation like restaurants, where the tip may as well be part of the price, unless you're cool being the asshole who doesn't tip, which most people aren…

I guess you haven't lived anywhere else in the world other than the US then... Because tipping is completely optional everywhere except the US (and Canada). Even the US has only done it this way for about 100 years.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/12/magazine/12tipping-t.html?...

Re: Google Takes on Uber with New Ride-Share Service

#317

Post by theseatoms »

alkonaut wrote: post #123
dragonwriter wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Can we stop calling every new taxi service "ride sharing"? Yes, but this is a ridesharing service, not a taxi service. > Can I tell uber I want to share a ride to the airport with any stranger? (my taxi co will do that)? Isn't that exactly what UberPOOL is?

My point really that we always had ride sharing, it's car pools (which is obvious from Ubers naming). The regular uber is a taxi service and a service for organizing car pools is a car pool service. I agree that uberPool and this is much more ride sharing .

"The Renting Economy" doesn't have the same ring to it...

Re: Google Takes on Uber with New Ride-Share Service

#318

Post by dannylandau »

vegabook wrote: post #43
wtvanhest wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_Treo was way before Andriod. First mover advantage is rarely an advantage at all. My guess is that google sees this as optionality and testing to get things right like insurance etc. in anticipation of self driving cars. At the very least it allows them to extract more value from Uber when Google finally have self driving cars ready to sell them. I really don't see how Uber is worth…

Makes sense. But they've shown no staying power in any of their other long term initiatives. Google Fibre (halving staff). Self driving car (looking for investors/partners). Robotics (disinvesting). Google+ (firing the boss after 2 years). Glass (debacle buried under the carpet). Motorola (flipped for a few billion pronto and now struggling). Shopping (trounced by Amazon). Cloud? (for second place, Microsoft Azure is…

Fair points above, but what about Gmail, Google Docs, YouTube, among others. Those are solid successes!

Re: Google Takes on Uber with New Ride-Share Service

#319

Post by runako »

oldmanjay wrote: post #290
runako wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If only that were remotely true. In many/most states, the minimum wage for a variety of jobs is not in the range of "livable". For example, minimum wage for restaurant jobs in Georgia is $2.13/hour [1]. They actually don't "get paid enough for this shit," so their attitude actually matches reality. Tipping is a necessary component of the compensation if we want to continue our practice of letting certain employers ha…

Do you feel like the unsupported assertion that employers do not obey the law helps to bolster your point? If so, is it because you feel facts are subordinate to emotional resonance?

There's plenty of support for this assertion. If you spend a few moments, you can find it quite easily.

I included that point because there are a lot of foreign readers of HN who may not realize how widely flouted our labor laws are here in the US.

Re: Google Takes on Uber with New Ride-Share Service

#320

Post by nathanvanfleet »

michaelcampbell wrote: post #301
dragonwriter wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Honestly I wish they wouldn't try to compete on price. Waze Carpool is more targeted at actual ridesharing (and designed specifically to support to/from work carpooling), not a taxi service using "ridesharing" as a misleading name. Its not really trying to compete with price as it is offering a slightly different service (its kind of like UberPOOL, except its really focusing on -- though not strictly limited to --…

Waze Carpool is fantastic... for the 0.26% of the US that lives in the Bay area.

Isn't this just a starter?
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