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Uber Driver Tip-Hustling Schemes

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Re: Uber Driver Tip-Hustling Schemes

#331

Post by wutbrodo »

jayess wrote: post #45

My uber drivers have been steadily dropping in quality, more often than not taking the wrong directions to my destination, despite the fact that the GPS right in front of them tells them where to go. I've been using Lyft more and more lately. Drivers just seem.... better. And I don't mind tipping in the app.

I've been using for Uber for almost...six years now? And Lyft since 2012 or '13 or something. I'll occasionally switch from one app to the other and there are definite waves in driver quality, pricing, routes (for pool/line). For the last several months in my local market Uber seems to have gotten a wave of new drivers, and they generally tend not to know what they're doing.

Re: Uber Driver Tip-Hustling Schemes

#332

Post by ThrustVectoring »

blhack wrote: post #89

I'd love if an economist of somebody with a better financial background could comment on this: When you're giving a tip, you're effectively giving money to the people who own the company (or participate in profit sharing). Tips allow employers to pay their employees under market rate. By paying enough tip to bring the employee's wage up to the market rate, you are subsidizing the company's profit, not the employees p…

IMO the biggest reason for tipping is tax law. Tips technically have to get accurately reported as income to the IRS, but basically nobody ends up giving Uncle Sam the full amount. Random google searching says that something like 15-20% of cash tips get reported and taxed.

Re: Uber Driver Tip-Hustling Schemes

#333

Post by ProAm »

URSpider94 wrote: post #258
unityByFreedom wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I would be more than happy to pay even a little more if it meant not getting guilt tripped over a tip That does not sound very logical.

It's completely logical. If you value a silent car ride, or more significantly, if you value not being asked for money by someone who has you trapped in the back seat of their car and whom you are trusting to get you to your destination, then you would pay more up front for a ride free of hustle for a tip.

Use Lyft? They have tipping and are generally nicer.

Re: Uber Driver Tip-Hustling Schemes

#334

Post by [deleted] »

developer2 wrote: post #267
dawnerd wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I deleted my Uber account over all the bad press and a few bad rides last couple months. There's definitely a trend for the drivers to be either really really bad at driving, or super aggressive with tips. Do drivers really expect people using a cashless system to... carry cash? I actually had one driver accepts tips using stripe.

Taxi drivers in my city are notorious for, at least in my experience, attempting to swipe your credit card with Stripe on their personal cell phones. Not just for the tip, but for the entire fare. They openly commit fraud against their company by trying to steal the fare for themselves without reporting it to their company. I've refused to pay for, and reported to their company, 4 separate drivers in the past 2 years…

[deleted]

Re: Uber Driver Tip-Hustling Schemes

#335

Post by skewart »

wpietri wrote: post #280
developer2 wrote: post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Taxi drivers in my city are notorious for, at least in my experience, attempting to swipe your credit card with Stripe on their personal cell phones. Not just for the tip, but for the entire fare. They openly commit fraud against their company by trying to steal the fare for themselves without reporting it to their company. I've refused to pay for, and reported to their company, 4 separate drivers in the past 2 years…

Why do you think this is fraud? At least in SF, I'm pretty sure the standard deal is that the drivers pay for the cab regardless of what they get in fares. Cabs were a cash business for a hundred years, after all. I think the deal with credit card machines in the cabs is that the cab companies see it as a revenue source. I know cab drivers grumble about the cost of using them. It makes sense to me that Stripe is chea…

That's the standard arrangement in most cities in North America, not just SF. I don't think a driver processing a credit card with Square/Stripe is shady or fraudulent either. It might be against a given city's regulations, technically. But then those would be pretty messed up regulations.

Re: Uber Driver Tip-Hustling Schemes

#336

Post by xor1 »

vmarsy wrote: post #215
madeofpalk wrote: post #209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, this is the problem when an establishment bucks the local trend and becomes a "no-tip restaurant" exception. Go to a country where hospitality staff are paid a 'fair' amount and customers aren't expected to tip and this problem goes away.

Indeed this problem goes away. A new one pops up though: mediocre service, such as having to ask many times for refilling the tap water bottle or get condiments, and struggling to get the waiter's attention in general.

>mediocre service, such as having to ask many times for refilling the tap water bottle or get condiments, and struggling to get the waiter's attention in general.

This is already the case at the vast majority of restaurants I frequent. It's not as horrible as you make it seem.

A significant upside that I don't see getting enough attention in this thread is that you don't have to worry about whether or not staff (front and back) are having their wages and/or tips withheld. This is extremely common in California when workers are being paid under the table.

Re: Uber Driver Tip-Hustling Schemes

#337

Post by imh »

Lots of discussion about whether tips are good or bad. Friendly reminder that people don't tend to tip all races equally [0]. This means that having driver compensation partially in the form of tips will mean black drivers get paid less. Some interesting implications here [1]

[0] http://scholarship.sha.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?artic...

[1] https://onlabor.org/2015/11/23/guest-post-tipping-as-employm...

Re: Uber Driver Tip-Hustling Schemes

#338

Post by gnicholas »

developer2 wrote: post #324
wpietri wrote: post #280

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you think this is fraud? At least in SF, I'm pretty sure the standard deal is that the drivers pay for the cab regardless of what they get in fares. Cabs were a cash business for a hundred years, after all. I think the deal with credit card machines in the cabs is that the cab companies see it as a revenue source. I know cab drivers grumble about the cost of using them. It makes sense to me that Stripe is chea…

Here, it is legally mandated that cab drivers use the company-provided credit card machine to process all credit card transactions. The company takes 7% of all such transactions. Yes that percentage is ridiculously high, but it is mandatory per regulation. It is unacceptable for drivers to personally process credit card transactions, whereby they retain access to the credit card number. Forget the underhanded fraud t…

I use Stripe for payment processing, and I'm pretty sure vendors don't get access to customer's credit card numbers. They might be able to attempt another transaction — which would be fraudulent — but you would get an email confirmation and could easily flag any such attempts. I agree that it is wrong of them to avoid regulatory or contractual obligations to use company payment processing, but they don't get your credit card number.

Re: Uber Driver Tip-Hustling Schemes

#339

Post by hueving »

blahedo wrote: post #283
iLoch wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There is universal agreement about tipping at restaurants. Tips of 15% (or 20%?) are definitely customary, expected, priced-in. People who don't leave tips after experiencing decent service are definitely not paying their fair share. Is this a joke? Not only is it not universal, it's not even customary. The agreement you have with the restaurant is this: you sit down, are served, eat food, and pay. Baseline service…

> it's not even customary This is thoroughly false. It is so customary in the US that it has been baked into the minimum wage laws: in general, the federal minimum wage is $7.25, but for waitstaff and some other "tipped" jobs, the minimum wage is less than a third of that, at $2.13. The whole system is completely appalling, but that doesn't change the fact that in a lot of places the waitstaff is effectively subcontr…

You left out the part where they are still guaranteed minimum wage if they don't get enough tips.

Re: Uber Driver Tip-Hustling Schemes

#340

Post by Steeeve »

wutbrodo wrote: post #321
Steeeve wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

4.7 is low. 4.6 is where drivers get fired. At 4.5 a lot of drivers won't pick you up.

Passenger and driver ratings having the same distribution is an extraordinarily bizarre assumption.

Quotes from uber drivers discussing:

> I picked up a 4.5 tonight and guess what is was a 4.5 type of ride. 2 stars bucko

> 4.5 or below are usually problem passengers in my market

> Usually I'll pass on anyone lower than a 4.5.

> I check the score and if they are below a 4.6 I text and inform them that THEY need to cancel and request another driver.

> 4.6 and below? Sorry about your luck. Let the next Uber driver pick up your $2.40 non tipping ass.

> I'm hesitant about anything 4.6 or below (depending on if it's a slow night and other factors).

> i'm usually skeptical of rides under 4.8, but accept trips at a base of 4.5 in the mornings. most of those folks i've chalked up to being bad drunks, and decent during the day.

> If I'm knackered I'll reject a 4.5 or 4.6 as I'm too tired to put up with potential crap.

> I skip anyone below a 4.5 unless it's really slow and I'm desperate.

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