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Uber Driver Tip-Hustling Schemes

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Re: Uber Driver Tip-Hustling Schemes

#501

Post by Brendinooo »

headcanon wrote: post #488
grecy wrote: post #352

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a non-American this is how I feel about tipping in general. It's so much easier to just pay people a decent wage, include it in the cost of things and then not have the pressure of tipping. That, and tipping is akin to having paid servants. i.e. " if you do a good job, and if I feel like it, I might give you some of my wad of cash. Or not, sucker.". (Of course, I do tip because the servers rely on it, I just don't…

> That, and tipping is akin to having paid servants It feels like that because that's what it is - American tipping culture has its roots in slavery.

Do you have a source for that? I've generally heard that it has roots in Americans returning from Europe having acquired the practice[1].

>Lynn suggests that wealthy Americans traveling abroad to Europe witnessed tipping and brought the aristocratic custom back with them to “show off,” or prove their elevated education and class.

[1]: http://www.foodwoolf.com/2010/08/history-of-tipping.html

Re: Uber Driver Tip-Hustling Schemes

#502

Post by stcredzero »

shostack wrote: post #263
redm wrote: post #4

No Tipping is one of the main reasons I liked Uber; no cash, no pressure, you just get out of the car and walk away with everyone happy. I would rather pay more for each fare and have Uber aggressively prohibit tipping. I suspect many people feel the same way and if Uber doesn't get it under control, it could be the biggest challenge they face.

On the bright side, this will be solved forever with the first full auto taxis. Unless Johnny Cab suddenly starts asking for Bitcoin...

"Johnny Cab asks for a Bitcoin" -- Wouldn't make a bad nerd culture faux folk song. (Or a Filk)

Re: Uber Driver Tip-Hustling Schemes

#503

Post by deeth_starr »

Welcome to America. People who complain about tipping annoy me. I agree it's a pain to have to tip but companies in America like to not pay their employees.

Instead of giving the tipping option Uber should just automatically add 15%. But knowing Uber they would just keepo this 15% and not pass it on to the driver.

Re: Uber Driver Tip-Hustling Schemes

#504

Post by AlwaysRock »

nkrisc wrote: post #477
borplk wrote: post #385

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. As a non-American tipping seems like such a crappy concept to me. Why should service providers be subject to arbitrary decisions of random customers? A service has a price. Either it is provided adequately and you are happy with it in which case you pay the full damn price for it and move on with your life. Or there's a specific problem in which case you can complain specifically and ask for a discount or re…

A lot of Americans, myself included, think it's a crappy concept too.

It's frustrating because everyone has different concepts of what a "good" tip is as well. I tip well now but it's mostly because I'm overcompensating for years of under tipping after getting advice from high school friends or cheap adults. However it's often just not clear enough what to give.

Re: Uber Driver Tip-Hustling Schemes

#505

Post by gregmac »

lightcatcher wrote: post #464
grecy wrote: post #352

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a non-American this is how I feel about tipping in general. It's so much easier to just pay people a decent wage, include it in the cost of things and then not have the pressure of tipping. That, and tipping is akin to having paid servants. i.e. " if you do a good job, and if I feel like it, I might give you some of my wad of cash. Or not, sucker.". (Of course, I do tip because the servers rely on it, I just don't…

What do you mean that it's "much easier to just pay people a decent wage"? Do you mean that it's much easier to convince companies to pay their employees more than they have to, or that it's much easier to pass higher minimum wage laws? Neither of these seem easier than "convince the public to toss in a few extra dollars when they use a lowly paid service". I see "make sure that all working people are paid fairly" as…

Keep in mind that in both US and Canada there's a different (and lower) minimum wage for 'tipped workers'.

US Federal law states minimum wage is only $2.13/hr for someone that makes $30/month in tips (instead of normal minimum $7.25) [1]. If they don't make $30 in tips the employer must make up the difference.

At 30 hours/week (and 4.3 weeks/month), $30/month works out to $0.23/hr, so the effective minimum wage is still only $2.36/hr.

Some states are quite a bit higher (eg Hawaii is $7/hr), and in some (eg, Alaska, California) the minimum wage is the same regardless of tips.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tipped_wage_in_the_United_Stat...

Re: Uber Driver Tip-Hustling Schemes

#507

Post by lovich »

rublev wrote: post #451
lazyasciiart wrote: post #392

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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. I'm amazed that doesn't backfire. Skeptical, in fact.

This has happened to me so many times, lost like $5 each time.

I would just let that ride sit and open up another app. I'm fine if the driver doesn't want to take me as a passenger, but I'm not going to take a finacial penalty to support their preferences

Re: Uber Driver Tip-Hustling Schemes

#508

Post by Hydraulix989 »

jrohn92 wrote: post #343
redm wrote: post #4

No Tipping is one of the main reasons I liked Uber; no cash, no pressure, you just get out of the car and walk away with everyone happy. I would rather pay more for each fare and have Uber aggressively prohibit tipping. I suspect many people feel the same way and if Uber doesn't get it under control, it could be the biggest challenge they face.

As a driver for Lyft who is running a startup, every penny counts to make expensive Bay Area rent. Granted, most people don't tip unless it is an airport run. I would like you to put yourself in my shoes or even someone who has children to feed and between jobs. I don't drive for Uber for a reason. Lyft legitimately cares about their drivers' well being. To you a dollar or two does not matter, but for me a good day i…

Sorry to single you out specifically, but I've seen people put themselves in dire situations for the sake of "doing a startup," and it always makes me cringe.

If you're struggling to make rent, maybe you should consider doing something like Upwork or Gigster then? Or even a full time job?

Either your startup is succeeding: you've raised enough venture capital to support yourself, or you're making enough revenue to be ramen profitable (I didn't quite interpret your post that way, though).

Or you are wasting time and energy on something that just isn't going anywhere where you should be making it a fun side project alongside a full time job instead of a VERY risky 10:1 all-in bet.

Most people besides the local SF Peter Pan Syndrome millennial dreamer crowd here would consider it to be very irresponsible to gamble away your time and savings on a stagnant business like that.

There's also plenty of great places to start a business that aren't the Bay Area and actually have reasonable costs of living, friendlier regulations, and less taxes (shout out to Pittsburgh!). I'd stay off the hive mind hamster wheel here that you HAVE to be in the most expensive place to live on the planet, or else you're living in Siberia (to borrow the literal smug wording of a Google employee friend justifying their renting at age 35 situation).

Re: Uber Driver Tip-Hustling Schemes

#510

Post by phil21 »

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…

Meh. It may be illegal, but it's one of those technical violations where the motivation really matters.

A cab driver using a much cheaper service vs. the rent-seeking credit card processing they are mandated by law to use? That's a morally correct action. The immoral action (imo) is to continue to feed into the fraud that you yourself identified earlier in the thread.

I have very little problem with a cab driver doing this, just as I have very little problem with you reporting it for the reasons you mention.

And having a rather interesting early start to my career - I assure you "native" citizens get away with this kind of crap all the time.

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