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Uber Driver Tip-Hustling Schemes

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Re: Uber Driver Tip-Hustling Schemes

#511

Post by headcanon »

Brendinooo wrote: post #501
headcanon wrote: post #488

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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

Reading up on it more, I guess its more accurate to say it was implemented post-slavery. It seems like it was a combination of what my source says and what yours says.

> Restaurants and rail operators, notably Pullman, embraced tipping primarily, Jayaraman says, because it enabled them to save money by hiring newly freed slaves to work for tips alone. Plenty of Americans frowned upon the practice, and a union-led movement begat bans on tipping in several states. The fervor spread to Europe, too, before fizzling in the United States—by 1926, the state tipping bans had been repealed.

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2016/04/restaurants-t...

Re: Uber Driver Tip-Hustling Schemes

#512

Post by dcosson »

nailer wrote: post #393
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…

As a non American, for jobs where the service makes a significant difference, a service charge or tips seems reasonable. I live in London. I generally pay the service charge. Once out of every hundred times I eat out, I ask them to remove the service charge as I spent ten minutes trying to get someone's attention to order, rather than talk to my dining companions. Service doesn't make a huge different for transport t…

> for jobs where the service makes a significant difference, a service charge or tips seems reasonable.

I'm skeptical of even that. There are lots of jobs with a large range of quality in industries with no tipping, and the market ends up working fine as a way for the best to rise to the top. You wouldn't tip your lawyer or a freelance developer.

Why are some industries different?

Re: Uber Driver Tip-Hustling Schemes

#513

Post by dexterdog »

Why do they even have a rating system if they have a tipping system? Ratings for drivers should be based on how they are tipped compared to the average in the area. Ratings on riders should be based on how well they tip compared to the average in the area.

Re: Uber Driver Tip-Hustling Schemes

#514

Post by lavezzi »

Spooky23 wrote: post #130
lavezzi wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apparently not. We had a driver the other day in Park City, UT who told us that Uber drivers are no longer held to a minimum trip acceptance rate. Whether this is true or not he said Uber lost a lawsuit and could no longer apply the rule. He then proceeded to tell us with great glee that his trick was to go offline in-between trips until the surge price hit at least a 5-6x multiplier. He would then go back online and…

Why would you be upset? It's just a participant in the free market playing the game. After all you just can hang around for a few hours for the surge to end.

My point is that there is no end to the surge because they are all doing it. If the drivers are artificially limiting supply at all times then why wouldn't I be upset that I'm getting ripped off? Not once during my four day stay did I see the surge price go under 2x.

Re: Uber Driver Tip-Hustling Schemes

#515

Post by losteverything »

I guess most of HN never were so broke that they can't put themselves in the place of a worker who can receive a tip.

Tips go directly to a person. Often a low paying or second job. It is about generosity and helping a fellow person. It's not about economic theory or even JUST how they served you.

The tip -$1 or $2 or $5 gets the person a gallon of gas. A meal. A cup of coffee. It helps pay off a bill. It is savings for their childs prom dress. It pays for food.

It allows the tip receiver to be generous themselves (1). To have extra to tip others. (The largest tippers are or were poor) One of lifes most enjoyable things is to be generous.

Tipping shows a lot about the tipper, too.

If Tipping to my fellow HNers is only about placing a value on the service given, then I say you don't know the entire story of working a job where tips make a real difference.

Ask your next uber driver why they are working.

(1) last month I had a fellow give me a $200 tip. The next night a neighbor came over and said her mom just died. She used to live with her and now in a home. Eventually she asked to borrow $20. Well. I don't ever have an extra $20 anymore but I was able to give her $100 because I got the tip.

Re: Uber Driver Tip-Hustling Schemes

#516

Post by phil21 »

eagsalazar2 wrote: post #292
packetized wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're definitely an outlier. In San Francisco, tips are sought more than 10% of my trips.

Sorry but your 10% number is just impossible to believe in San Francisco. I've ridden Uber multiple times weekly for years and managed a couple sales people who also used Uber under our business account (in aggregate several hundred rides) and I've never once heard of such a thing until just now reading this article.

In Chicago it may not quite be 10%, but it's close. Both confirmed by my own experiences and a random office poll. General consensus is "it's getting bad fast".

I've stopped taking Uber for this reason for those "marginal" trips where I might be tempted for the convenience vs. public transit. I see tip begging no different than being asked for change on subway, and if I have to potentially deal with it either way I'll just take the cheaper option.

Re: Uber Driver Tip-Hustling Schemes

#518

Post by babyrainbow »

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.

>No Tipping is one of the main reasons I liked Uber; no cash, no pressure

It is a tragedy of recent generations that people cannot even handle a simple decision of to "tip or not to tip" by themselves without going to some amount of "pressure".

We are indeed, a generation of sheep, who cannot be expected to make a simple decision all by themselves.

Re: Uber Driver Tip-Hustling Schemes

#519

Post by CodeSheikh »

In some countries tipping is perceived very negatively. I have had my tip money almost thrown on my face as the server accused me of taking him as a "beggar". They earn good money and they take pride in their serving jobs. Greedy American institutions have shoved this concept of tipping down the consumer throats. Increase my food prices or driving rates, and I would be happy to pay them than haggle with every other service industry person about shorting them a $1 or $2.

Re: Uber Driver Tip-Hustling Schemes

#520

Post by rhino369 »

grecy wrote: post #352
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 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…

>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.

Yea but customers don't get to decide how much employees are paid.

What would really happen is that people who normally get tips would just lose income. Their pay will probably go up, but not enough to cover it. Waitresses make much more than regular unskilled labors.

Customers lose because we end up paying more, but it's at least going to a real person working for a living.

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