Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Uber rolls out in-app tipping

washingtonpost.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 376 posts

Re: Uber rolls out in-app tipping

#71

Post by djb_hackernews »

bpicolo wrote: post #2

Why not just raise the prices a bit again? Now I'm worried I'll get down-starred for not tipping on Uber, which is just kind of annoying. I feel like not requiring a tip is Uber's biggest differentiator

The way Uber works now is it incentivizes the driver to give you a poor rating if you don't tip. By including the tip functionality in the app, and preventing the driver from seeing the tip before you are rated, it will remove this incentive.

I don't like tipping either but Uber had to do this and I'm confident the data showed it.

Re: Uber rolls out in-app tipping

#72

Post by johnbrodie »

amelius wrote: post #53

In restaurants, when a waiter is tipped, the kitchen gets part of the money. How would that work with Uber? Will programmers receive part of the tip money?

This might be region dependent, but was not true at any restaurant in the US I've worked at. Sometimes, bar staff and busboys were tipped out (at a much lower percent than what the wait staff kept), but I've never seen kitchen employees get tipped out.

Re: Uber rolls out in-app tipping

#73

Post by [deleted] »

licensekey wrote: post #42
opportune wrote: post #7

Now I'm going to start using Lyft again. The tipping model is terrible and given the option I'll always shy away from it. Even though Lyft has the same feature, they pay better, so I don't feel bad for not tipping them. Also having to deal with some of the shadier/creepier drivers expecting tips sounds like something I'd rather not deal with.

why not just ignore the tipping option, you don't have to.

[deleted]

Re: Uber rolls out in-app tipping

#74

Post by pricees »

This new direction is backwards.

Pay the drivers what they are worth. How hard is that? Seriously. How hard is it to just give an honest wage for honest work?

WashPo: "[Uber] recast itself as a company with a conscience and a heart."

Correction: Uber is passing the conscience and heart part onto its users so that it doesn't have to. Now I am going to feeling like jerk when I don't give someone a tip. That was my favorite part about uber. Don't make think about taxes and tip. How silly would it be if Uber was a restaurant? WashPo: "Restaurant shows magninimity by allowing patrons to supplement the low wages of the restaurant with a tip of their own!" Progress.

Re: Uber rolls out in-app tipping

#75

Post by objclxt »

SamLevin88 wrote: post #55
vthallam wrote: post #8

The most important feature I liked in Uber relative to lyft was no tipping. Why not spike the price up a little and compensate them. When they have started, the motto was, "Uber - Your private driver" and it was truly like that until today I tip the driver like every other service you get.

Why are people up in arms over this? Being able to tip on Lyft is one of my favorite parts and from what I've read and understood, it generally favors the drivers. You don't need to tip immediately, a nice little dialog pops up with pre-configured amounts, and you can go above and beyond if you had good service

> Why are people up in arms over this?

Because in the US tipping isn't for good service. You tip 15% for regular, average service. I don't think it's unreasonable for me to pay a flat, quoted rate for getting from A to B.

Re: Uber rolls out in-app tipping

#76

Post by RunawayGalaxy »

chaostheory wrote: post #62
RunawayGalaxy wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You answered your own question. Why raise prices and risk losing customers when they can just use widely accepted social pressure to coerce you into subsidizing their cost of doing business for free?

This is the reason I refused to use Amazon Fresh. I'd rather pay higher subscription prices like with Prime as opposed to tipping every delivery. Even if it's optional, just the existence of the tipping feature adds social pressure.

Last I checked for Amazon Prime Now, drivers are only aware of their tips in aggregate, so leaving $0 is putting pressure on Amazon to pay their drivers more. It's kindof shitty, and I don't use the service often, but if Amazon is going to give me an option on who is going to foot the bill for the driver, I will pass on that every time.

Re: Uber rolls out in-app tipping

#77

Post by SilasX »

RunawayGalaxy wrote: post #61
SilasX wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For the same reason Uber originally went with the tip-free model for their service?

I can only assume that was when they could more easily afford to do so.

Nothing to do with affording, and everything to do with the latent demand from people who don't want to have to think about or handle tipping when getting a ride, which was (at least a big part of) their original appeal.

Re: Uber rolls out in-app tipping

#78

Post by manigandham »

horsecaptin wrote: post #44

Now that we can track driving habits, would it not make sense to put them all on salary and set standards for employment?

After thousands of uber tips, 100% of my drivers have said they enjoy the freedom and ability to work when and where they want without commitment. Employment destroys all of that and would mean many of them would lose this income source.

If people do want to drive full-time, that job already exists. There are numerous places to work as a commercial driver. In fact, Uber Black leverages exactly this and is routinely serviced by companies that employee full-time drivers.

The fact that many drivers don't choose to be full-time professional drivers is far more telling than the tiny but whiny minority that seem to not realize what rideshare driving is.

Re: Uber rolls out in-app tipping

#79

Post by londons_explore »

savanaly wrote: post #36
RunawayGalaxy wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You answered your own question. Why raise prices and risk losing customers when they can just use widely accepted social pressure to coerce you into subsidizing their cost of doing business for free?

It's not like they're fooling anyone though...regular users of uber will know the average outlay from using an uber is $X, whether it's through the fares charged or a lower fare plus expected tip. I would much rather have a higher fare than the stress of figuring out how much to tip. I could just decide on a tip to always give, but what about those times when the service is really shitty? Do I "get back" at them by l…

I'm gonna guess they'll keep the tips secret until many hours after the journey (and when both driver and passenger have left star ratings). They might even aggregate tips for the week/month.

That way, if you leave no tip, it can't come back and bite you.

Re: Uber rolls out in-app tipping

#80

Post by RunawayGalaxy »

dgfgfdagasdfgfa wrote: post #47
RunawayGalaxy wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doesn't matter if it's despised as long as it's accepted. Edit: To be clear, I am speaking from Uber's perspective.

I despise how little drivers are paid. This is also accepted. What's your point?

My point is Uber doesn't care about what you despise so long as it serves their bottom line.
Post reply on HN