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Uber rolls out in-app tipping

washingtonpost.com

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Re: Uber rolls out in-app tipping

#231

Post by homulilly »

pfarnsworth wrote: post #149
justboxing wrote: post #143

I don't use Uber or Lyft, but if I was, this would drive me away from Uber. From what I hear from my friends who use Uber, 1 reason they love it is because all the charges are through the app and there is no "obligation" to tip, so it's 1 less decision them have to make, i.e. calculate how much to tip, keep wondering if you tipped the driver too much, or too little, what's a "fair" tip for the ride etc etc.

There's still no obligation to tip whatsoever. After your ride, when you next open the app (which could be days later) you are presented with a screen asking you to rate your driver (this already occurs). I think if you give a 5 star, then the option to give a "compliment" is given, which is similar to a badge or a Facebook like. As well, now, a tip button is also presented. You don't have to click on it if you don't…

Potentially still an issue if drivers can see if you tip or not (with some services, such as Postmates, Amazon Prime Now, they can) and give riders who don't tip 1 star or something.

Re: Uber rolls out in-app tipping

#232

Post by samstave »

whiddershins wrote: post #184

I am so unhappy about this change. I tip well everywhere it is expected, restaurants, bars, cabs etc. I hate the system but it is factored in to the price and there's nothing I can do about it. What I loved about Uber when it started was there was no ambiguity. Prices were predictable, as were wait times. Zero cognitive overhead. No guilt or internal debate. Over time every little thing I loved about Uber was taken a…

I'm so surprised that so many people don't know that when Uber was first created, you had a tip selector in your profile that you could add a tip automatically to each ride.

Re: Uber rolls out in-app tipping

#233

Post by homulilly »

m00x wrote: post #225
cooper12 wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The difference is, when those cuts happen, they'll just focus their blame and discontent on "those cheapos" who aren't tipping instead of Uber itself. The service industry has already perfected this tactic.

This seems a bit of a stretch. Plenty of industries have tipping, but I haven't heard of a company leader blaming low pay to lack of tips. Do you have any sources to back this statement?

You see this sentiment ALL the time in food services. Wait staff or pizza delivery guys always bitch about "cheap" customers instead of the reality that their boss lies about prices and then skims it out of their paychecks when people don't pay the "real price" of the food.

Re: Uber rolls out in-app tipping

#234

Post by Kluny »

djyaz1200 wrote: post #153

Tipping sucks because then the driver wants to build a relationship with me instead of letting me just zone out or check email or something. I don't want to have a single serving friend every time I need to go somewhere.

Don't you just sit in the back if you want to zone out and sit in the front if you want to talk?

Re: Uber rolls out in-app tipping

#235

Post by kalleboo »

homulilly wrote: post #231
pfarnsworth wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's still no obligation to tip whatsoever. After your ride, when you next open the app (which could be days later) you are presented with a screen asking you to rate your driver (this already occurs). I think if you give a 5 star, then the option to give a "compliment" is given, which is similar to a badge or a Facebook like. As well, now, a tip button is also presented. You don't have to click on it if you don't…

Potentially still an issue if drivers can see if you tip or not (with some services, such as Postmates, Amazon Prime Now, they can) and give riders who don't tip 1 star or something.

Or even if it happens after rating, they might stereotype certain parts of town due to how people there tip on average and then underserve those places. The great thing when I first used Uber was how in some parts of town it was impossible to get a taxi but a Uber would always come.

Re: Uber rolls out in-app tipping

#236

Post by adjkant »

thanksgiving wrote: post #227
adjkant wrote: post #224

I find it quite ironic that the majority of comments here seem to be against this addition and switching more people to Lyft who haven't already switched for moral reasons. By trying to become a better company and treat drivers better, they scared off the customers who didn't care about that. I'm sure this will get downvoted because I'm implying that people already should have switched for moral reasons, and a lot of…

Sorry but I find Lyft irrelevant because the writing is on the wall. They will not exist as an independent company in the next decade. Any culture that get may have will die if GM gets control of the company.

1. It doesn't look like Uber will at this point either. Lyft is partnered with Waymo already - seems like pre-acquisition to me.

2. You cite zero evidence. Your speculation isn't very convincing from what I have seen anecdotally, which it seems like is all you're going off of. To me, Lyft is surging in popularity in the US and is on the upward trend as everyone jumps ship from Uber, drivers and riders alike.

Re: Uber rolls out in-app tipping

#237

Post by nailer »

homulilly wrote: post #229
whiddershins wrote: post #184

I am so unhappy about this change. I tip well everywhere it is expected, restaurants, bars, cabs etc. I hate the system but it is factored in to the price and there's nothing I can do about it. What I loved about Uber when it started was there was no ambiguity. Prices were predictable, as were wait times. Zero cognitive overhead. No guilt or internal debate. Over time every little thing I loved about Uber was taken a…

This was basically the only reason I ever used Uber instead of Lyft. Now I'll just use Lyft 100% of the time since drivers seem to like them better anyway.

Does Lyft have tipping? It doesn't operate where I am.

Re: Uber rolls out in-app tipping

#238

Post by kelnos »

zamalek wrote: post #207
whiddershins wrote: post #184

I am so unhappy about this change. I tip well everywhere it is expected, restaurants, bars, cabs etc. I hate the system but it is factored in to the price and there's nothing I can do about it. What I loved about Uber when it started was there was no ambiguity. Prices were predictable, as were wait times. Zero cognitive overhead. No guilt or internal debate. Over time every little thing I loved about Uber was taken a…

I'm not sure how to feel about it too. While I will be tipping (when actually using Uber), after I initially wondered why Uber didn't allow tips I concluded that the drivers could become unfriendly about it. They are not yet aggressive about ratings here (South Africa), but I've heard horror stories from the US. I agree completely. Not only woulld this all go away if they are paid better, but they would likely be mor…

My rule of thumb with Lyft is that if the driver mentions giving them a good rating or tip, they get no tip. Directly asking for a tip (and thereby creating a guilt-ridden obligation) violates the implied social contract around tipping. (Think about other services where a tip is expected: it is rare for anyone to verbally mention a tip.)

When I used to use Uber, my policy was that if a driver asked for a tip, I would drop their rating by 1 or 2 stars, depending on how aggressive they were. This has only happened once. (A handful of other drivers had a tasteful tip jar; I found it annoying but chose not to penalize.)

Re: Uber rolls out in-app tipping

#239

Post by avdempsey »

I'll break-down tipping for the neophytes.

Yes, by George Orwell's account, tipping was considered repugnant by no less than the anarchist defenders of Catalonia in the Spanish Civil War. But you feel bad not tipping when expected and you want to know what to do.

1. Tip your bartender at least $1/drink. Maybe tip $3 if you got two drinks. Maybe $2 for one of it's something fancy. 2. In SF, tip your waiter 20% for good service, 15% for adequate service. 3. Tip at least $5 for delivery. If a bartender gets $1 for handing you a beer, the delivery person deserves $5 for driving to your home and bailing you out of cooking. 4. Tip $2 for an adequate Lyft/Uber. $1 if you feel pinched.

When to tip more? Like being in love, you'll just know.

Re: Uber rolls out in-app tipping

#240

Post by sambe »

This seems like a complete inversion of the service incentives. The initial reason to use Uber was huge convenience and service quality. Uber Lux/Exec (or whatever they call it now) offered a vastly superior service to taxis for a ~20% price increase. Service is kept honest via ratings, prices are acceptable for that quality increase. Drivers were polite and looked after you (no music, water etc.). Uber X then comes in to compete with mainstream taxis (fair enough) but overall quality drops across the entire service.

Now you get rated (for sitting?) and must compete with other passengers on tipping, whilst service quality continues to drop. Not tipping for bad service lowers your rating dramatically, so you have to tip for mediocre/bad service and sneak in a bad rating, which increasingly has little effect. It used to be that I could not find an Uber with less than 4.8, because you couldn't last like that as a driver. I now regularly getting mediocre service from ~4.5.

My immediate feeling is that I should stop using Uber almost completely, risk normal taxis ripping me off occasionally (knowing your city helps) and only use Uber when really needed (no taxis around, urgent etc), tipping then.

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