The only acceptable rating to leave an Uber driver is 5 stars • Hacker News Board

Re: The only acceptable rating to leave an Uber driver is 5 stars

#51

Post by Finnucane » Tue, Jun 27, 2023, 2:36 PM UTC

JustBreath wrote: post #31

mydriasis wrote: post #11

Reading the article, I'm recalling the "Social Credit" episode of Black Mirror. My my, it seems to be coming true -- > Five stars is good. Everything else is bad. For riders, a couple bad ratings don’t mean that much, but for drivers they could be the difference between maintaining access to the app and being deactivated—gig-speak for being suspended or fired. I'm only being a _little_ dramatic. I swear.

The parallels are eerie. > Sometimes, she gets worried about picking up passengers rated less than 4.8. Like a 4.79 is really low. I wonder, ‘Do I have to fear for my life with this person?’

I used to buy vintage cameras on ebay (not so much lately--no more room) and one of the things you quickly realize is that a 'seller rating' of less than say 95% means 'avoid'. The way the ratings are calculated mean that if they're getting enough dings to bring the score down even a few points, they're doing something wrong.

Re: The only acceptable rating to leave an Uber driver is 5 stars

#52

Post by AnotherGoodName » Tue, Jun 27, 2023, 2:36 PM UTC

Jamie9912 wrote: post #39

I just checked my rating and i'm a 4.62. I have never had a problematic ride, i'm always waiting exactly where I summon the Uber to. Not once have I made an Uber wait for me. I sit in the back and don't say a word unless spoken to.. is that what i'm doing wrong?

Have you always lived in the USA?

My country rates differently and I've heard stories from my countrymen of difficulty getting an Uber when visiting the USA since not everyone in Australia gives 5 stars.

Re: The only acceptable rating to leave an Uber driver is 5 stars

#53

Post by mg » Tue, Jun 27, 2023, 2:36 PM UTC

rjmunro wrote: post #15

mg wrote: post #8

I often think that marketplace rating should work like this: Every 3 rides, you get asked "Which one of the last 3 rides did you like the best?". Then the driver you select gets 1 star. So an average driver would get 0.3 stars per ride. For display purposes, this can be normalized to whatever scale is most comfortable for users. This should completely get rid of the problems with the popular "rate every seller right…

Or just "was this ride experience better or worse than your previous ride" for every ride apart from the first one you ever take. You could then use the Elo rating system to track driver scores.

When every transaction is rated, the buyer will still get nagged by the seller to give them the star.

My thought behind giving one star to one of the last 3 rides is that the seller does not know when the buyer will give out that star. It might be 3 months in the future. So it seems futile to nag the buyer about what they will do then.

Calculating an ELO value should also be possible for more than two players.

Re: The only acceptable rating to leave an Uber driver is 5 stars

#54

Post by disruptiveink » Tue, Jun 27, 2023, 2:36 PM UTC

I favour taxis over Ubers these days because of the stupid "rider rating" system. There should be no "rider rating" system. Either I should be banned from the platform or not.

I'm at the pickup location when the driver gets there. I don't ask for detours. I should have a perfect 5, yet I don't, why? Did I ask for routes that the drivers disliked? Did I not make conversation? Something else? Is it because in the US, everything is 5* but I took too many rides in Europe, where maybe people don't 5* by default?

Between the possibility of paying for a service and not being able to relax with the "fear" of getting my rating lowered and then getting worse service in the future vs just getting into a cab, guess which one is easier and more relaxing for me?

Re: The only acceptable rating to leave an Uber driver is 5 stars

#55

Post by wimagguc » Tue, Jun 27, 2023, 2:37 PM UTC

Freakonomics has a great episode on Uber and their dataset: https://freakonomics.com/podcast/why-uber-is-an-economists-d...

...which makes me think that Uber ratings may have less to do with the driver and more to do with the person giving the rating. I, for one, struggle giving people a bad review knowing that their livelihood depends on it — it's either 5 stars or crickets.

Re: The only acceptable rating to leave an Uber driver is 5 stars

#56

Post by jghn » Tue, Jun 27, 2023, 2:37 PM UTC

Jamie9912 wrote: post #39

I just checked my rating and i'm a 4.62. I have never had a problematic ride, i'm always waiting exactly where I summon the Uber to. Not once have I made an Uber wait for me. I sit in the back and don't say a word unless spoken to.. is that what i'm doing wrong?

If you don't have many rides a single 1 star review can knock you down a lot.

Also, I lurk in r/uberdrivers and one thing I've found is that a) some drivers are just jerks and 1 star at the drop of a hat, and b) some of it seems regional as well in that some countries/areas are more likely to use the 2-4 star options for minor things.

IIRC Lyft only looks back over the last 100 rides, which allows old ratings to cycle out. I know I've only been dinged once on Uber in the last several years but the rating is still held down by some old dings in the early teens.

Re: The only acceptable rating to leave an Uber driver is 5 stars

#57

Post by vxNsr » Tue, Jun 27, 2023, 2:37 PM UTC

Jamie9912 wrote: post #39

I just checked my rating and i'm a 4.62. I have never had a problematic ride, i'm always waiting exactly where I summon the Uber to. Not once have I made an Uber wait for me. I sit in the back and don't say a word unless spoken to.. is that what i'm doing wrong?

You don’t tip. I have a similar rating for the same reason. Tipping is obnoxious, especially when it’s asked for at the start of the transaction.

Re: The only acceptable rating to leave an Uber driver is 5 stars

#58

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Jun 27, 2023, 2:37 PM UTC

tiahura wrote: post #20

jmclnx wrote: post #14

I have to disagree with this. In most cases I will say it is true. But as people here should know, people have had issues with Uber Drivers and I am sure there are scales of acceptable behavior. Not being a woman, I can see were some divers could somewhat hit (even unconsciously) upon some women. In many cases it is not be worthy of reporting, but I believe when that happens I would say a less than 5 should be select…

Flirting is normal and healthy. If you've been convinced otherwise, you've been misled.

[deleted]

Re: The only acceptable rating to leave an Uber driver is 5 stars

#59

Post by brk » Tue, Jun 27, 2023, 2:37 PM UTC

For any rating system, I tend to reserve the top-tier ranking for something that exceeds normal or reasonable expectations. So the average Uber trip gets 4 stars when I rate it. 4 means it met my expectations, nothing went wrong, but also nothing was beyond expectations.

5 stars is basically perfection, and it is silly to expect perfection as the standard experience.

It is also difficult to roll up the entire trip experience to a single rating. A seamless trip in a car that should have been vacuumed, and the driver is wearing enough cologne for an entire basketball team, is not a 5 star experience. But it's also not the end of the world. It's about what I expect from a gig worker. 4 stars. Would ride again.

Re: The only acceptable rating to leave an Uber driver is 5 stars

#60

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Jun 27, 2023, 2:38 PM UTC

tiahura wrote: post #20

jmclnx wrote: post #14

I have to disagree with this. In most cases I will say it is true. But as people here should know, people have had issues with Uber Drivers and I am sure there are scales of acceptable behavior. Not being a woman, I can see were some divers could somewhat hit (even unconsciously) upon some women. In many cases it is not be worthy of reporting, but I believe when that happens I would say a less than 5 should be select…

Flirting is normal and healthy. If you've been convinced otherwise, you've been misled.

[deleted]