Including taxes when calculating the tip seems like a class action lawsuit waiting to happen.
But it's the norm and expectation. Theres a reason why the post tax total is the biggest number on the check. (Other than thats how much you owe)
How Software in Half of NYC Cabs Generates $5.2M a Year in Extra Tips
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Re: How Software in Half of NYC Cabs Generates $5.2M a Year in Extra Tips
#12Is a 20% tip the norm for cabs? I don't live in NY and don't take cabs often, but I would just assume tipping would be similar to eating out in the US (10% for bad service, 15% norm, and 20%+ for good service). Anyone care to weigh in? Also I always heard how "cheap" taking a taxi was in NYC. That's why people did it all the time. But looking at his example fares ($40+), that doesn't seem cheap to me, in fact quite u…
$40+ fares, like in that table, are almost exclusively airport fares. A trip to the airport is usually around $50 in a cab.
If you are taking a cab within Manhattan for example, a very short trip is usually $5-10, and a fair from say, midtown to downtown, is usually $15-20. So yes, much more affordable than a London black cab, and much more similar to a London minicab.
As another sibling stated, 20% is now the norm entirely because the software defaults are 20%, 25%, and 30%. That was way higher than historical, but people are lazy and feel cheap if they click "Other."
Also, in NYC at least, 18-20% is increasingly pretty much the norm for food service. I almost exclusively tip 20%, regardless of the level of service.
Re: How Software in Half of NYC Cabs Generates $5.2M a Year in Extra Tips
#13I usually just manually type "1.00" or "1.50" as tip for a short city fare (under $15), And "5.00" for a long trip (airport). I guess I'm cheap.
I would also be interested in a histogram of raw tip amounts to see if people cluster at 1.00, 1.50, or 2.00 as well. We could even bucket by fair sizes.
It would also be very cool if we had metadata on the credit card, for example, do corporate cards tip a lot better than consumer cards. Presumably company-paid travel leads to better tips.
Re: How Software in Half of NYC Cabs Generates $5.2M a Year in Extra Tips
#14I find tipping culture really confusing. How is it that when your plumber saves the day and gets your leak fixed (saving you expensive flood restoration costs) you pay the price on the invoice, yet for a car ride from A to B it's worth paying 20% to 30% over the invoice price? Compare that to buying a new vehicle where, regardless of how knowledgeable and spectacular the salesperson is, you are considered to be getti…
Specifically with regard to vehicle sales, dealerships absolutely do not pay invoice price. Between dealer cash, customer cash, holdbacks and other financial things, it is all but a made up number.
For anyone interested in this topic, This American Life recently did a great hour long radio show / podcast on how dealerships work:
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/513/1...
"We spend a month at a Jeep dealership on Long Island as they try to make their monthly sales goal: 129 cars. If they make it, they'll get a huge bonus from the manufacturer, possibly as high as $85,000 — enough to put them in the black for the month. If they don't make it, it'll be the second month in a row. So they pull out all the stops."
Re: How Software in Half of NYC Cabs Generates $5.2M a Year in Extra Tips
#15I find tipping culture really confusing. How is it that when your plumber saves the day and gets your leak fixed (saving you expensive flood restoration costs) you pay the price on the invoice, yet for a car ride from A to B it's worth paying 20% to 30% over the invoice price? Compare that to buying a new vehicle where, regardless of how knowledgeable and spectacular the salesperson is, you are considered to be getti…
Link from a while back on the case against tipping: http://www.vox.com/2014/7/17/5888347/one-more-case-against-t...
Re: How Software in Half of NYC Cabs Generates $5.2M a Year in Extra Tips
#16Is a 20% tip the norm for cabs? I don't live in NY and don't take cabs often, but I would just assume tipping would be similar to eating out in the US (10% for bad service, 15% norm, and 20%+ for good service). Anyone care to weigh in? Also I always heard how "cheap" taking a taxi was in NYC. That's why people did it all the time. But looking at his example fares ($40+), that doesn't seem cheap to me, in fact quite u…
> I would just assume tipping would be similar to eating out in the US (10% for bad service, 15% norm, and 20%+ for good service)
It's actually 15% for bad service and 20% for normal. Kinda strange that tipping has been inflated from the standard 10-15% the past decade or so.
Re: How Software in Half of NYC Cabs Generates $5.2M a Year in Extra Tips
#17I find tipping culture really confusing. How is it that when your plumber saves the day and gets your leak fixed (saving you expensive flood restoration costs) you pay the price on the invoice, yet for a car ride from A to B it's worth paying 20% to 30% over the invoice price? Compare that to buying a new vehicle where, regardless of how knowledgeable and spectacular the salesperson is, you are considered to be getti…
In the US particularly, tipping is basically just making up for the fact that the person is underpaid. Plumbers are typically very well rewarded for the work they do - restaurant waiters, less so.
I agree.
And it's this tacit admission that those workers are underpaid that makes this particularly embarrassing. We can generally agree these people are underpaid (we all generally tip and agree on the reasoning behind it) yet we can't agree to raise the minimum wage to get them a livable income.
Re: How Software in Half of NYC Cabs Generates $5.2M a Year in Extra Tips
#18Is a 20% tip the norm for cabs? I don't live in NY and don't take cabs often, but I would just assume tipping would be similar to eating out in the US (10% for bad service, 15% norm, and 20%+ for good service). Anyone care to weigh in? Also I always heard how "cheap" taking a taxi was in NYC. That's why people did it all the time. But looking at his example fares ($40+), that doesn't seem cheap to me, in fact quite u…
Its just that it's the lowest automatic option. If the choices were 10, 20, and 30 10 would probably be the most selected option.
In fact, ~10% seems to be the most punched in option.
Re: How Software in Half of NYC Cabs Generates $5.2M a Year in Extra Tips
#19Including taxes when calculating the tip seems like a class action lawsuit waiting to happen.
But it's the norm and expectation. Theres a reason why the post tax total is the biggest number on the check. (Other than thats how much you owe)
Agree. It is the norm. All restaurants, the most common places to tip, do this too. If they calculate/print suggested tip amounts they use post tax and also if you trigger a gratuity included they use post tax.
To be far, I think most people use post tax when calculating tip in their head too.
Re: How Software in Half of NYC Cabs Generates $5.2M a Year in Extra Tips
#20I find tipping culture really confusing. How is it that when your plumber saves the day and gets your leak fixed (saving you expensive flood restoration costs) you pay the price on the invoice, yet for a car ride from A to B it's worth paying 20% to 30% over the invoice price? Compare that to buying a new vehicle where, regardless of how knowledgeable and spectacular the salesperson is, you are considered to be getti…
I think that the standard rationalization is that waiters and taxi drivers provide a subjective service. A good waiter will refill your drinks often, make sure you have everything you need, etc. A good taxi drive will get you someplace faster than a bad one, will know shortcuts and longcuts, and understands patterns of traffic to avoid them. A plumber, on the other hand, typically performs a pretty objective job, short of outright incompetence.
But yes, it's confusing, and it's probably a pretty bad deal for everyone involved.