How Software in Half of NYC Cabs Generates $5.2M a Year in Extra Tips

Post by darkarmani » Tue, Jan 06, 2015, 2:58 AM UTC

pavel_lishin wrote: post #20

biot wrote: post #2

I 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, sho…

Post by waterlesscloud » Tue, Jan 06, 2015, 3:03 AM UTC

madeofpalk wrote: post #78

[deleted] wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[deleted]

I prefer to leave managing, controling and rewarding employees up to the employer, and I'll take care of paying the price I see on the menu and making the decision on whether to come back or not.

Post by SeanOC » Tue, Jan 06, 2015, 3:09 AM UTC

nickstefan12 wrote: post #86

I just ran into this last night: I took a cab home from the airport. One: he had no gps and took a wrong freeway change getting home. Two he barely spoke English. Three I basically had to navigate him back on track and painfully turn by turn. End of the trip I go pay, and he's sad that I want to pay with a credit card. Then the tip meter only has 20% or other. I hit other with a much lower tip. He cancels the transac…

Post by acjohnson55 » Tue, Jan 06, 2015, 3:12 AM UTC

mod wrote: post #70

meowface wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Waiters in the US make an average of $4.63 and median of $4.00 per hour [1] from their employer in wages. They make the rest of their income in tips. If you don't tip, you're potentially taking a not insignificant chunk out of their pay for the day. In the US, it takes fairly extreme circumstances to not tip (by most people's standards at least; some people just never tip, but they're a tiny group), like if the servi…

>> some people just never tip, but they're a tiny group In my experience, they're not tiny. I'm a young male who owned and worked in my own bar in a poor area of the bible belt, so there's those caveats--but I averaged about 8% in tips over 2.5 years. My niece, on the other hand, averages over 20%. My service was in all likelihood better than hers--at the time, we had fewer customers and therefore I was literally abl…

Post by rahimnathwani » Tue, Jan 06, 2015, 3:16 AM UTC

maxerickson wrote: post #72

rahimnathwani wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's not complicated It _is_ complicated. It's so complicated that (i) there are discussions on the internet about whether 15% or 20% or 25% is fair, and (ii) there are many specialised 'tip calculator' apps. When I walk into a restaurant, how much should I be expecting to pay for 'meets expectation' service? Is this a % of the bill, or a $ amount related to the amount of time I'm being served (a proxy for the amou…

I didn't say tipping was a great system, I said that you shouldn't eat at sit down restaurants in the US if you have a problem with it. I guess if you want external validation of what is fair you can make it complicated, but I was trying to focus on tips not being extra compensation in that specific situation.