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Uber Finally Adds a Tipping Option To Its App (gizmodo.com)
After years of complaints, Uber is rolling out a tipping option for drivers. "Tipping is available in Seattle, Minneapolis and Houston as of today. We're starting with only 3 cities so we can create the best tipping experience for you and your riders. We'll be adding more cities over the next few weeks, and will make tips available to all U.S. drivers, by the end of July 2017," Uber said in an email to drivers. Gizmodo reports: Uber will also roll out a full set of driver-friendly features. The cancellation window will narrow to two minutes (it was previously five) and drivers will get a per-minute fee if a rider makes them wait beyond two minutes. Drivers will also get a cut of Uber's "teen fare" which had previously gone exclusively to Uber. Now, drivers will get $2 of the fee. Uber will also offer drivers the option to enroll in injury-protection insurance. Uber has always argued that it offers a seamless experience and that adding a tip feature into its app would interfere with that. The company promises an up-front fare to the rider, with no fumbling around for cash or evaluation of a driver's performance beyond assigning a rating.
I know, I know, reading the article is hard- “Tipping is not included, nor is it expected or required,” the team added. “And that’s how we intend to keep it.”
Everyone hates tipping because in North American culture, we're at the point where it's considered obligatory not optional. One of the nice things about travelling to Japan or Australia is that no one expects to be tipped.
Allowing for tipping might get more drivers out on the road, but it will make for a substantially less satisfactory customer experience.
You forgot the other part. Since drivers will now be tipped, the compensation from Uber to the driver will be dropping very soon now.
Oh, and Uber deserves a cut of that tip, right?
I'm fine with a tipping option. I'll never tip an Uber.
It says a tipping option will be added to the ap, not that tips will be automatically added to each fare. As someone who never carries cash, I appreciate the option to reward good service with my credit card. Also in my area at least, Uber is considerably cheaper than calling a cab. Last time I called a cab it was $38 dollars to take me home, due to my area using zones instead of mileage. An Uber from the same approximate area ran me $16. I know rates very from place to place and depending on demand, but they aren't always overly inflated dares.
I can understand why many people will want to tip. But I thought the whole point was to use RATINGS to reward or hurt the drivers, not money. Riders would know what the exact amounts are in advance and yet still have the power to adjust the drivers future success through feedback in the app. Higher rated drivers will be more sought-out, have more success, and ultimately make more money.
Now tipping will become EXPECTED, like it is in all other industries where tipping exists. Yeah, Uber says:
âoeTipping is not included, nor is it expected or required,â the team added. âoeAnd thatâ(TM)s how we intend to keep it.â
But I am telling you, there will be an expectation of tipping for good service and leaving no tip will imply bad service. And no tip might lead the Driver to downrate a Rider.
Holy shit, Uber is cheaper than a taxi? Thanks for posting that, AC. I had no idea.
I honestly think fares are a little *low*. I take a taxi between my semi-rural home and the nearest airport, a total of 16.2 miles, and it's about $50-$54 one way. I take an Uber or Lyft that same trip, and it's actually $28-$32. I know it's weird, but the taxi seems a little high, but the Uber/Lyft seems a little low. I mostly stick with taxis because they're union operated, and I'm a union guy for the most part. But occasionally I get a friend who's an Uber driver to take me when our schedules connect.
I thought being able to rape passengers was enough incentive.
Uber fares are "overly inflated"? Everywhere I've been in the US, Uber costs about half as much as a taxi.
I don't respond to AC's.
Well, so far, Uber has been fighting with municipalities over whether this is a taxi service. If they take a cut of tips, they will have the feds looking at them.
Oh good; just when I have a 5.0 rating, the Uber star rating system becomes pay-to-win.
The so called "tipping culture" is one of the (many) reasons I did not return to the US after leaving in my 20's. It exemplifies the hypocrisy of American self view, where most Americans pride themselves on being honorably anti-corrupt while essentially bribing people in service industries for better service or benefits (e.g. more meat in a sandwich or "free" drinks at a night club) with the reward being tips. The idea is similar to success-based fee structures in the legal profession (prevalent in the US), which happens to be strictly illegal in most English common law jurisdictions for precisely the same moral reason against tipping.
Sometimes agreeing to demands from employees or contractors is wrong, and it should be in Uber's interest to avoid conceding on this. A better and morally sound alternative would be to offer incentive based revenue sharing adjustments on a driver-by-driver basis based on feedback ratings from riders. For example, the top 25% rated drivers with average billable miles driven per day could earn an increase of 15-25% on passenger revenue, while the bottom 25% would lose a comparable amount of their revenue share. This kind of solution provides an entrepreneurial incentive to perform better, which is precisely in line with the concept Uber (and other ride sharing services) was built on.
If you give money to a sleazy company then don't be surprised when they are sleazy. We've learned how terrible they are and yet people keep giving them money. If you use Uber then you deserve all the sleaze you get from them.
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
We've reached the tipping point.
Have gnu, will travel.
I've called an Uber and not been proud of it because I know the driver is being abused. I switched to Lift because they let me tip and found the last Lift I called I didn't have the option (no idea why).
Tipping gives me a chance to put my money where my left wing mouth is when I'm stuck patronizing evil businesses because almost every business bigger than a dog groomer is evil in some very obvious way. It's not much, but I never said I was much of a man. I'm humble enough I can't do very much more than vote in every election and maybe kick the guy that gets me to work when my car's in the shop an extra $10 bucks.
Now, I'll still vote for a world where tipping is redundant. But we'd need a proper safety net, medicare for all and a country where you aren't risking your life by going a few weeks without employment.
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You're not new. You have no excuses. Around here, we don't tolerate article readers.
On a more serious note, Uber is never, ever, gonna service my area of the globe. Nope. I'm in the continental US, even. They're never gonna come give me a ride. It's too bad, too... I'd call 'em up in the middle of a blizzard and make 'em drive me "around the block." (That's a couple hours, easy.) In my defense, I'd tip well.
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
You do realize you wouldn't be getting the president of Uber to drive you, right? That you'd be getting some poor driver just struggling to get by? Making him drive through a blizzard and risking his life, for your LOLs.
What an awesome person you are.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Although this is great news as a lot more people will start tipping Uber drivers, I always tipped in cash before and will continue to do so.
I prefer tipping everyone in cash if possible, because it's a small way of fighting back against over-taxation. It gives the receiver the option of declaring that income or not, which makes me happy to think about - and as a bonus it gives them something to enjoy right then, they can get a drink or whatever on me.
Don't be stingy when tipping, consider how little the money you are parting with may mean to you, compared to how much it will mean to them even a few extra dollars can mean a lot (I say that as someone who worked for tips when I was younger)...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Holy shit, Uber is subsidizing fares to undercut taxis? Thanks for posting that, AC. I had no idea.
"Drivers will also get a cut of Uber's "teen fare" which had previously gone exclusively to Uber. "
Wait, what? Uber has been charging a special higher fare for teens... but the driver was (up until now) getting the same amount????
How does that make any sense? If there's a surcharge because teens are in some way harder to deal with-- what, do they damage the cars, or what?-- the driver is the one dealing with it-- the driver should get the surcharge and Uber get zero part of it.
Not much info about the teen surcharge, but here are a few comments. The drivers seem annoyed:
https://motherboard.vice.com/e...
https://www.reddit.com/r/uberd...
https://uberpeople.net/threads...
http://www.geoffreylandis.com
"Uber will also offer drivers the option to enroll in injury-protection insurance. " Do passengers know what kind of coverage they have before getting in an Uber service vehicle? Seems kind of important to know . Hey u got insurance any proof? Would want this before a tip option.
He wants to know about your tips.
Like someone else said, drivers will consider it good, but customers will not so they will stop using Uber now over other services. The ease of not worrying about how much to tip and quickly exiting a ride was great. Plus, you could always hand them cash already. Mark my words this is very, very, very bad for Uber and expect even bigger losses for them as a company in the following quarter. I'd like to think the purpose was to attract more drivers to the service, but I've never had a problem getting a ride, and if you lose customers you lose drivers that way too.
So the last time you hired someone to fix your house, did you also tip them 20%? A little $4000 on top of the $20,000 repair job? Or did you become a cheapskate and justify it to yourself with "this is the price we agreed on"?
The one reason I don't use Lyft is they ask for a tip on top of the fare. I hate tipping when the base product us already too expensive. I don't tip at all outside of restaurants and there only if I sat down and was waited on. 15%, no more.
Just don't let drivers know which passenger is who, and set my tip to default 0 dollars.
So first you invent your own little fantasy, then you criticize Uber for it?
And when you hired a senator or congressman to pass some laws for you, do you go for the original agreed "campaign contributions" or do you tip extra if they pass your amendments verbatim?
It's your money shareholders
How long can these tips be and will there be feedback?
only now its taxable when done through the app.
It may be cynical but this seems like a concession to the government to avoid too much scrutiny.
Was in Houston for a few days in February and all of the Uber drivers that my wife should have given us a tip (a.k.a. refund). Among other things, we had to go a less direct route and wait for a driver to put fuel in his car because he didn't have enough for the trip, waited 30 minutes for a car to arrive while the app showed it circling the block (cancelling and rebooking just assigned the same one to us!), and worst of all, for a trip from a downtown hotel to the airport the trunk was full of the drivers laundry which meant that our luggage had to go in the back with us. Not a single half-decent experience, so not sure how much they are going to make from tips.
Hopefully they didn't add the proper validations and submission accepts negative input values.
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