4 ms·

Tipping is an awful and awkward practice that shouldn't ever be encouraged. I found I was way happier about paying for any kind of service in parts of the world

Tipping is an awful and awkward practice that shouldn't ever be encouraged. I found I was way happier about paying for any kind of service in parts of the world where tipping isn't expected or even frowned on. Pay your employees properly. If you are self employed, roll gratuity into the fee for your service. This is taking one of the best things about Uber and Uber-like services away. Ignoring the surge pricing BS, I don't have to keep an eye on the meter, I don't have to argue with the driver about the fare, I don't have to worry about the tip, I don't need cash on hand, etc.

GreaterFool 10y ago
I agree. Tipping is a terrible practice. Also, Uber drivers receive ratings. I can already see that drivers asking for tips would probably get lower ratings. That's not going to end well.
- ghaff 10y ago
  I don't see tipping as universally a terrible practice. Sure, if a driver goes above and beyond in some way, I'll put in a bit extra. But as a routine? It's not hard for me to see this developing into conversations along the following: "Um, tips aren't included you know." "I don't have any change." "Here let me make you some." "I really don't." 'Tips are really expected." "Fine, here's $2." "That all?" "Yes" You: Rate 2 out of 5.
- tomschlick 10y ago
  Even worse. Drivers rate passengers. If you don't tip well they could rate you lower which would discourage other drivers from accepting your ride request.
- jfarmer 10y ago
  Riders receive ratings, too.
  - GreaterFool 10y ago
    Then it's all out war in the making. Suppose one takes a ride and the driver strikes a conversation about tips and how they're essential and so on. And the passenger doesn't tip. Then the passenger can assume the driver will give him low rating. So in return the passenger will give the driver really low rating.
unsignedint 10y ago
This sounds like defeating the whole reason for Uber for many people. I find service like Uber more appealing for no frustrations dealing with cash payment, and also because of general hostility in taxi industry about dealing with credit card payment. (Latter one, you can pay your taxi fare using credit cards, but they are often "discouraged" and some driver even shows clear frustration. Apparently this comes from the fact they don't get paid for it until the following month for any credit card transactions, according to one of the drivers I've talked.)
- Fundlab 10y ago
  Previously drivers were not permitted to accept tips and this was mandatory. I dont know if the new tipping arrangement is going to be foisted on the passenger if not I think it is only fair for drivers to be able accept a tip from anyone who generously feels the need to do so
  - vertex-four 10y ago
    The issue is that tipping culture in the US means that if tipping is accepted, the vast majority of customers will see it as necessary, leading drivers to see it as a usual part of the transaction, leading to customers who don't want to tip being seen as in the wrong. It would probably work better in nearly every other country. On the other hand, putting on my "caring about people" hat, if Uber can't/won't pay a living wage for a day's worth of work, and keeps cutting its prices which have a direct impact on people's income, bring on the tipping.
    - meddlepal 10y ago
      I wonder how this will affect rider scores if you don't tip.
    - cb18 10y ago
      if Uber can't/won't pay a living wage for a day's worth of work, and keeps cutting its prices which have a direct impact on people's income, bring on the tipping. So you can cover the cost of their employees while they intentionally run at negative margins, attempting to eliminate competition so they can later charge you monopolistic pricing?
jasode 10y ago
>Tipping is an awful and awkward practice that shouldn't ever be encouraged. It seems like there's an easy free-market solution to this. Since Uber was on the losing side of eliminating tips from a policy standpoint, just let customers en masse accomplish the same goal: Simply add another field to the screen explicitly showing if the driver expects tips or not. Some example screenshots from Uber showing a driver profile to modify: http://therivardreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/uber_screenshot.jpg http://therivardreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/uber_s... http://cdn.moneycrashers.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/uber-screenshot.png http://cdn.moneycrashers.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/uber... * Add a column stating "Tips: Yes/No" * Add a filter option of "Tips=No" for customers to eliminate drivers who want gratuity * Rank/bias the list of available drivers such that "Tips=No" are shown first This concept would be similar to filtering ebay sellers that offer free shipping (aka built into the final selling price) or expect extra shipping charges. Another point of seller differentiation is allowing "returns/refunds" or "all sales final." Instead of ebay dictating a rigid policy, the ebay bidders can use filters to avoid sellers with undesirable attributes. The Uber drivers would learn very quickly whether "expecting tips" is a smart business strategy to maximize income. For curiosity's sake, I went to Lyft to see their policy on tipping: https://help.lyft.com/hc/en-us/articles/213583978-How-to-Tip-Your-Driver https://help.lyft.com/hc/en-us/articles/213583978-How-to-Tip... Since Lyft seems to encourage tipping, I'm guessing this is one of the reasons why many consider their platform more "driver friendly." It would be interesting to see what % of passengers tip Lyft drivers. That might be predictive of how Uber passengers would choose the "tipping=No" drivers.
- simonswords82 10y ago
  This approach encourages tipping which is exactly what the OP isn't in favour of. IMO all jobs, cab driving included, should be paid well enough that tipping simply isn't necessary. Companies shouldn't encourage tipping (which is often also tax dodging) just because they don't want to pay their employees enough that tipping isn't required to sustain them. Having said that, while tipping shouldn't be encouraged if somebody does go above and beyond the call of duty for me I'm going to find a way to reward them. That might be a simple "Thank you so much, that was really nice of you" up to and including paying extra if I can afford to do so and feel it's warranted.
denzil_correa 10y ago
> Tipping is an awful and awkward practice that shouldn't ever be encouraged. There's an interesting Freakonomics Episode titled “The No-Tipping Point.” which talks about the same. http://freakonomics.com/podcast/danny-meyer/ http://freakonomics.com/podcast/danny-meyer/

GreaterFool 10y ago

I agree. Tipping is a terrible practice. Also, Uber drivers receive ratings. I can already see that drivers asking for tips would probably get lower ratings. That's not going to end well.

ghaff 10y ago
I don't see tipping as universally a terrible practice. Sure, if a driver goes above and beyond in some way, I'll put in a bit extra. But as a routine? It's not hard for me to see this developing into conversations along the following: "Um, tips aren't included you know." "I don't have any change." "Here let me make you some." "I really don't." 'Tips are really expected." "Fine, here's $2." "That all?" "Yes" You: Rate 2 out of 5.
tomschlick 10y ago
Even worse. Drivers rate passengers. If you don't tip well they could rate you lower which would discourage other drivers from accepting your ride request.
jfarmer 10y ago
Riders receive ratings, too.
- GreaterFool 10y ago
  Then it's all out war in the making. Suppose one takes a ride and the driver strikes a conversation about tips and how they're essential and so on. And the passenger doesn't tip. Then the passenger can assume the driver will give him low rating. So in return the passenger will give the driver really low rating.

unsignedint 10y ago

This sounds like defeating the whole reason for Uber for many people. I find service like Uber more appealing for no frustrations dealing with cash payment, and also because of general hostility in taxi industry about dealing with credit card payment. (Latter one, you can pay your taxi fare using credit cards, but they are often "discouraged" and some driver even shows clear frustration. Apparently this comes from the fact they don't get paid for it until the following month for any credit card transactions, according to one of the drivers I've talked.)

Fundlab 10y ago
Previously drivers were not permitted to accept tips and this was mandatory. I dont know if the new tipping arrangement is going to be foisted on the passenger if not I think it is only fair for drivers to be able accept a tip from anyone who generously feels the need to do so
- vertex-four 10y ago
  The issue is that tipping culture in the US means that if tipping is accepted, the vast majority of customers will see it as necessary, leading drivers to see it as a usual part of the transaction, leading to customers who don't want to tip being seen as in the wrong. It would probably work better in nearly every other country. On the other hand, putting on my "caring about people" hat, if Uber can't/won't pay a living wage for a day's worth of work, and keeps cutting its prices which have a direct impact on people's income, bring on the tipping.
  - meddlepal 10y ago
    I wonder how this will affect rider scores if you don't tip.
  - cb18 10y ago
    if Uber can't/won't pay a living wage for a day's worth of work, and keeps cutting its prices which have a direct impact on people's income, bring on the tipping. So you can cover the cost of their employees while they intentionally run at negative margins, attempting to eliminate competition so they can later charge you monopolistic pricing?

jasode 10y ago

>Tipping is an awful and awkward practice that shouldn't ever be encouraged. It seems like there's an easy free-market solution to this. Since Uber was on the losing side of eliminating tips from a policy standpoint, just let customers en masse accomplish the same goal: Simply add another field to the screen explicitly showing if the driver expects tips or not. Some example screenshots from Uber showing a driver profile to modify: http://therivardreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/uber_screenshot.jpg http://therivardreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/uber_s... http://cdn.moneycrashers.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/uber-screenshot.png http://cdn.moneycrashers.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/uber... * Add a column stating "Tips: Yes/No" * Add a filter option of "Tips=No" for customers to eliminate drivers who want gratuity * Rank/bias the list of available drivers such that "Tips=No" are shown first This concept would be similar to filtering ebay sellers that offer free shipping (aka built into the final selling price) or expect extra shipping charges. Another point of seller differentiation is allowing "returns/refunds" or "all sales final." Instead of ebay dictating a rigid policy, the ebay bidders can use filters to avoid sellers with undesirable attributes. The Uber drivers would learn very quickly whether "expecting tips" is a smart business strategy to maximize income. For curiosity's sake, I went to Lyft to see their policy on tipping: https://help.lyft.com/hc/en-us/articles/213583978-How-to-Tip-Your-Driver https://help.lyft.com/hc/en-us/articles/213583978-How-to-Tip... Since Lyft seems to encourage tipping, I'm guessing this is one of the reasons why many consider their platform more "driver friendly." It would be interesting to see what % of passengers tip Lyft drivers. That might be predictive of how Uber passengers would choose the "tipping=No" drivers.

simonswords82 10y ago
This approach encourages tipping which is exactly what the OP isn't in favour of. IMO all jobs, cab driving included, should be paid well enough that tipping simply isn't necessary. Companies shouldn't encourage tipping (which is often also tax dodging) just because they don't want to pay their employees enough that tipping isn't required to sustain them. Having said that, while tipping shouldn't be encouraged if somebody does go above and beyond the call of duty for me I'm going to find a way to reward them. That might be a simple "Thank you so much, that was really nice of you" up to and including paying extra if I can afford to do so and feel it's warranted.

denzil_correa 10y ago

> Tipping is an awful and awkward practice that shouldn't ever be encouraged. There's an interesting Freakonomics Episode titled “The No-Tipping Point.” which talks about the same. http://freakonomics.com/podcast/danny-meyer/ http://freakonomics.com/podcast/danny-meyer/