8 ms·

I deleted my Uber account over all the bad press and a few bad rides last couple months. There's definitely a trend for the drivers to be either really really b

by dawnerd 10y ago

I deleted my Uber account over all the bad press and a few bad rides last couple months. There's definitely a trend for the drivers to be either really really bad at driving, or super aggressive with tips. Do drivers really expect people using a cashless system to... carry cash? I actually had one driver accepts tips using stripe.

cortesoft 10y ago
I wonder if this varies by region? I ride with uber quite a bit here in Los Angeles, and I have never once been asked for a tip. I wonder what makes it different?
- dawnerd 10y ago
  It might be in really tourist-heavy areas like Vegas and Orlando (where my bad encounters have been).
- jdormit 10y ago
  Here in Salt Lake I have never been asked for a tip. In general though, I've found Uber experiences to vary significantly by region. In Salt Lake, I usually sit in the front seat, drivers are chatty, and the whole thing feels like "someone giving you a ride". In NYC, by contrast, I mostly sit in the back (a lot of the time the driver will block off the front passenger seat), drivers don't tend to talk, and the whole thing feels like a cab ride. In fact, I would guess that many Uber drivers in NYC are/were taxi drivers.
  - sethhochberg 10y ago
    NYC requires Uber drivers to be licensed as "TLC" drivers (taxi and limousine commission) - so yeah, they are exclusively professional drivers who would usually normally be working for a car service.
    - jdormit 10y ago
      Interesting! That somewhat defeats the purpose of Uber, doesn't it?
- packetized 10y ago
  You're definitely an outlier. In San Francisco, tips are sought more than 10% of my trips.
  - anarazel 10y ago
    Maybe I just look too grumpy, but I use Uber fairly regularly on longer rides, and sometimes on shorter ones, and I've not once been asked for a tip in SF.
  - tlrobinson 10y ago
    Out of hundreds of rides in SF I've never had a driver ask for a tip.
    - ukd1 10y ago
      ditto
      - seanp2k2 10y ago
        Only dozens of rides here but in half a dozen cities around the US and not one asked for a tip. I've seen the polite-ish tip jar once. I don't typically carry cash but if I did I would have thought about it.
  - alsetmusic 10y ago
    Frequent Uber user on East Bay. No tip pressure felt on any of my rides. I had a guy who implied that he'd like a positive rating. Only one out of many. I realize that EB and SF drivers probably stick to their preferred areas. I'm not disputing your experience, only adding my own.
  - tdumitrescu 10y ago
    I've never had a driver ask for a tip in the bay area. If one were to, I'd give a 1-star rating and write in "asked for tip" as the reason. If that's unacceptable behavior I'll stop using the service rather than join the under-the-table tipping game.
  - 10y ago
developer2 10y ago
Taxi drivers in my city are notorious for, at least in my experience, attempting to swipe your credit card with Stripe on their personal cell phones. Not just for the tip, but for the entire fare. They openly commit fraud against their company by trying to steal the fare for themselves without reporting it to their company. I've refused to pay for, and reported to their company, 4 separate drivers in the past 2 years for this practice. I have to assume that the companies somehow don't care that their drivers are going rogue, or else this wouldn't be happening so frequently. Where is the threat of dismissal, or even better, prosecution? Same thing goes for unlicensed taxi drivers moonlighting with a friend's car - taxi drivers here are required to hang their licensed ID on the side window, and the frequency with which you find someone driving "off the books" is downright reprehensible. The worst part is, I feel my personal safety is at risk every time I report these criminals. They are likely to know it was me, and they know where I live. It's irresponsible, potentially dangerous, and unacceptable to permit them to operate in this way. Our taxi companies are hook, line, and sinker in the pockets of our government. We have a history of corruption here, and taxi companies are definitely part of the equation.
- wpietri 10y ago
  Why do you think this is fraud? At least in SF, I'm pretty sure the standard deal is that the drivers pay for the cab regardless of what they get in fares. Cabs were a cash business for a hundred years, after all. I think the deal with credit card machines in the cabs is that the cab companies see it as a revenue source. I know cab drivers grumble about the cost of using them. It makes sense to me that Stripe is cheaper for the cab drivers.
  - kelnos 10y ago
    Depends on the arrangement they have with the taxi company. If they're supposed to share a percentage of each fare with the company, then it may not be fraud in the strict legal sense, but they're certainly violating the contract they have with the taxi company.
  - developer2 10y ago
    Here, it is legally mandated that cab drivers use the company-provided credit card machine to process all credit card transactions. The company takes 7% of all such transactions. Yes that percentage is ridiculously high, but it is mandatory per regulation. It is unacceptable for drivers to personally process credit card transactions, whereby they retain access to the credit card number. Forget the underhanded fraud to the taxi company for a moment - the driver personally has your credit card number. The risk of unauthorized credit card charges shoots through the roof. Yes, this is racist: I don't trust an immigrant of a third-world country, whose primary interest is apparently to earn as much money as possible through illegal means, to retain my credit card information on their personal Stripe account. It doesn't just scream "shady", it is shady - and no native citizen would get away with this kind of crap.
lostboys67 10y ago
They probably expect people to carry some cash for emergencies small purchases. As they say at Goldman Sachs "Always carry cash. Keep some in your front pocket."

by dawnerd 10y ago

cortesoft 10y ago

I wonder if this varies by region? I ride with uber quite a bit here in Los Angeles, and I have never once been asked for a tip. I wonder what makes it different?

dawnerd 10y ago
It might be in really tourist-heavy areas like Vegas and Orlando (where my bad encounters have been).
jdormit 10y ago
Here in Salt Lake I have never been asked for a tip. In general though, I've found Uber experiences to vary significantly by region. In Salt Lake, I usually sit in the front seat, drivers are chatty, and the whole thing feels like "someone giving you a ride". In NYC, by contrast, I mostly sit in the back (a lot of the time the driver will block off the front passenger seat), drivers don't tend to talk, and the whole thing feels like a cab ride. In fact, I would guess that many Uber drivers in NYC are/were taxi drivers.
- sethhochberg 10y ago
  NYC requires Uber drivers to be licensed as "TLC" drivers (taxi and limousine commission) - so yeah, they are exclusively professional drivers who would usually normally be working for a car service.
  - jdormit 10y ago
    Interesting! That somewhat defeats the purpose of Uber, doesn't it?
packetized 10y ago
You're definitely an outlier. In San Francisco, tips are sought more than 10% of my trips.
- anarazel 10y ago
  Maybe I just look too grumpy, but I use Uber fairly regularly on longer rides, and sometimes on shorter ones, and I've not once been asked for a tip in SF.
- tlrobinson 10y ago
  Out of hundreds of rides in SF I've never had a driver ask for a tip.
  - ukd1 10y ago
    ditto
    - seanp2k2 10y ago
      Only dozens of rides here but in half a dozen cities around the US and not one asked for a tip. I've seen the polite-ish tip jar once. I don't typically carry cash but if I did I would have thought about it.
- alsetmusic 10y ago
  Frequent Uber user on East Bay. No tip pressure felt on any of my rides. I had a guy who implied that he'd like a positive rating. Only one out of many. I realize that EB and SF drivers probably stick to their preferred areas. I'm not disputing your experience, only adding my own.
- tdumitrescu 10y ago
  I've never had a driver ask for a tip in the bay area. If one were to, I'd give a 1-star rating and write in "asked for tip" as the reason. If that's unacceptable behavior I'll stop using the service rather than join the under-the-table tipping game.
- 10y ago

developer2 10y ago

Taxi drivers in my city are notorious for, at least in my experience, attempting to swipe your credit card with Stripe on their personal cell phones. Not just for the tip, but for the entire fare. They openly commit fraud against their company by trying to steal the fare for themselves without reporting it to their company. I've refused to pay for, and reported to their company, 4 separate drivers in the past 2 years for this practice. I have to assume that the companies somehow don't care that their drivers are going rogue, or else this wouldn't be happening so frequently. Where is the threat of dismissal, or even better, prosecution? Same thing goes for unlicensed taxi drivers moonlighting with a friend's car - taxi drivers here are required to hang their licensed ID on the side window, and the frequency with which you find someone driving "off the books" is downright reprehensible. The worst part is, I feel my personal safety is at risk every time I report these criminals. They are likely to know it was me, and they know where I live. It's irresponsible, potentially dangerous, and unacceptable to permit them to operate in this way. Our taxi companies are hook, line, and sinker in the pockets of our government. We have a history of corruption here, and taxi companies are definitely part of the equation.

wpietri 10y ago
Why do you think this is fraud? At least in SF, I'm pretty sure the standard deal is that the drivers pay for the cab regardless of what they get in fares. Cabs were a cash business for a hundred years, after all. I think the deal with credit card machines in the cabs is that the cab companies see it as a revenue source. I know cab drivers grumble about the cost of using them. It makes sense to me that Stripe is cheaper for the cab drivers.
- kelnos 10y ago
  Depends on the arrangement they have with the taxi company. If they're supposed to share a percentage of each fare with the company, then it may not be fraud in the strict legal sense, but they're certainly violating the contract they have with the taxi company.
- developer2 10y ago
  Here, it is legally mandated that cab drivers use the company-provided credit card machine to process all credit card transactions. The company takes 7% of all such transactions. Yes that percentage is ridiculously high, but it is mandatory per regulation. It is unacceptable for drivers to personally process credit card transactions, whereby they retain access to the credit card number. Forget the underhanded fraud to the taxi company for a moment - the driver personally has your credit card number. The risk of unauthorized credit card charges shoots through the roof. Yes, this is racist: I don't trust an immigrant of a third-world country, whose primary interest is apparently to earn as much money as possible through illegal means, to retain my credit card information on their personal Stripe account. It doesn't just scream "shady", it is shady - and no native citizen would get away with this kind of crap.

lostboys67 10y ago

They probably expect people to carry some cash for emergencies small purchases. As they say at Goldman Sachs "Always carry cash. Keep some in your front pocket."