4 ms·

You know what, I am in a college town that is otherwise way too small for Uber and Lyft, but we have service because of the college. I was on a two hour train

by yebyen 9y ago

You know what, I am in a college town that is otherwise way too small for Uber and Lyft, but we have service because of the college. I was on a two hour train ride home after 12 hours of air travel, to save a couple of bucks. I arrived at the train station after the three hour ride (one hour late) at about 1:00am, and all of the Uber drivers had gone to sleep at least an hour ago! I was so glad to see one Lyft driver still signed on, when the conductor came and told me we'd be at the station in 20 minutes. When he got me home with no hassle, I felt compelled to leave a $10 tip. I've never been a heavy user of either service, but I believe the Lyft app has had this feature for a long time. Because this guy personally saved me from a $20 cab ride, at least, when all of the other cars had left the map, it was easily worth $10 extra. Now writing about it I think I should have tipped $20! I shudder to think what I would have done if I had to depend on Uber instead, where the price only goes up when there is a surge in demand. (Probably would have taken a cab, I'm sure it's not as bleak as I'm making it out to be, but the fact is Uber drivers all went to sleep at 12:00, for some reason, and Lyft stayed up. I wonder if it was because of tips? To Insure Prompt Service! I don't know if this is a major difference for the drivers, but when I've asked people who drive for both services off-hand which one they prefer, I've never heard any of them answer Uber. It's always Lyft.)

d0lph 9y ago
That's definitely the case where tipping is a good thing. If tipping is not expected then it won't be that bad.
- yebyen 9y ago
  I hear your "if tipping is not expected then" but I don't see a plan of action to make this the case. Wages may be artificially depressed by the construct of tipping, but shutting off the prospect of tips, does not magically increase wages. This reminds me of the time that Donald Trump told everyone he hasn't heard any criticism of the DAPL, and meanwhile there is a massive #TurnOnYourPhone campaign aimed at him on Twitter, because the White House comment line had been closed since he took office. Shutting down the conduit does not magically erase the demand! The demand is still there, it's just not visible anymore.
  - Paul-ish 9y ago
    Make tipping harder, ie don't build it in to the app. If its not built in, it won't be come an expectation. Nothing is stopping someone from handing over cash.
    - yebyen 9y ago
      > Make tipping harder That's the opposite of what I want. I leave a tip because I want to reward good service. When good service is provided regularly, I want to see it rewarded regularly. Making it harder to tip reduces the frequency with which good service is rewarded directly. You literally said "make tipping harder." I want to tip when I've been provided exceptional service. I don't really want you to make it harder for me to tip. Show me a study that says, making it harder to tip statistically results in higher wages, obviating the need to tip! I don't want to have an awkward conversation where I ask the driver if it's acceptable to hand over cash as a tip, when all signs seem to be pointing to "no, tips are not considered a usual part of this exchange." I may want to leave a tip! The transaction is not a cash transaction, so exchanging cash is unusual. Now I have to carry cash to complete an otherwise totally digital transaction. I expect a way to leave a tip as part of my transaction, if you don't want to leave one then don't leave one! Or, drive yourself!
slavik81 9y ago
Preventing that sort of situation is the point of surge pricing. Even without tips, drivers are supposed to be getting paid more when demand for rides is greater than the supply. Then they don't need to hope that you're a friendly person; they'll know they're getting paid an amount that's worth staying up that late.
- yebyen 9y ago
  I get it, but I'm not sure you know what Uber is like in a semi-isolated small town, that seemingly only has Uber at all because of the University, at a time when University is out of session. In my case if they all went to sleep, it's not that the demand was low... if that last guy goes to sleep, or someone else calls him first, it's the supply that's low. There's no surge pricing, if they all go to sleep, you'll have to start walking across town! They're not calling someone in for surge pricing, you're waiting for them to wake up or you're calling a cab if you're lucky for definitely at least twice as much (and then of course, with absolutely none of the convenience of Uber or Lyft) This guy wasn't just staying up for a tip! He was literally on vacation from the corndog factory, where he worked 3rd shift maintaining the machines that they use to make corndogs, normally up every day til at least 5 or 7am, so he was going to be awake at this time anyway, I guess I just got lucky. (He almost crashed the car in a roundabout on the way, I still gave him a perfect rating anyway, I was so grateful for the ride.) I also asked him about the corndogs and he said that it was kind of disgusting the number of corndogs they actually make every day, and to think that means people must be eating them at about the same rate? Millions of damn corndogs. Anyway about the Lyft, the delay happened very late in the train ride, I was supposed to arrive at about 12:00 midnight, but I didn't get there til at least 12:45. We were stopped 20 miles outside of town, where there's nothing, in the middle of Northern Indiana... so scheduling a ride is basically right out for me, I don't know when I'll be arriving until it's about 12:30am. I've got basically nobody to call. I spent about two hours nervously eyeing the real-time maps, watching the small number of idle Uber cars and the last of them going offline at 12, and the overall number of idle Lyft cars in the entire city dwindle from 4, to 2, almost instantly at 12:00 like they turned into pumpkins, and then down to 1 as it drew closer to 12:15. I'm talking nobody, in at least a 45 minute radius. Thankfully, this one guy stayed up! Unless I got played by the Lyft app, this was an emotional rollercoaster. I mean I've never been out west like this, I spent the whole day traveling from Utah in and out of Airports, and train stations, after already another solid week of traveling during the prior week and now I was so ready to get home. I simply can't express this tale of that one awesome guy who stayed awake for Lyft enough times, or in the fullness of its glory. But only to emphasize the point, that I was able to express my gratitude in the form of a tip after leaving the vehicle. The only tip that seemed appropriate was about 133%, the fare was only $7, so, $10! I just assumed the app would let me do it, I didn't try to fumble with cash; I have used Uber and Lyft combined a total of maybe 5 times before. I didn't even know you couldn't tip with Uber (at that time.) Probably was the only person on that train who needed to order a ride from Lyft. Most everyone on that train was a sleeper, headed for parts of New York, and everyone else (total of maybe 8 people) looked like they had pre-arranged rides with family.

by yebyen 9y ago

d0lph 9y ago

That's definitely the case where tipping is a good thing. If tipping is not expected then it won't be that bad.

yebyen 9y ago
I hear your "if tipping is not expected then" but I don't see a plan of action to make this the case. Wages may be artificially depressed by the construct of tipping, but shutting off the prospect of tips, does not magically increase wages. This reminds me of the time that Donald Trump told everyone he hasn't heard any criticism of the DAPL, and meanwhile there is a massive #TurnOnYourPhone campaign aimed at him on Twitter, because the White House comment line had been closed since he took office. Shutting down the conduit does not magically erase the demand! The demand is still there, it's just not visible anymore.
- Paul-ish 9y ago
  Make tipping harder, ie don't build it in to the app. If its not built in, it won't be come an expectation. Nothing is stopping someone from handing over cash.
  - yebyen 9y ago
    > Make tipping harder That's the opposite of what I want. I leave a tip because I want to reward good service. When good service is provided regularly, I want to see it rewarded regularly. Making it harder to tip reduces the frequency with which good service is rewarded directly. You literally said "make tipping harder." I want to tip when I've been provided exceptional service. I don't really want you to make it harder for me to tip. Show me a study that says, making it harder to tip statistically results in higher wages, obviating the need to tip! I don't want to have an awkward conversation where I ask the driver if it's acceptable to hand over cash as a tip, when all signs seem to be pointing to "no, tips are not considered a usual part of this exchange." I may want to leave a tip! The transaction is not a cash transaction, so exchanging cash is unusual. Now I have to carry cash to complete an otherwise totally digital transaction. I expect a way to leave a tip as part of my transaction, if you don't want to leave one then don't leave one! Or, drive yourself!

slavik81 9y ago

Preventing that sort of situation is the point of surge pricing. Even without tips, drivers are supposed to be getting paid more when demand for rides is greater than the supply. Then they don't need to hope that you're a friendly person; they'll know they're getting paid an amount that's worth staying up that late.

yebyen 9y ago
I get it, but I'm not sure you know what Uber is like in a semi-isolated small town, that seemingly only has Uber at all because of the University, at a time when University is out of session. In my case if they all went to sleep, it's not that the demand was low... if that last guy goes to sleep, or someone else calls him first, it's the supply that's low. There's no surge pricing, if they all go to sleep, you'll have to start walking across town! They're not calling someone in for surge pricing, you're waiting for them to wake up or you're calling a cab if you're lucky for definitely at least twice as much (and then of course, with absolutely none of the convenience of Uber or Lyft) This guy wasn't just staying up for a tip! He was literally on vacation from the corndog factory, where he worked 3rd shift maintaining the machines that they use to make corndogs, normally up every day til at least 5 or 7am, so he was going to be awake at this time anyway, I guess I just got lucky. (He almost crashed the car in a roundabout on the way, I still gave him a perfect rating anyway, I was so grateful for the ride.) I also asked him about the corndogs and he said that it was kind of disgusting the number of corndogs they actually make every day, and to think that means people must be eating them at about the same rate? Millions of damn corndogs. Anyway about the Lyft, the delay happened very late in the train ride, I was supposed to arrive at about 12:00 midnight, but I didn't get there til at least 12:45. We were stopped 20 miles outside of town, where there's nothing, in the middle of Northern Indiana... so scheduling a ride is basically right out for me, I don't know when I'll be arriving until it's about 12:30am. I've got basically nobody to call. I spent about two hours nervously eyeing the real-time maps, watching the small number of idle Uber cars and the last of them going offline at 12, and the overall number of idle Lyft cars in the entire city dwindle from 4, to 2, almost instantly at 12:00 like they turned into pumpkins, and then down to 1 as it drew closer to 12:15. I'm talking nobody, in at least a 45 minute radius. Thankfully, this one guy stayed up! Unless I got played by the Lyft app, this was an emotional rollercoaster. I mean I've never been out west like this, I spent the whole day traveling from Utah in and out of Airports, and train stations, after already another solid week of traveling during the prior week and now I was so ready to get home. I simply can't express this tale of that one awesome guy who stayed awake for Lyft enough times, or in the fullness of its glory. But only to emphasize the point, that I was able to express my gratitude in the form of a tip after leaving the vehicle. The only tip that seemed appropriate was about 133%, the fare was only $7, so, $10! I just assumed the app would let me do it, I didn't try to fumble with cash; I have used Uber and Lyft combined a total of maybe 5 times before. I didn't even know you couldn't tip with Uber (at that time.) Probably was the only person on that train who needed to order a ride from Lyft. Most everyone on that train was a sleeper, headed for parts of New York, and everyone else (total of maybe 8 people) looked like they had pre-arranged rides with family.