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I had 5 Uber drivers cancel on me in a row last month when I arrived to Minneapolis-St Paul International Airport and wouldn’t take anything less than a tip tha

by Apofis 3y ago

I had 5 Uber drivers cancel on me in a row last month when I arrived to Minneapolis-St Paul International Airport and wouldn’t take anything less than a tip that was 100% of the fare. Very frustrating, considering they put Taxis out of business. Sat there on the side of the airport “ride hailing” pickup for a hour wondering if I was even going to get home.

rhaway84773 3y ago
That was always the Uber VC fueled Unicorn end goal. Destroy the regulated taxi business to the point where you form a monopoly. As a bonus, they’re extracting X% of dollars of every fare for providing little to no additional service relative to the past (local govts could very well have created apps to allow for hailing cabs like some already have). Money which would earlier have gone to the local economy or remained in your pocket is now going to Uber’s investors. I don’t understand why economists don’t talk about how this is contributing to inflation and/or destruction of businesses. If in the past I ordered delivery from my local Chinese restaurant, I gave them $100 and the entire $100 went to them. They would use that to employ 1-2 delivery guys who would probably at the end of the year cost them about 5-10% of their delivery food revenue. But today, I pay the Chinese restaurant $100, Uber Eats/Doorsash/Grubhub an additional $5-$10 and the restaurant will pay them about 30-40% additionally for receiving the order and delivering it. The 5-10% delivery cost has ballooned to over 30-40% (some cities had capped the fee but even that was about 15-20% and I don’t know if those caps have persisted past the pandemic). Until recently restaurants are the cost, but now they can’t anymore and we’re seeing significant inflation. That’s a 30-40% jump in costs to the restaurant + customer almost immediately.
- scarface_74 3y ago
  > If in the past I ordered delivery from my local Chinese restaurant, I gave them $100 and the entire $100 went to them Well, back then there were very few restaurants that offered delivery at all and their employees would have to use their own car, worry about maintenance and made very little for deliveries and were dependent on tips. Also almost none of the drivers got a commercial rider on their insurance for doing delivery.
- Apofis 3y ago
  DoorDash and Uber Eats are also economic disasters of incomprehensible proportions. They not only charge over double your total order, but many times they also have restaurants losing money on delivery orders too. Just 5 years ago I used to be able to get lunch delivered by a Chinese food restaurant for under $10 in Brooklyn. Can't speak for today as I Escaped from New York, but good luck getting that very same order below $30 by DoorDash.
scarface_74 3y ago
How do they force you to tip them?
- aeyes 3y ago
  The poster is making this up, Uber doesn't let me tip 100%. Even if I try to enter the amount manually.
  - scarface_74 3y ago
    It’s especially surprising leaving an airport. I’ve taken an Uber out of 16 different airports in the last year in the US and one in Mexico. The only issue I’ve had with Uber is that LAX is a shit show trying to get an Uber. But that’s the fault of the airport authority that forced you to take a 10 minute bus ride to get to the Uber pickup
    - arcticbull 3y ago
      I never take Uber leaving the airport in Vegas, the taxi stand is just so much more convenient. Most other cities, where there are trains I take the train. I'd rather the predictability of schedule and not having to worry about traffic.
      - scarface_74 3y ago
        Vegas was one of our stops. We were there for a month around April. We paid $12.27 from the Hilton Polo Towers on the strip to the airport at 6:50 in the morning. I can’t find our trip from the airport
  - calderknight 3y ago
    One can tip using cash which a different comment said some drivers demand.
    - scarface_74 3y ago
      So they pick you up first and then if you don’t tip them up front they don’t let you in the car? This doesn’t sound a little suspicious that this supposedly happens on a regular basis? Picking you up from a major airport where there are plenty of other drivers?
jandrese 3y ago
I thought Uber drivers had to accept each trip manually? If the trip is bad why would they accept it in the first place?
- Apofis 3y ago
  They’re probably rejecting too many rides, likely they’re juggling metrics.
throwawayohio 3y ago
This doesn't make any sense. You stood outside of an airport for an hour instead of walking over the the taxi stand where the taxis that you're so worried about were idling waiting for passengers?
- Apofis 3y ago
  There weren’t any signs for a taxi stand, just ride hail pick up.
SideburnsOfDoom 3y ago
When using the Uber app, the only time that I have been able to apply a tip is after the trip is complete. How would a driver insist on a specific tip before even accepting? This makes no sense to me.

by Apofis 3y ago

rhaway84773 3y ago

That was always the Uber VC fueled Unicorn end goal. Destroy the regulated taxi business to the point where you form a monopoly. As a bonus, they’re extracting X% of dollars of every fare for providing little to no additional service relative to the past (local govts could very well have created apps to allow for hailing cabs like some already have). Money which would earlier have gone to the local economy or remained in your pocket is now going to Uber’s investors. I don’t understand why economists don’t talk about how this is contributing to inflation and/or destruction of businesses. If in the past I ordered delivery from my local Chinese restaurant, I gave them $100 and the entire $100 went to them. They would use that to employ 1-2 delivery guys who would probably at the end of the year cost them about 5-10% of their delivery food revenue. But today, I pay the Chinese restaurant $100, Uber Eats/Doorsash/Grubhub an additional $5-$10 and the restaurant will pay them about 30-40% additionally for receiving the order and delivering it. The 5-10% delivery cost has ballooned to over 30-40% (some cities had capped the fee but even that was about 15-20% and I don’t know if those caps have persisted past the pandemic). Until recently restaurants are the cost, but now they can’t anymore and we’re seeing significant inflation. That’s a 30-40% jump in costs to the restaurant + customer almost immediately.

scarface_74 3y ago
> If in the past I ordered delivery from my local Chinese restaurant, I gave them $100 and the entire $100 went to them Well, back then there were very few restaurants that offered delivery at all and their employees would have to use their own car, worry about maintenance and made very little for deliveries and were dependent on tips. Also almost none of the drivers got a commercial rider on their insurance for doing delivery.
Apofis 3y ago
DoorDash and Uber Eats are also economic disasters of incomprehensible proportions. They not only charge over double your total order, but many times they also have restaurants losing money on delivery orders too. Just 5 years ago I used to be able to get lunch delivered by a Chinese food restaurant for under $10 in Brooklyn. Can't speak for today as I Escaped from New York, but good luck getting that very same order below $30 by DoorDash.

scarface_74 3y ago

How do they force you to tip them?

aeyes 3y ago
The poster is making this up, Uber doesn't let me tip 100%. Even if I try to enter the amount manually.
- scarface_74 3y ago
  It’s especially surprising leaving an airport. I’ve taken an Uber out of 16 different airports in the last year in the US and one in Mexico. The only issue I’ve had with Uber is that LAX is a shit show trying to get an Uber. But that’s the fault of the airport authority that forced you to take a 10 minute bus ride to get to the Uber pickup
  - arcticbull 3y ago
    I never take Uber leaving the airport in Vegas, the taxi stand is just so much more convenient. Most other cities, where there are trains I take the train. I'd rather the predictability of schedule and not having to worry about traffic.
    - scarface_74 3y ago
      Vegas was one of our stops. We were there for a month around April. We paid $12.27 from the Hilton Polo Towers on the strip to the airport at 6:50 in the morning. I can’t find our trip from the airport
- calderknight 3y ago
  One can tip using cash which a different comment said some drivers demand.
  - scarface_74 3y ago
    So they pick you up first and then if you don’t tip them up front they don’t let you in the car? This doesn’t sound a little suspicious that this supposedly happens on a regular basis? Picking you up from a major airport where there are plenty of other drivers?

jandrese 3y ago

I thought Uber drivers had to accept each trip manually? If the trip is bad why would they accept it in the first place?

Apofis 3y ago
They’re probably rejecting too many rides, likely they’re juggling metrics.

throwawayohio 3y ago

This doesn't make any sense. You stood outside of an airport for an hour instead of walking over the the taxi stand where the taxis that you're so worried about were idling waiting for passengers?

Apofis 3y ago
There weren’t any signs for a taxi stand, just ride hail pick up.

SideburnsOfDoom 3y ago

When using the Uber app, the only time that I have been able to apply a tip is after the trip is complete. How would a driver insist on a specific tip before even accepting? This makes no sense to me.