5 ms·
I like how people in comments are keen to change the world, but I - more realisticly - only focus on gaming the system so I can actually save myself couple buck
by o999 2y ago
I like how people in comments are keen to change the world, but I - more realisticly - only focus on gaming the system so I can actually save myself couple bucks right away.
I set pick up and destination, exit the app, open another rides app, wait few minutes for uber to notify me that the price went down.
I only give it initials (instead of full name) and phone number, not even my gender, I rarely rate drivers positively, if it is not a negative experience, I skip reviewing, so they don't know I "like" the service.
When it takes more than a minute to find a ride, I cancel the ride and choose the "others" option, as this is the de-facto the option for "I will just take a cab", so I get inserted on the "churn risk" list.
I use a virtual card that I some time leave empty so payment fail after the ride, and on the next ride I readjust my virtual card limit on the next ride and pay the last bill so I am added on the "poor and miserable riders" list.
I am well protected
- nomilk 2y agoI do similar to you. I wonder if not rating is limiting your gains relative to giving (gasps) four or three star ratings.
- o999 2y agoI work on freelancing platforms, I know how harmful is it for me to get a 4.9/5 star rating. I would prefer not to harm the driver, unless he was a dick or was driving a garbage can, I would then rate it 1-star with a clear conscience.
- magic_hamster 2y agoI don't know if this saves you money, but if it is, you are certainly working pretty hard for it.
- xandrius 2y agoI do the same and it's really not more work. All the steps come rather smoothly when you have the goal in mind of not benefiting the app in any way.
- o999 2y agoNegligible saving for one ride, but I rely on Uber as I have no car and riding in taxis in my city is sometimes horrible, so it adds up on the long-run.
- kbenson 2y agoDo you have info, anecdotal or otherwise, on how much you think you save per ride in total and relative amounts? That might sound like a lot, but really I'm just wondering if you can estimate "I think I save about $X dollars on a fare that would cost $Y dollars otherwise."
- o999 2y agoBy leaving the app before booking, I often get 10%-20% off (it claims rates went low, of course it's just a retention discount), not sure about others. It doesn't work everytime btw.
- floatrock 2y agoYeah, and any individual vote doesn't make a difference, so why take the time to vote? I don't know man... saving a few bucks on the average HN 300k+ salary doesn't make a difference, but let people have their principles. Isn't that the source of the original hacker mentality and the stuff we like to celebrate here?
- pack_stimulus 2y agoThank you for these tips.
- dangitman 2y ago[dead]
- radicality 2y agoWouldn’t / shouldn’t this heavily penalize you? Like, what I want to optimize for is that when there’s little Uber capacity and many requests, that I get prioritized and get put as close to the front of the queue as possible. Which is why I tend to stick to just one app (Uber), and try to have a high rating. But idk if it’s doing anything. At least back when Uber had tiers (platinum / diamond) it was more obvious the perks you get with more use (like with airlines), but now that they dropped those I’m feeling less inclined to keep using just Uber vs a mix of all apps and picking cheapest.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- o999 2y agoThe system cannot penalize the working party in the same way it penalizes the paying party, if you are an easy customer whi never complain, always seem satisfied, would ride anyway no matter how high is the current rate, we might as well assign you any driver. If you are a difficult customer who is rarely satisfied and complain of most inconveniences, you will get the better drivers. Because simply, the algorthm is prioritizing sales, not nice and chill riders.
- glitchc 2y agoI'm not sure if any of this actually saves you money. If anything, it may drive the algorithm to pair you with less than stellar drivers. In a customer retention phase, which Uber is in right now, the algorithm should aim to pair good clients with good drivers and poor clients with poor drivers, just to protect the repeat business.
- maeil 2y agoI'm convinced the person you're replying to is right. At my last job, all of us took separate Ubers every day. I started cancelling every driver below X rating. After a while, Ive ended up only being assigned drivers far above X, while my colleagues still got low rated drivers often enough (they never cancelled based on rating). My own rating wasn't higher than theirs, and I was a worse customer in that I used Uber less than they did.
- blendergeek 2y ago> I like how people in comments are keen to change the world, but I - more realisticly - only focus on gaming the system so I can actually save myself couple bucks right away. This type of attitude sometimes makes the world a worse place. If everyone has this attitude, the system can break down. > I rarely rate drivers positively Drivers live or die by their rating. Refusing to give good reviews harms the drivers who are already barely scraping by. This is a very good example of how you can cause real world harm with by trying to game the system for yourself.
- Dwolb 2y agoInteresting take. Assumes we all benefit from playing into the system Uber created. Maybe true on a local maximum. But is it true on the global one?
- TimTheTinker 2y agoNo one actually knows what the global maximum is, or how to get there, outside of any specifics that religion may or may not tell you. A "global maximum" closely parallels the definition of faith. It's the maximal good for the maximal number of people, and a real destination for some (surely not all are worthy of it, as long as human evil exists). How we get there, what it is, who actually makes it there, on what basis, what's preventing its realization at present, how to overcome such obstacles --- these are the questions that religions (including secular humanism) answer.
- abrookewood 2y ago"Drivers live or die by their rating" - really??? I have never given the drivers rating a moments thought. Do you seriously cancel rides because the driver doesn't have 5 stars??
- defrost 2y ago> Do you seriously cancel rides .. It's also possible that the algorithm behind the scenes allocates drivers to demand based on ( proximity AND driver rating ). If so then lower ranked drivers would be 'starved' out by higher ranked drivers.
- thr0w 2y ago> I set pick up and destination, exit the app, open another rides app, wait few minutes for uber to notify me that the price went down. Just tried this, didn't get any notification.
- o999 2y agoIt is a heuristic, it doesn't work 100% of times for me. I also don't know if ithas other factors, like region, number of rides, etc..
- maeil 2y ago> When it takes more than a minute to find a ride, I cancel the ride and choose the "others" option, as this is the de-facto the option for "I will just take a cab", so I get inserted on the "churn risk" list. I don't live in the US, and over here a driver rating below 4.8 guarantees you a rollercoaster ride by an angry man. I've cancelled enough times straight after being assigned such a driver that I now only get drivers with near-perfect ratings. Doesn't take any longer either. It's sad that it's come to this, but you've really got to make the algorithm work for you. I'm not in the US, and over here, any driver with a rating unf
- op00to 2y agoI like to imagine you were in an uber paired with a 4.6 driver and the ride ended poorly with the unfinished sentence at the end of your reply.
- thelastparadise 2y agoYour cynicism is commendable.
- o999 2y agothanks!