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Thursday, March 28, 2024
HomeAboutI'm Not Tipping Uber Either!

I’m Not Tipping Uber Either!

The Madness of March has made its way to blog comments. Some of the reactions to fellow BA blogger, Angelina’s post Uber Driver Tip-Hustling Schemes Are Getting Out of Control are crazy. One guy wrote, “This post is really shameful. These are people trying to make ends meet, and it’s somehow an affront that they ask for reasonable compensation? Here’s an idea: instead of whining on the internet, why don’t you tip them?”

The point of Uber is to pay less than traditional taxis. An added benefit is avoiding the awkward moment when the taxi driver asks, “Where’s my tip?” Uber is also great because it is cashless and because the passenger is protected from shady taxi drivers, especially overseas. Having to tip or being pressured to tip defeats the purpose of Uber.

I understand the frustration of Uber drivers who are receiving increasingly less money, are forced to deal with Uber Pool, and will eventually lose their jobs to self-driving cars. Those grievances should be taken up with management, not the passengers.

For those that say that Uber drivers have it bad, I ask you to read my daily routine as a taxi driver. I worked 14 hours straight, endured hours at the depot, and did not have the safeguards that Uber drivers have. I did this all for a measly $200 on a good night (and as the greatest marketing idea for my book). Compared to that, Uber drivers have it easy. That was my experience as a cabbie in Phoenix. I couldn’t imagine driving a cab in New York.

If you’re an Uber driver and hate your job, then get a new job. Don’t make passengers feel uncomfortable by asking or implying that a tip would be appreciated. (For those that receive tips, I’m curious how many are declaring this extra income to the IRS.) And don’t be petty by not giving a 5-star ranking because a passenger didn’t give you a $5 bribe. My rating has plummeted to 4.65. Coincidence?

Tips not included
Driver carries less than $50 (because we don’t make anything)
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52 COMMENTS

  1. doesnt anyone leave a tip via uber itself? ive had it sent from the start to leave a tip built into the price. i do not appreciate being asked for more on top of it but i am also already leaving a gratuity. so for me, its particularly annoying knowing ive already done so.

  2. Tip is set in Uber at 20% in settings. You can adjust this. Go to help and then search through to find gratuity. It’s a bit buried.

    • Don’t worry it is all over Youtube where no tip equals 1 start for passenger. Then the nice Ubies won’t want to pick you up anymore since you have 4 or less stars.. Too funny.. Uber and Lyft are paying 1000 dollars to sign up drivers and you think stars matter. They can’t find drivers anymore. Yeah I can see where these idiotic ideals come from as if a guy/gal who is down on their luck gives a hoot about your 1 star. That star crap was pushed by Uber as part of their propaganda scheme. No one is getting tossed from Uber or Lyft these days so your star power is gone.

  3. I don’t agree with not tipping. But if it is already in the cost then we are all covered. End of discussion with the driver.

  4. Tipping has gotten out of control. Before we used to tip for those who made less than Federal minimum wage but these days we are expected to tip almost everyone. What’s next we need to tip the checkout guy at Costco/ Best Buy or the furniture store??

    Just yesterday I had a birthday party in “Pump it Pump”, total for 2 hours and the total came to $800, the bill said Tip for 15% – $120, 20% – $160 and 25% – $200. Who pays that much tip on top of the outrageous charges for just about everything and you cannot bring anything from outside including water.

    If I pay even the minimum that they mention as 15%= $120. I’m paying $30 dollars an hour for 2 just as a tip on top of their own salary.

    That’s just insane. This tip craziness and to stop since it has no limits..

  5. How many people commenting are uber drivers? I have $3.00 rides the majority of the time. I am also rated 4.95. The tip is included in a 3 dollar fare? I beg to differ.

    • Elliot, Uber gave these folks a license to be asses.. They know damn well there is no tip in there but hey “Uber said the tip was included so how was I to know”…. Funny part of this whole story is Uber is in the wind down phase i.e. going out of biz.. It will soon look much more like Myspace than it does Facebook. It is a flawed biz model and all the surrounding press is just a result of what happens when a biz model starts choking on itself.

  6. So be it.. No tips for Bartenders, Waiters, Skycaps.. Shoot no tips for ANYONE!! If dudes driving their cars in traffic dodging who knows what don’t need tips then f’ing Bartenders or Waitresses don’t need them either. Get a haircut they want a tip, get a drink the want a tip pick up your own damn food they want a tip. F’em.. No more tips for ANYBODY. Now I always thought I was the world’s worst tipper until I met folks that took Ubers and agreed with Uber to their own benefit. I have heard stories of Uber drivers picking up Bartenders and waitresses and get no tips. I have heard stories of Lyft drivers where there is a tipping function in the app picking the same tipped crowd getting stiffed. So waitresses and bartenders beware you can blame UBER for your tips disappearing. Skycaps.. move my damn bags to my car and don’t linger cuz you ain’t getting zilch.. Thank you Uber passengers for giving me the license to stick it to ANYONE who even thought about getting tipped.

  7. My guess here, based on reading the comments of non tippers, is they are sort of sadistic in nature and feel great that Uber gave them the moral license to stick it to the guy/gal who is driving them across town in traffic. Hell yeah I get to have this poor bugger drive me all over the place and even though this is a service biz like any other I get to STICK it to him/her good cuz Uber (epitome of nastiness) says I can. Oh nice to see how nasty humans can get when given license. I think we saw this in Germany once, where folks did horrible things to people cuz their boss said it was okay.. Sound familiar. It’s called license folks and in this case it is a moral license to be nasty and folks are being as sadistic about it morally as those who worked for the SS. Shame on you for using a ill formed moral license to treat a class of persons in this fashion to sooth your own sadistic inclinations.

  8. Yeah folks you can clearly see the author of this article is fully illiterate moron that attempted to make himself/herself feel good by trying to find solace should they find other cheap bastards to agree with them. The last thing they expected was to have this article pop up in such a way that other thinking humans might discover that they are not to find those in agreement with them but rather those who clearly discover them and point out that points of like is an asshole and cheap bugger more than anything else in life. Well done tpl.

      • This tpl person would have been a perfect candidate to be a Nazi.. If you think about it it would take a certain mentality and this person has it. So if you ever wondered why persons in Germany in the 1930’s could do the things they did then look no further and analyze the type of person this tpl is. Nasty and willing to kill if needed. “Get another f’ing job you piece of shit Uber driver I ain’t tipping you shit and get down on your knees and lick my Nazi boots”

  9. I think a lot of people would like the tipping culture to go away. The fact that uber started out with the no tipping policy as one of the incentives to use them is evidence of that. I was brought up thinking tipping was supposed to be for excellent service not something that was expected just for someone doing their job. Businesses are paying low wages and exploiting tipping to disguise the true cost to the customer. Expected tipping was 10 % a long time ago. Now its 18 or 20 or more. If wages and prices went up appropriately there should be no need to raise tipping percentages. I saw an article recently that some busineses in cities that dramatically hiked the minimum wage are adding a labor surcharge to the bill rather than raise prices out of fear of scaring customers away. Unfortunately tipping is so ingrained its hard to see how it will change.

    • Say it again! “I was brought up thinking tipping was supposed to be for excellent service not something that was expected just for someone doing their job.”

      • You mean like a bartender or waiter. Shit bring me my food and go stand in a corner until I need something. Do go expecting anything more than the $2 bucks an hour out of me. I don’t pay you that is between you and your employer. That is a scam that started a hell of a long time ago. Pay fair wages and if some fool wants to give them extra cash for example a beautiful round butt then so be it. Oh shit strippers would be pissed. My guess is the thong would disappear immediately no need to strap on dollars.

    • Dan you are precisely on the money too. Amazon is currently exploiting tipping to pay its food delivery service. As a controller I would come up with such a plan to use “Customer” money to pay my wages as Amazon is doing. It’s business but it probably ain’t right. Pay the f’ing drivers more instead a price war between Lyft, Uber and Taxi firms. Then all will be well again.

  10. Here’s a thought – instead of bitching at people who don’t tip why dont people make more of a noise in the direction of business & corporations who don’t pay their employees a living wage.

    Frankly I’m getting tired of subsidising pay packets just because corporations aren’t held accountable.

    • While I would like to see tipping ended and the wages of people affected raised instead I am not an advocate for demanding a “living wage”. Trying to distort market forces has unintended consequences. There is a quote I remember that says what do you call someone whose labor is worth less than the minimum wage? Permanently unemployed. IMO a lot of fast food workers demanding 15 an hour are going to.find that out the hard way.

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