StableAlkyne 2 days ago

[Caveat: there aren't many Lyft drivers in my town, so I have only used Uber]

The problem is their system extorts you into tipping. If you don't tip, the driver will give you a 1/5 rating. If your rating averages low enough, nobody will pick you up. It's more of a bribe you pay for a good passenger rating than an actual tip.

As a result, you're forced to tip if you want to use it long term.

Personally, I'm hoping Waymo takes Uber's lunch money. I will gladly pay more for a service has not been infected with tipping.

  • oefrha 2 days ago

    That’s straight up false. I don’t tip and my Uber passenger rating was ~4.95 last I checked.

    • StableAlkyne 2 days ago

      A single anecdote does not a dataset make

      • poincaredisk 2 days ago

        I never tip because it's not a custom in my country, but out of your two contradicting stories I believe the other one more. Does the driver even know the tip amount before rating the passenger? It works make sense if they didn't.

        If he does it's indeed a bit weird (in a country where tipping is almost mandatory).

        • oefrha 2 days ago

          Tipping isn’t “almost mandatory”. People were happily driving Ubers before they even introduced the tipping feature in-app. My rating is based on taking hundreds of rides while living for years on both coasts, in CA and NJ. Out of all those rides only one driver (a horrible one, who took like three wrong turns in twenty minutes, with navigation) ever asked for a tip. I maintain my rating by being clean, polite, and punctual.

      • oefrha 2 days ago

        And yours isn’t a single anecdote? Oh wait, it’s actually not:

        > If you don't tip, the driver will give you a 1/5 rating.

        It’s a definitive, and provably false statement.

  • Macha 2 days ago

    Don't the drivers only see the tips in aggregate form at the end of the week?

    • FireBeyond 2 days ago

      Unsure. But they at least know you've tipped. "Steve thanked you for your tip."

  • fluidcruft 2 days ago

    I haven't really thought about whether it's known or unknown. I've assumed it was known, but often I tip cash anyway.

  • biztos 2 days ago

    I don’t know if that’s really how it works with Uber, but surely Waymo could charge extra for “priority pickup” if it got popular enough.

    • Dylan16807 2 days ago

      If it's actually for priority that's okay. It will only have a significant effect when they're hitting their capacity limits, and it ends up being similar to surge pricing.

      If they start refusing to pick up people that don't pay, while having idle cars, I expect them to get in trouble in various ways.

fluidcruft 2 days ago

Sure, nobody has to tip anyone. But I do tip taxis and etc, typically about 30%, and it factors into my overall price perception.

I'm just saying $15 that I will add a tip to vs $20 that I have no intention or inclination to tip isn't anything more than I don't have any expectations or empathy about tipping a machine. It doesn't seem particularly complex an issue about why Waymo can charge the same amount that I am willing to pay anyway.