Comment by StableAlkyne

Comment by StableAlkyne 2 days ago

12 replies

View on Hacker News

[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.

Reply View 4 replies
  • StableAlkyne 2 days ago

    A single anecdote does not a dataset make

    Reply View 3 replies
    • 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).

      Reply View 1 reply
      • 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.

        Reply View 0 replies
    • 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.

      Reply View 0 replies
Macha 2 days ago

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

Reply View 1 reply
  • FireBeyond 2 days ago

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

    Reply View 0 replies
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.

Reply View 0 replies
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.

Reply View 2 replies
  • 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.

    Reply View 0 replies