Thanks for the heads up, didn't know this. Me and a few close friends use Uber very frequently so I might get the card and just let everyone use it with sending money via apps so easy nowadays.

While 20% isn't a crazy amount, it'll be fun to see I saved us $1k+ this year.

It's like playing poker, mind numbingly dull and most of the players wind up broke. Main difference is there's no potential for a big pot, although you might give some celebrity a ride.

I drove for mostly Lyft last year and only drove for Uber for sign up bonus and friend referral bonus. I hated driving Uber because hardly anyone tipped and many of the passengers were either unfriendly or aloof, it was like being an actual taxi driver. Another thing that sucked was Uber did not allow for airport pickups while Lyft did.

I worked not too far from the airport, and when I had time to kill after work, I would swing by and if I got a call, I would take them to their destination which was usually Seattle and sometimes Bellevue. From there, and depending how I felt, I would do some more pickups in Seattle and call it a day after 7-8 rides. Lyft passengers were usually chill, talkative, friendly and that made it so much better than boring ass Uber. OTOH, if someone is not social, Uber would be better.

Not a bad lil part time gig for extra money, especially during the summer months.

I think you are goalpost shifting. I have said since post #1 of this exchange that they clearly state you do not have to tip your drivers. You said otherwise, which was my main point of contention with your original statement of "Tip is included."

It clearly isn't and they can't advertise that anymore, as you just stated. My argument is them actively encouraging their riders not to tip drivers (on top of an abysmally poor wage) makes them a ****ty company. you can feel free to disagree/agree with that point but nothing you said in the last paragraph makes me wrong really.

J,

I did not say otherwise, I said that it is not ****ty of them. They very clearly promote and provide a service where tipping is not a part of it. So telling people they don't have to tip is not ****ty, it's what drivers sign up for. If there rates were 3x what they are, would you complain about the no tipping policy? Your real argument here is simply that the rate they charge for the service without tipping is not one that works out as a good deal for the drivers. There's no shortage of ****ty behavior by them towards drivers, but this isn't one of those things. It's simply part of their offering that makes the deal less profitable and a ****ty job for lots of drivers.


What if McDonald's had a FAQ that explained that you don't have to tip their employees? Would that be a ****ty thing for them to do? No, it would just be explaining one of the reasons why it is a ****ty low wage job. Uber is not a tipped service like taxis, it's a non-tipped service like fast food.

I've never felt the need to tip for Uber since it's not the norm. All the drivers seem generally happy they're getting rides and do not expect tips, and I'm happy I'm not expected to tip.

The drivers know what they're getting into, and they're getting the benefit of having a part/full time gig that they probably would not have otherwise. Seems fair to me.

Does Mary Lambert qualify?

This is like saying "the tip is included" on a package of toilet paper at Target.

Except car services generally have a tipping culture, while toilet paper doesn't. They're clarifying something that needs to be clarified. So I guess it's nothing like what you said at all.

HELLUVA GIG. you sound really impressed that the guy is a colossal idiot. thoughts on soda in a water cup?

Except that it isn't clarified, it's made less clear, because their claim is completely without any sort of justification.

And it didn't need to be clarified, because people can still tip Uber drivers if they wish to do so, but they don't have to tip...the same options that would have been available to riders if Uber never mentioned anything about tipping.

Tipping would hurt Uber's bottom line because the service as a whole would be more expensive if tipping became a norm.

The drivers go into it knowing they're not getting tipped, so I don't see it as being unfair. You can claim that they might not be making a good business decision if the pay is bad enough that there aren't enough drivers, but they chose this business strategy and made it clear to the drivers.

There are plenty of underpaid jobs where a tip option would help them but it creates an expense for the consumer that management doesn't want. As long as it's clear to the employee that there will be no tips, I don't see it as being anything that should be scrutinized.

Is the only argument that car services are generally tipped, so it sucks that they're not getting tips? Cause that's a terrible argument. They agreed to drive at X rate, and if they're getting that rate, what is there to complain about? Is there a difference if a waiter agreed to work for 50k a year at a restaurant that doesn't accept tips?

Lol tipping really just turns people into full on irrational crazies

I have a real job. I'm sure if I Ubered more than 3-4 hours a week the true hourly would def go down to around $14-$15 an hour maybe less.
I'm able to hand select when I do it. If it's not 2.0 or greater I don't go out.

I ended up on a college campus one night and it was literally ride after ride, granted only $5 rides, but I was able to do 8 in an hour because it was basically kids going from off campus housing to campus and vice versa.

Care to elaborate? A driver signs up to be a driver that doesn't receive tips. Thus, he receives no tips.

How is that crazy?

X100. I get how that makes the company ****ty but nobody is forcing anyone here. Its what you sign up for.

This doesn't sound that great to me. In fact, it sounds pretty bad. You're clearing about $700 a week after gas. That comes to about $14 an hour, but you are putting 60,000 miles a year on your car. I guess I could see doing in part time as valuable, but it sounds like a pretty ****ty full time gig. I'd rather operate a forklift or something.

Yeah, it wasn't great. But it did keep my car from being repossessed and my body from malnourishment.


I don't think people are saying that the no tipping is "unfair", just disagreeing with the way El D worded it. Tip definitely not included in price. "No need to tip with Uber", just fine.

that's the case in Vietnam as well since uber got introduced recently. drivers working for families would do uber runs with the family car rather than sleeping in their car with nothing do to when not attending to the family. families couldn't give a **** but sucks for the taxi drivers that only earn ~$3/400 per month now that people in mercs are undercutting them and taking away their customers.

It's not as easy to get a forklift gig, especially short term, as a Uber job. Uber, the bar is so low--no wonder the people don't make much. The barriers to entry are entirely too easy. Uber is very client friendly right now and as drivers learn it sucks, I'd imagine there will be less and less drivers--thus the pay/costs will probably have to go up to near market conditions which are taxi cab fees or uber especially uberx will become irrelevant. I hate taxis but they obviously run at a profit making price.

Uber needs to cut its take to 10% for it to make sense as a full time gig.

Lyft gives 50% rakeback if you drive 30h/wk and 100% rakeback if you drive 50h in a week (so they only take 10% and 0% respectively). Unfortunately, it's pretty hard to spend that much time with someone in your car using Lyft cuz it has so many fewer customers.

The way to make money on Uber is the referrals. $400 for new drivers, $10 new riders. That's unfortunately where the money is.

This sounds exactly like online poker....

Maybe Uber recognizes the question of legality is dismal (?) and are being YOLO capitalists to profit while they still can?

If not, their endgame is probably the elimination of American born drivers, using cars bought through Uber; or self automation.

Currently valued @ $50B.