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Comment by nashadelic | Hacker News Reader

Not a US citizen but I find the whole tipping experience rather stressful and an additional item to worry about. I like it that Uber has it built into the service and there's only one thing to pay. I'd rather pay a flat increase on the menu and expect higher staff salaries than to have the delivery boy/waiter be at my mercy of tipping.

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I am a US citizen and I completely agree. I'm used to it in restaurants, but other situations have me searching online to see what's expected, and worrying that I got it wrong. I'd really like to see the whole concept die.

I'm with you on that. The whole tipping business is out of control in the US! I only tip outside the US if I feel like incredible service has been provided, else expect my fees to cover the cost of the service.

Note there have been several articles about how some Uber drivers give lower ratings to riders who don't tip in cash.

I often take Pool and have seen most drivers giving 5 stars to co-passengers even though they didn't tip. In SF nobody tips anyway.

How could anyone ever know this? Uber doesn't even have this data, since the tip is in cash.

I've seen Uber drivers discuss this on forums. For some drivers, 'no tip' = 'no 5 star rating for the passenger'

Well now I don't feel so bad about giving them 3 stars for adequate service.

What are the implications for a passenger with a poor star rating?

I've never tipped in hundreds of Uber rides and I have like a 4.9 last I checked. Because I'm not a special snowflake I would think that most people have a good rating. But if you don't and there are options of who you can pick up, you gotta think that someone with a 4.5 would be picked up over a 3.5.

So someone with a 3.5 customer rating will just have to wait longer?

This is just an anecdote, but I have a 4.87 rating and have never tipped in cash unless the driver has done something extra for me.

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