180 Days of Change – Our Commitment to Drivers – Uber

Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14596529

I don't want tipping to be a thing. I'm also hoping that it doesn't impact how the driver will rate me after-the-fact (I'm assuming it won't. I don't know how that system works. It's unclear to me, and the landing page + click-through page doesn't seem to identify that well enough for me.)

I use Uber to commute in Seattle (often both ways) and have encountered repeat drivers. Will they give me a lower score now that they realize I'm not tipping them?

Not tipping is what made Uber more simple and required less effort on my part. Tipping a taxi driver was annoying and this will be annoying too.

I was also wary of using food delivery app services for the longest time because of the tipping. I am glad that I can just do a $5 tip (or whatever) + built delivery fee IN THE CHECKOUT process and not worry about it AFTER they have showed up at my doorstep with the delivery.

TLDR: I don't want to tip because it requires more effort and consideration from me as a rider after the fact. I will not tip like this.

As an aside, I've tipped an Uber driver ONCE before because it was a distant airport ride and he helped with the very heavy luggage my girlfriend and I had. I gave him cash.

Edit: For whatever it's worth, I tip waiters and stylists very well. I don't have anything against tipping itself, just this kind of implementation into an app service where it didn't have tipping before.

Really not looking forward to this change in tipping. One thing I really love about services like this is that I don't have to worry about dealing with tips.

They already have ratings, why not just adjust pay based on driver ratings? That seems much more "fare" to me (ba-dum-ching).

Also, are drivers now going to be able to rate me based on my tip?

It's a shame it took 6 months of terrible PR for them to make these changes which actually do sound like they will be good for drivers. Can't help feeling like it would have taken relatively minimal effort to do these things in the past. Drivers have been complaining about lack of tipping for a while now. Seems to come from a place of wanting good PR rather than caring at all about drivers. Will see what the rest of the 180 days bring, maybe they are turning over a new leaf. I wouldn't bet on it though.

Guess they realised they will need meat based drivers a bit longer now that their autonomous division is in strife.

I really hope they have a strategy for dealing with drivers rating their riders poorly based on tips. Maybe aggregate all the rider tips into one and delay how soon they can view that amount? I really don't want to be given 1-star ratings just because I didn't tip the driver.

From the post:

> Tipping is coming

> Great service deserves to be rewarded. Tipping is now available in Seattle, Minneapolis and Houston. We’ll be adding more cities over the next few weeks, and will make tips available to all U.S. drivers, by the end of July 2017.

I don't see why this is a dupe. There is way more in this blog post than in the article that was linked to in the other story.

I guess the painful hemorrhaging of countless Uber drivers and customers has yielded some results!

These all seem like no brainer features. I wonder why its taken them so long to implement them

Finally, I hang the prospect of a tip over these pblebs' heads.

Uber is finally bowing to irrational pressure from drivers, the media, and the paper belt. The customer is now just another 'stakeholder'.

Goodbye Travis, you fought a good fight.