You had a great ride and you want to tip the driver; well guess what, the Uber app limits you. Is this just another evil part of Uber’s anti-driver campaign that has been going on for over 6 years? Or is this an oversight? Let’s look at this new challenge set by Uber against driver’s satisfaction.
History of Uber Tipping
In the beginning, there was Uber, a driver and a passenger and Uber did not let drivers take tips from their passengers. Drivers had to resort to all kinds of interesting methods to elicit tips without directly asking for them. Over time, irate drivers managed to suggest to Uber that it was in their best interest to allow tipping, to which Uber created a tipping feature in their app. However, in the interest of keeping their evil empire image, and not to confuse the drivers with a possible lapse in passion, Uber hid the tipping feature behind the rating feature, making it a convoluted function with many hardships to reach it. If you thought that Uber’s sudden lapse in compassion was fulfilled, then you were wrong.
While the tipping function allows passengers to tip “any” amount other than the amounts in their three little circles, Uber went and booby-trapped the “other amount” feature with a limit. Yes, a ceiling that limits the passenger from giving more than a specific amount based on the trips fee. The message received is clear, if you want to tip more, give cash! Since many passenger’s tips after leaving the car, it’s a problem to leave cash, which is exactly what Uber want, to confuse, infuriate and generally never truly complete ant driver related process that would make an Uber driver a really happy person.
The Uber Tip Cap
The Uber tipping cap is 200% or up to a $100 ride, which means that anything above $100 is limited to 200% and that means that if you take a $15 ride, you can only tip $30 and no more. Now, this might sound like a good tip, but remember, tipping is a personal affair between the customer and the driver. If a customer wants to tip a driver $1,000 for a $5 ride, they should be free to do so. What is Uber’s response? The climax that their rides are based on a tip-free experience, or originally was, and not it is based on a value for money ride, which is a PR way of saying cheaper than taxies and Lyft. That translates into, driver, get ready to earn less than anyone in the transportation industry, even though you invested heavily in your car (capex) and you are the only reason we (Uber) exist.
Bottom Line
Did I forget to mention that the evil Sith emperor Travis Kalanick was replaced by Supreme Leader Snoke? After all, the new tipping function comes in the enlightened age of Dara Khosrowshahi, but is it really an enlightened age or is this the age of making Uber even fatter and ready for an IPO. Then the final plan is to replace all drivers with autonomous vehicles within the next 5 years.
Also, add to that the “independent contractor” agreement between drivers and Uber, where the driver is a business and all the reliability, cost and responsibility is on the driver’s shoulders. Uber just brokers between their Uber registered) customers and the driver. The wonders of business models and the infallibility of marketing to the masses.