Tipping Uber drivers in Australia

[Flying mermaid]

The Australian way would not to have a screen that asks for a tip, rather it should ask ... “Round up to the nearest ...” with options of dollar, five dollar or ten dollar. That’s what tipping in taxis has been about for time immemorial. Taxi fare $38.71 ... hand over $40 and keep the change ... unless the driver was bad.

true - so instead of trying to introduce tipping, they just said fares will be rounded then all would be happy. It’s more or less the same as raising the fares - what happens internally is their affair.

 

[Forg]

This reply confuses me. Why does a comment about tipping raise a question about usage? This is Australia where it is not customary to tip (except for really great service).

OK ... the way I interpreted it, you said that this is Australia and you don’t tip because people earn a living wage.
The challenge “why do you use Uber?” was because Uber does not give drivers a decent living wage, and this is the reason it’s cheap. So using Uber supports paying people a substandard wage.

Except ... I disagree with the person you were responding to (yeah I’m too lazy to check back who it was ).
Uber is supposed to be about “ride sharing”. It’s supposed to be about people in the general public signing-up to make a bit of extra cash when they were driving a particular route. That is the way the business is represented, and the way it’s structured.
If someone decides they’re going to work full-time as an Uber driver, they know what they’re being paid ... they can’t just assume they’re supported by minimum-wage rules which don’t apply, as they’re not an employee.
It’s a business model which really should have failed sooner; it’s being supported purely by the optimism of the underpaid drivers.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

OT but this morning I flagged down a POM cab and asked how much to xyz destination. He replyed, "you pay me what you think it's worth". I hate those deals but I knew the trip was worth K40 so I paid him K50.

 

[oz_mark]

I don't rate my trip till the driver rates me...I make a mental note of my score pre trip. If my score drops, I rate accordingly Having said that it is rare that I rate less than 5.

It takes a week (to the minute) for me to work out a drivers rating. By then,it is too late for me to rate them.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

OK ... the way I interpreted it, you said that this is Australia and you don’t tip because people earn a living wage.
The challenge “why do you use Uber?” was because Uber does not give drivers a decent living wage, and this is the reason it’s cheap.

I don't agree with the argument there.

For a start I didn't say why I don't tip in Australia. The reality is I do ... when the service is worth it.

What Uber pays it's drivers is between Uber and the drivers. Uber is often as dear or dearer (due to surge pricing) than taxi's but your premise is that we should pay more by way of a tip, to make up for Uber underpaying drivers. No thanks.

Drivers don't have to drive with Uber. There are now a few more models that claim to be cheaper than Uber (for the pax) yet shell out a greater percentage to the driver. Surely drivers can just drive for the opposition.

Perhaps Uber is still around because more and more drivers are manipulating the surge, which they can't do if there is no surge. So are they worth tipping? No way known.

 

[Peter D]

The Australian way would not to have a screen that asks for a tip, rather it should ask ... “Round up to the nearest ...” with options of dollar, five dollar or ten dollar. That’s what tipping in taxis has been about for time immemorial. Taxi fare $38.71 ... hand over $40 and keep the change ... unless the driver was bad.

Or negative tips as I have encountered more than once with taxis.

Fare $32.40. “Make thirty mate”

 

[Forg]

I don't agree with the argument there.

I think it’s a valid argument; but then, I think I also agree with you. Whatever drives the pricing is irrelevant to the user, I’m just the user.

Unsure about Uber drivers manipulating Serge (I worked with Serge for a few months - he didn’t come across as easily manipulated). My few Uber experiences have been waaay cheaper than taxis, which is the main alternative ... I just think drivers are sticking with it because they have hopes it’ll get better.

 

[Moody]

As Childish Gambino would say :- "This is not America".

Hang on ... that was David Bowie. But I digress.

Tipping always has been (and hopefully will ever be) optional in Australia. There are very few occasions where I personally choose to do this, which are :-

Barbers :- if they somehow make me look good, I tend to tip $2-$4 çoz I know their pay is pretty shyte
Waiters :- I like to handle the bill when dining with a group, so I can round up the amount by 5-15% depending on how we have behaved and how they dealt with any difficulties. When dining as a couple the tip ranges from 0-10%, with no tip being the most common outcome
Taxi drivers :- if they haven't annoyed me with their driving I tend to add a couple or 3 bucks, but I am very easily annoyed.

New category >>> Uber drivers.

If the model is broken (as in the drivers struggle to make a living wage), then it is in my own best interest to reward the good drivers. So I am quite happy to have the option to add a tip on the same card, rather than have to carry loose change all the time on the off-chance that I get a gun driver. If drivers start rating people down for no tips they will merely accelerate their exit from the system.

 

[ozmuzz]

ATO - please note to allocate extra tax oversight on Uber drivers - tips are taxable (or should be). Tipping is a slippery slope and not to be encouraged. The USA is a joke with mandatory 20% tips and underpaid workers. Uber is underpaying and now expects riders to top up.

 

[RWJ777]

I think it’ll be inevitable that drivers will give negative ratings if a tip is not provided. Already I have experienced negative ratings if the trip is deemed too short: as one none too subtly complained to me, ‘it’s only $8 and I have to pay Uber 6 of that, so it’s not worth my effort’.

Uber should trim its admin overheads and provide more return to drivers, rather than expecting its passengers to top up driver revenue.

I don't like this at all, I hope drivers don't rate their passengers based on whether they tip or not. I tip in Australia based on service because I want to, not because I feel i have to. Honestly, most Uber drivers of recent don't deserve a tip.

 

[NoName]

I think it’ll be inevitable that drivers will give negative ratings if a tip is not provided. Already I have experienced negative ratings if the trip is deemed too short: as one none too subtly complained to me, ‘it’s only $8 and I have to pay Uber 6 of that, so it’s not worth my effort’.

Uber should trim its admin overheads and provide more return to drivers, rather than expecting its passengers to top up driver revenue.

Any driver complaining about short trips is just showing their lack of intelligence. Short trips are the highest earners on an hourly basis. Give me a 1km trip where you’re in and out in 2 minutes any day!

Other than that this particular driver is lying to you. They do not give Uber $6 out of the $8.

 

[flyer001]

If I get good service I tip the driver personally not through an app. I can see Uber holding back part of the tip, if not now but in the future, for admin costs, and or, also dropping the wages in the future. Tipping in America is only because they pay very low wages and if you don't tip, you get abused. Australia luckily has laws preventing the exploitation of workers so tipping should not be introduced here. It might lead to the USA model where in some jobs the only pay is tips, hopefully this will never be the case in Australia.

 

[bobbyjo]

I’m not in favour of American style tipping, where it is less of a thanks for excellent service and more of an expectation by the recipient, my ex & I were in a restaurant in Miniapolis a few years ago, being English it was his habit to tip a waiter discreetly on his way out of a restaurant, not at the table in that ostentatious way that some folks do. On this occasion his quiet demeanour backfired on him, the waiter came over to the table, stood over him & in a loud voice asked if there was anything wrong with the service, we were all mortified. To my knowledge (although I haven’t been to the US for quite a while) tips are now expected to be between. 17.5% -21%, which is, in my opinion outrageous, people I have spoken to tell me it’s because most service industry workers are paid at or below a very poor minimum wage, that isn’t the case in Australia (although NZ it could be said to be the case in some places) I tip when service is excellent & that’s rare, what I also found disturbing was the bit about drivers rating passengers, how does that happen?

 

[Le Clair]

Ah yes the good old judging people for tipping or not tipping.

If only that energy was focussed on employers who don't pay enough in the first place.

...or on employees who are not worth what employers are required to pay them. Basic rule of a free market - if an employer is "not paying enough", then don't work for them. If you do choose to work for the offered wage, that's the employees free choice in a free market.

 

[Flying mermaid]

...or on employees who are not worth what employers are required to pay them. Basic rule of a free market - if an employer is "not paying enough", then don't work for them. If you do choose to work for the offered wage, that's the employees free choice in a free market.

Yeah - not so much. All very well at our level but for a lot of people they don’t have the power to bargain for higher wages or the flexibility to move. I am quite happy for employers to get rid of bad workers - I bulletted two in my years running a business - went through all the hoops of counseling and feedback, so wouldn’t cop a claim. That’s different to employers being able to set what wage they like. Free markets don’t tend to have a good outcome for workers - I like Australia’s system.

 

[mviy]

Tipping is not part of our culture except perhaps in very rare cases for exceptional service that goes way above and beyond.

I even feel bad tipping in the States where it’s expected to tip as it’s supporting a culture of underpaying workers. Whilst I do tip for meals at restaurants there it feels very wrong to do so.

If Uber isn’t paying their drivers properly they should raise their fares and increase the payments they pay their drivers accordingly.

 

[blaz]

Personally, I would rather see compulsory or even expected tipping as illegal....discretionary tipping is absolutely fine, and I almost always round up to the nearest round figure, depending on the cash I have. In the case of Uber though, no cash changes hands, so, if they performed beyond a normal expectation, I would consider an extra tip, but not otherwise.

 

[aggie57]

To those who claim people don't tip in Australia/New Zealand, well that's just plain wrong. Tipping is not expected but of course it happens. Having the option to do so with Uber without having to carry cash is a good thing. If you don't want to then don't.

 

[amp-qld]

Personally, I would rather see compulsory or even expected tipping as illegal....discretionary tipping is absolutely fine, and I almost always round up to the nearest round figure, depending on the cash I have. /QUOTE]
I'm OK with the new option as long as it stays as a totally voluntary option and the driver gets it all. We're about to do a Holland America cruise and the gratuities (which will be added automatically unless I go out of my way to change it) add well over 20% to the TOTAL fare, not just the services aspects.

With regards to ratings, I'm a retiree and, as far as I'm concerned, my starting point on a scale of 5 is a 3. It baffles me that the modern expectation seems to be a 5 all the time.

 

[lacuska1]

why is it that all cough comes from the big old US??? If they want to tip them do it but let other nation decide what they want how to live their life!
Anyway they shouldn't get any tips at all-they choose to do this job so they calculate their income-if they want money go to do some proper job where you are paid -uber wasn't invented for drivers who relying on tips!