When Uber started, the cost of the ride included the tip. The idea was to create a seamless experience. There’s no payment at the end of the ride. You request the ride, you get out of the car, you’re billed for it automatically.
Drivers wanted tipping because they thought they’d earn more from riders choosing voluntarily to give them money. But that’s not how tipping works, exactly. Uber pays drivers less because riders might pay them more.
Uber sets driver pay based on their ability to attract drivers. If they have enough drivers, that means they’re paying enough. The more customers tip (or drivers think they’ll tip), the less Uber has to pay to have a sufficient supply of drivers. And driver pay has fallen significantly since tipping was introduced.
The fall in driver pay isn’t all because of tipping. In fact, relatively few riders tip. People tip on food orders far more than rides.
It’s no wonder drivers play games with the rides. When Uber began, the algorithm was supposed to be a solution to redlining. The driver didn’t know where they were headed until the rider was in the car. No more taxis demanding to know your destination and then refusing to pick you up. That anti-discrimination measure is gone, too.
Now in Istanbul it appears that if you want an Uber airport pickup, you’re going to have to pay for that.
Add a tip for faster pickup A driver may be more likely to accept this ride if you add a tip. Your driver receives 100% of the tip. If you add a tip now, you can’t change it later.
Huh. @Uber is asking for an upfront tip to get a ride at Istanbul airport
Don't want to tip before your ride? You'll have to wait for Uber to send out the request. pic.twitter.com/CIOvmiMsRn
— JT Genter (@JTGenter) October 23, 2024
I’m not certain that bidding for a driver is a tip, exactly, since tips does not actually stand for ‘to insure prompt service’. But it’s just another way that Uber has lost the plot since picking Expedia’s CEO Dara Khosrowshahi to run the business.
There are 3 categories of Uber rides.
1. Excellent. 5 star plus about 10% tip.
2. Average. 5 star plus no tip.
3. Below Average. 4 star.
I learned from an American Uber driver that any rating below 5 star is considered poor. In Canada, I would rate something excellent as 4/5, but because Uber is an American company, I use the American scale.
Tips are insane. Ice cream shops ask for them then give you attitude when you do no tip.
I pick up a pizza and they want we to tip them for me picking it up
3% for the kitchen staff.
When given only the option to tip 25%. I force no tip.
Do not bite the hand that pays you
I have abandoned Uber for rides since over a year; now I use Amex Uber credit for food pickup.
Make arrangements prior to arrival with your destination. I usually find my own drivers from personal contacts. I prefer getting kissed before I’m being screwed
Peoples should not be forced to tip for share rides at all because I honestly think the tip thing has been majorly abused
Call them for what they are…..bribes.
You are bribing drivers to provide you a service.
Istanbul in particular is notorious for taxi scams.
There’s essentially are no private Uber drivers in Istanbul/Turkey like here in the USA. It’s all taxis. When you call an Uber to your location, it actually doesn’t give you a set price. It just gives you an approximate price range.
The reason why it does that is because the taxi driver is supposed to manually enter the metered price into the app at the end of the trip. The problem however is that drivers don’t need to provide proof. They are notorious for entering in a much higher price, claiming extra fees for “higher than expected traffic” or “tolls”. Some drivers even arrive having “forgotten” to reset the meter. You can see that in the follow up tweet that JT posted. For that reason alone, it is why I recommend tourists to take photos before and after of the meter. Submitting them to Uber support is the only way to get a refund.
My adult daughter works and lives in Istanbul. She speaks Turkish and she looks Turkish. We visit her frequently. Uber in Istanbul is not at all the same as Uber in the US. Basically, it is used like a taxi hailing service, and even if you order an Uber driver/car, the vehicle that arrives is taxi, and the driver says “Uber doesn’t work” and uses the meter. There is a massive problem with lack of taxis in Istanbul because the tax service is a monopoly (Erdogan cronies) and competition, ie, Uber, isn’t tolerated.
You don’t know how many times we’ve been riding in an “Uber” taxi with the meter going and the meter rates are 3x, 5x, 10X an estimated Uber rate. When we ride with her in a taxi she keeps a close eye on the meter, and if she sees some funny business going on she will open the door at a red light, move us all out of the taxi, and toss a wad of Turkish lira at the driver.
We’ve traveled all over the world and never seen anything like this. In most places you can get the numbers or cards of a few favorite/recommended drivers and keep them as contacts on your cellphone. Not Istanbul; the drivers don’t work that way.
It’s not a tip, it’s a bid to get a car sooner than the next traveler
You want a taxi during rush hour and don’t want to “tip”, well just take the city bus then
@Jon: Obviously you haven’t been to IST or SAW.
Go to Istanbul and try to get an Uber. The Uber app works, but what will arrive will be a taxi that uses a (rigged) meter. So the passengers are screwed from the start.
Best method we’ve found is to contact the hotel in advance and prearrange for their driver to pickup. Flat rate, no hassle, no quasi Uber-taxi game.
I’m OK with this. Not a tip but an extra incentive to take me over someone else. That is the way things should work. I’ll happily pay a little more to be picked up first. I can easily afford it and hate waiting so adding a 20% bonus for the driver to take me is well worth it. For those that say that isn’t “fair” well life isn’t either so get over it.
@kimmiea – I am in Athens right now and the only option here is Uber Taxi as well. Apparently originally Uber also had Uber X but Greece tightly regulates taxis or similar such rides so there was tremendous pushback by the taxi companies (and even fights between taxi drivers and Uber X drivers) so Uber, at the request of the government, eliminated Uber X and the only option is Uber Taxi. From what I have read (just got in yesterday and will be using it today) this works fairly well and the rates are set by the government based on distance so no meter games. Only issue I have is whether they will agree payment comes through Uber or if I will be required to also pay directly (likely double billed). Also, I read many drivers turn off their apps during busy times since they don’t want to pay a fee for using them (understandable IMHO if there is plenty of other business) so may not be able to get an Uber Taxi at rush hour (then just get one on the street). Finally you have the issue I’ve encountered all over Southern Europe that taxi drivers claim they only take Euro and no card even though the company claims cards are accepted – I just keep Euro with me and don’t fight it.
This business of tipping is completely out of control. And, that statement applies everywhere, not just for this story. You point out that Uber originally set up such that no tip was necessary. Then, for some reason, drivers pushed for tips and got them. After which, Uber said “hey, look at all this $$ you get from tips! We’ll just keep a bigger cut of the ride”. A lot like how restaurant servers are paid a sub-minimum wage because……gratuities. No, that’s now how any of this was meant to work.
And BTW, if I’m standing to get my food – NO tip.
I was just in Istanbul and Uber pick up at airport is illegal. Also the driver manually enters in the total to the app after the ride, so when we took Uber back to the airport, the driver tried to get us to pay in cash and told us there was $20 toll charge on top of the actual fare. Total scam.
I hope for Turkey that they ban this before they realize they’ve been hoodwinked into tipflation.
US politicians want more tipflation (tips are tax free, uh?!?!) – American should keep on stewing on that excrement, not export it.
Speaking of the sharing economy such as Uber, renting out on AirBnb at too high a price can mean a 9 month jail sentence:
This in Sweden with AirBNB:
https://www.hemhyra.se/nyheter/domen-far-fangelse-for-airbnb-uthyrning-forst-i-sverige/
And covered here in English:
https://www.thelocal.se/20241024/gothenburg-man-jailed-for-overcharging-airbnb-guests
Before I get in any taxi or Uber I ask how much is it? Before I ask how much is i? I research the cost so I know if they are scamming me.
BTW, and off the point, but if the next Pres lives up to a commen campaign promise and eliminates taxes on tips (don’t suspect it will happen), I will adjust my tips appropriately. You think 20% is the correct tip, dear server? OK, now I tip 15% (i.e., I charge a 25% “tax”). You have a group that currently illegally evades tax on a chunk of their income in many cases, and the response is to just not tax them at all on the bulk of what they make? Work at Target, make $40,000/year and pay taxes on all of it. Work as a server, make $5,000/year in employer paid compensation (I’m using <40 hours/week for servers) plus $35,000/year in tips and pay taxes (i.e., 0) only on the $5,000. I love my bartenders/servers, but fair is fair.
I am opposed to this irresponsible pandering to employers in industries where tipping is a large or the largest part of income of their employee. The proposed tax favoritism for income from tips is an all around bad idea.
Just take the bus to Taksim Square unless you’re loaded down with luggage. It’s comfortable and cheap and you can take a taxi from there and save a bundle if you’re going elsewhere in the city.
As Kevin mentionned earlier, Uber drivers in Turkey have no obligation to follow the “recommended” price, so you think you’re going to pay 150 turkish lira for a trip as shown in the Uber app, but when you arrive you are charged 300 and there is nothing you can do, except complain to Uber. I was refunded and learned to forget Uber and negotiate the price prior to entering the cab. Some drivers are honest but to my experience it’s not the majority.
@JoJo – in Athens and used Uber Taxi today. Live how it worked. Legit taxi with experienced driver came to me, fare same as regular taxi (very reasonable here) and pay through card on app so no money transfer for ride. Get option to add a tip (I do bit around 10% which is good for Europe). Only thing (and not a problem for me) is you can’t say “how much” or have a fixed fee. There is a range quoted like “9-12 Euro” and actual meter drives price. In both cases today I came in either projected range, even with horrible Friday rush hour traffic, so was good with it.
Overall highly recommend Uber use in Greece. Now Turkey is a different story