Uber started this sh*t that people don't need to tip, so I never got a lot of tips. Oh well, I wasn't doing it for the money.

They've gone the other way. In France where tipping isn't mandatory and is only done for exceptional service or as an optional payment for a service ( e.g. a person walking you to your place in the theatre or a performance in a public place), Uber Eats heavily push you to tip the driver while ordering. When you still don't know what you'll get, which i find ridiculous. But at the same time a few months ago i found it absolutely impossible to tip a driver after a trip because they went above and beyond and managed to shave some minutes off running late - there was just no such option anywhere.

I absolutely hate DD and grub hub tipping policy

How do I know the service was any good? If it's grub hub it probably isn't so low tip is definitely justified. Hell if we go the traditional route of what a tip is, many actually deserve zero

When Uber Eats launched in Australia, the tipping functionality was quite subtle, and not pushed.

Then they started pushing it hard, and it's received an almost universally poor response. We don't have a mandatory-tipping culture, because it's expected that everyone doing a job is at least earning a living-wage. Tipping is reserved for exceptional service or doing something out of the ordinary.

I live in California where gas is expensive. I kept detailed records for a yr and half. I included all expenses (tires, etc...) and taxes, the depreciation on my car due to the extra miles and the time waiting for a ride (which wasn't much), then I came up with $6 an hour. More tips would have been nice. Drivers who make a living at it drive long hours.

From the perspective of many Australians, the cause of all those issues lies with Uber paying so little that their employees are forced to request charity from every single person they have a professional interaction with, just in order to survive.

What kind of car do you have? Cars today have MPG varying from 17 to 60 MPG, so I'm wondering if it only makes sense for low-emissions vehicles.

Had, because I wrecked it crossing the bridge over the mouth of the Columbia River (rain soaked bridges are extremely slick it turns out) I had a Ford Focus 2008 that got about 38 mpg. Maintenance costs are also a big expense if you keep everything up to date like I did, like changing the tires, transmission fluid and flushing the radiator.

Edit: Some have questioned my $6 figure and have talked to drivers who say they are making good money. I think it's because they are not taking into account the wear and tear on their car and subsequent decrease in value. They are basically taking equity out of their car and putting it into their pocket and thinking they are making money.

>Uber started this sh*t that people don't need to tip

disagree. I don't like tipping culture in general, so I welcome any effort to uproot it.

I generally agree. I’d prefer everybody made a living wage (or better) and priced goods & services appropriately.

But, does Uber (or whatever other gig employer) actually pay that? I hate that in the US, as a consumer, I don’t know. Much easier in much of Europe, where wait staff is paid a reasonable wage and tipping isn’t expected.

I agree. I don't like tipping or depending on tips.

Tipping is a horrendous cultural artifact stemming from bribery and aristocrats creating a servile class

As Scott said, "tipping, and the aristocratic idea it exemplifies, is what we left Europe to escape. It is a cancer in the breast of democracy"

At the start of the 20th century when Tipping was infecting the USA, it was common for business owners not only to fail to pay a salary, but to actually charge people to work for them!

Gunton's Magazine stated that tipping was offensively un-American, because it was contrary to the spirit of American life of working for wages rather than fawning for favors. Caiman's defence from that era boiled down to "you should be able to bribe your way to preferential treatment".

It's ironic that the "home of capitalism" is so much in favour of hiding information. Rather than a posted price for a given good or service, it's a price, plus an unspecified amount of tax, plus a tip of some sort which can vary from 0% to 30%.

Tips of course also allow us to bypass all those pesky problems that we try to eliminate. If you're a racist? Great, you don't have to pay black people, only white people (or vice versa). Don't like that waitress having a Trump2024 bumper sticker, don't pay her wage.

The rest of the world started that well before Uber.