Team-BHP - Would you tip Uber / Ola / Meru drivers?
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Quote:

Originally Posted by tilt (Post 4589190)
My opinion is the complete opposite of yours. I believe this is NOT a good idea. Wherever Uber has allowed in-app tipping, it has worked out negatively for riders who either do not tip; or do not tip what the driver considers enough.

I have read on Uber driver-forums that many drivers have no qualms about rating riders 4 or less if they do not tip or do not tip to the driver's satisfaction. This drives the rider's rating down rapidly and makes it difficult for them to get rides.

India is NOT a tipping culture, like Europe/UK/Japan etc. are NOT tipping cultures either. Introducing this creates an entitled mentality with service-providers rather than being perceived as a token of appreciation. Optional tipping will become "mandatory" by entitlement.

Now, before someone says that service-providers are not being paid enough and therefore tips give them a bit ore income, let me ask this:

Are your fuel-station attendants or grocery-store clerks being paid enough? Do you tip them? If not, why not? The same argument should hold for them too, right?

I shall use the same argument against tipping in restaurants too. Staff are paid enough, tipping should not be needed. In North America, because of tipping, the wages of wait-staff has been made ridiculously low. This is not the case in India. Wait-staff are not paid any lower than fuel-station attendants or store-clerks or some other service-providers.

Cheers

Fully agree with you. Recently got to know about the fact that the drivers can rate US in return. I used to give them 3 or 4 stars when we visited Kolkata last week, but a friend told me not to do that as those guys would give us a trash rating in return, even though they would pick us up late like 20-25 mins.:deadhorse

I have always tipped drivers, delivery boys, hotel waiters, salon stylist etc etc for above average or exceptional service.

It is a personal thing however as many of my friends simply do not bother.

If they make your life easier and better, a small reward makes me feel I did the right thing.

When it comes to Uber or ola, I consider all things such as music volume, safe driving, clean car, AC on with windows rolled up, politeness etc and I have tipped on most occasions.

Voting "No". Unless exceptional I do not find a reason to tip. For example, I booked a cab from point A to point B. Without a single deviation in route, 2 of my friends hopped in and both times driver obliged to stop and pick up them. He told once this is not right, but that's it. I tipped him for going out of the rules (which I am not sure of) and helping me out.

I always give 5 stars to my Uber/Ola drivers without thinking twice. Can it be considered as a tip ? Now, one driver at night 2 am drives me at lightning speed and doesn't care to slow down even if I told him politely to take it easy. I had to give him single star due to "Unsafe Driving".

While I am not in favor of that practice, my question is - why would a cab aggregator like Meru would be interested in having tips to drivers routed through their app? Is it to see which drivers are the customers happy about or something else?

I am a non tipping guy.

I can give good ratings and feedback for service provided to me (be it hotel servers, delivery boys, grocery store etc)

My belief is, I am getting the services I have paid for, and the person serves me gets paid for what his duty is.

I work in a service industry, my customer never gives me any additional money for my exceptional services, but my company gives me salary hikes with respect to my appraisal ratings. My customers praises / positive feedback effects my appraisal ratings.

Same thing can be followed here too, Instead of giving tips to the driver, take the feedback/ratings by the rider and let the service provider give additional bonus based on his ratings instead of tips by rider. This way, the driver giving low rating to non tipping rider can be avoided too.

PS: even though I don't tip normally, In some cases I do tip the driver, if he maintains and drive his car with utmost care and asks the riders to buckle up. :)

Absolutely against this option.

If I feel like, I will pay in cash after the trip. Why should there be a difference between customer paying tip and those who don't?

I am almost certain, drivers will make it a rating criteria which could be detrimental to good customer service expected from cab aggregating applications.

I am equally against the service charge at restaurants. At times service is sub-par but the 10% of the bill amount is extracted without even apologizing for poor service; this is unfair !

Good service and happy staff both can be managed at the same time and there are fair bit of examples such as Barbecue Nation - No tips at all.

A clear NO.

Voted No to tips for cab drivers. Although, I do tip the food delivery guys sometimes in adverse weather conditions and/or for timely delivery.

:OT
This whole tipping for rating culture reminds me of that "Black Mirror" episode wherein you rate each person you meet and your social status is dependent on your rating. If not completely, we will be somewhere there in the not too distant future, it seems.

Quote:

Originally Posted by boniver (Post 4590041)
Tipping is a major source of income for the people who work on minimum wage in the US. I have a couple of friends who work part time in the US to support themselves through college, and the amount they receive as tips far exceed their wages. It's a good thing for them, but then they also start expecting tips from everyone, thereby delivering a below-par service to those who don't tip. That shouldn't happen since they're getting paid for their services in the first place.

It's interesting to see how tipping works in America as a case study here. Though it is meant to counter act the low minimum wages, tipping helps perpetuate the following:-

1. Variable standard of service proportional to the provided tip
2. Cultural acceptability as a norm (people in the US will more often than not call you out for not tipping)

This is a very utilitarian concept, which again though flawed for the underprivileged (as consumers) works very well for individual employees willing to work hard. Yet, the counter solution to this practice would be increased wage floor in the first place, which will help provide a increasingly standard level of service for the consumers, while providing the additional financial benefits to the employees. So - why does this model not work?

Here's the not-so-simple answer - lower expenses on balance sheet for the employer, and a utilitarian culture for its employees. Employers want to promote the notion of individuality and utility (akin to the American dream), while consumers provide the means to support it (for they feed off the increased marginal utility provided by the employees working on a variable pay rate). Money here is used as a driving factor for hard work, akin to how capitalism, especially in the US, functions. Quite a self sustaining culture in my opinion, though highly debatable. P.S. Mods: This might be off topic, feel free to remove.

I am not in favour of tipping anybody for anything. The problem is this encourages preferential behaviour for people who tip, and tends to favour the rich as they can afford to tip more generously.

Voted Yes!

I tip the taxi drivers always! If the amount to be paid is Rs. 183, I would give Rs. 200 and will ask them to keep the change.

I don't think the driver can give a preferential treatment to me, as I give the tip only after my ride. Neither the driver knows if he will get a tip or not.

In coffee shops, restaurants and else where, yes I would tip there too. But, that is completely based on how best the job is done.

Good basic service is the bare minimum expected in the service industry. The driver is supposed to be prompt, polite & efficient in his service, & if I have to pay him extra to be so, that's not done. Bottom line - no tip, other than exceptional circumstances when the service providers go out of their way in helping us.

Voted No. It's only a matter of time before their employers start counting the tips towards their income. And then they'll have a reason to justify lower compensation per ride. I think it also gives the cabbie a reason to rate a passenger poorly just because the rider didn't tip.

I'm not in favor of tipping. Especially not through the app.

Quote:

Originally Posted by tilt (Post 4589190)
I believe this is NOT a good idea. Wherever Uber has allowed in-app tipping, it has worked out negatively for riders who either do not tip; or do not tip what the driver considers enough.

There's a very simple solution for this. Let the drivers not see who has tipped, and how much, individually. Their tip kitty should be added to their fare and paid up along with.

Quote:

Originally Posted by GTO (Post 4589771)
I drive my family up the wall with the way I tip.

Yeah. I hear it too. There's a lot of services that are available here in India because of the population and poverty. When an opportunity presents itself, and people want to grab it, I'd like to help them along just a little bit.
Nowhere else in the world can you get good food delivered to your door at 5AM in the morning in 30 mins near free of cost.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ashis89 (Post 4589796)
I voted No.

However I try to pass on a tip directly in cash wherever I can without fail.

You are doing it the wrong way. You should not have tipped in india and you should have tipped in US.

That comes back to the point many are making that we should not drive the situation in India like in US. Tipping should be not be systemic, cash Ok. That to should be given for that rare experience given by exceptional service provider. Thanks.

Like most of the votes I've opted for no, since the service providers have agreed for an amount and I'm paying there is no obligation to pay over and above it, my boss doesn't pay me extra when I've had a hard day or made his day easy, it's a part of the job and I am expected to do it and get paid end of the month.

Any other service industry job is the same, everyone expects minimum service standards, if they are met then good, if they are exceeded then great feedback and a returning customer. But not by any means an obligation to tip.


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