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-   -   Ola launches in-app tipping functionality (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/street-experiences/224246-ola-launches-app-tipping-functionality.html)

Ola has launched an in-app tipping functionality that will enable customers to reward the drivers through the app itself. In addition to India, this feature has been rolled out in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.



The cashless tipping feature will appear in the final step of the payment phase. Customers can select a fixed amount or an amount of their choice, which will be credited to the drivers' account. According to Ola, this feature will increase the earning potential for drivers.

Ola has introduced strict safety protocols in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. Driver partners have to follow strict hygiene and are required to sanitize the cars after every trip.

Link to Team-BHP News

Another braindead bloodsucking amrikan culture known as tipping makes its formal entry in India. Something is broken with our formal and corporate policy makers who are not able to look beyond western problems, bring it here in India as an import then declare it as our own problems and then look again towards west to find the solution.

Oh god no, I have regularly tipped Ola / Uber drivers but on my own time and in cash. Moment you put this functionality in, you will start getting badgered by many drivers for tips.

Previously it was " Sir please give me 5 star rating. " at the end of the journey and now it will be " Please give me 5 star & 5 star tip. " I don't encourage tipping culture!

They're smart. They're transferring the responsibility of ensuring drivers earn a sustainable, respectable living from their P&L to their customers. They can continue with low fares and fat commissions while the drivers see their earning dip and expect/hope for tips to make the job worthwhile.

The tipping culture in the US has arisen from Corporate America's insistence on paying minimum wage to blue collar service staff and expecting customers to then cover the rest.

They can as well provide incentive to the drivers based on the number of 4 and 5* rating that customers provide for them over the period of a week. Very clever to offload the responsibility to the users .

Am a big tipper & will tip when I see the driver providing exceptional service.

Zomato & Swiggy have had it for a while.

I don't think so. Because their rating is more important to them (asking for a tip might deter customers from giving them 5 stars) than a tip, and I have never had a Zomato / Swiggy chap ask me for a tip.

Adding a poll! Please vote

Voted: No.

I tip when the service is exceptional. And in cash. Eg. airport runs when the driver steps out by himself to assist with my luggage.
Do not want a system looking back at me prompting me to click. Hence the No.

I'd rather prefer a feedback system for cases when drivers call up immediately after accepting a trip asking for destination & mode of payment. And then cancel without informing coz you prefer digital payment :Frustrati

I would definitely tip a driver if he has made my journey pleasent and also did not crib on the way.

However I'll pay the tip as cash as I don't trust ola to credit the tip, immediately at the end of the journey. If cash the driver is guaranteed the money immediately at the end of the journey. Ola might rotate the money, levy a fee or pay consolidated at the end of a week. This is similar to Ola money case where when a passenger pays ola money, driver doesn't get the ola money as cash in his account or hand


The same has been shared by Swiggy, Zomato and other delivery boys who tell me that their employer doesn't pay them the tip. They prefer cash in hand.

Voted no. I detest tipping. There are only three exceptions for me. One, my barman because I want exceptional and immaculate service. Second, valet parking personnel because I love my cars. Third, the "chotu" in dhaba because when I see a little boy working while he should be studying or playing it affects me on some personal level. I don't tip in a restaurant which I am visiting for the first time, even if I am with somebody. People who know me, know that I am more than generous with money and those who don't, I don't feel the need to impress. I believe that employer should pay their employees fairly and if workers find it insufficient then they should quit. It is not my moral duty to support your business or employee.

What we will also never know is how OLA will reimburse the drivers. Will the drivers be made aware how much each customer has tipped? If somebody tips 20 rupees how will it be made sure that the app does not show 10 rupees to the driver? Then the question is will they charge disbursement fees or convenience fee from the drivers while reimbursement of the said tip? It may further down the road enable OLA to renegotiate with drivers citing high tips they make and increase their own commission percentage or simply pay less by tweaking their "algorithm". It is not a gig job as it was earlier made out to be. I will not partake in making drivers life more challenging while easing the life of a corporate and helping them shed their responsibility while guilt tripping the customers. The customers are also rated by drivers, what if one does not tip and drivers give them low rating.

Anyone read about the DoorDash company tipping scam, few months ago in USA. Xu the owner staunchly defended it as a way of making deliverers' income more stable and predictable. It worked like this: DoorDash would offer a delivery person the chance to make a delivery at a guaranteed minimum fee. In an example that fee was $6.85. If the customer tipped zero, the deliverer would get $6.85. If the customer tipped $3, DoorDash paid $3.85 in addition to the tip, so that the total remained $6.85--and DoorDash saved $3. Had the customer tipped $10, DoorDash would pay only its minimum fee of $1, giving the deliverer $11 for the trip.

https://www.inc.com/minda-zetlin/doo...m-tony-xu.html

When backlash happened the company change it's policies. What happened next is even more astonishing. DoorDash simply lowered the guaranteed amount to delivery persons to offset their losses. They now pay less to make up for the revenue it expected to lose after no longer being able to subsidize labor costs with tips. Meaning a previously guaranteed 10-dollar order might now only guarantee 5 dollars, and get a 2 dollar tip, meaning delivery person now get less than earlier. Lets take the average example of a $8 delivery guarantee. If you tip $5 then DoorDash throws in $3 and calls it $8. If you tip nothing, DoorDash throws in $8 to make the guarantee. Either way the driver only gets $8, so in reality your tip isn't "Going to the Delivery person" it is being used to offset DoorDash's payment to the driver.




I am unaware of that because I don't frequently order from aggregator portals. I order directly from the restaurants. Every restaurant delivers and this is not something new in our country. Minimum order value and maximum deliverable distances may vary. Even if it happens I will not pay any tip other than few coins that is left in form of change.

True; I've already saved the cost of petrol in having to go there/pick the order up. And my time.

Personal opinion but sorry, I find that the worst. I've been with people who'd tip a few rupees to the server or ask them to keep back the change (the typical, odd <30 amount). I find that demeaning to the person you are tipping. What kind of charity is 5 or 15 or 30 rupees in today's world?!

Again, personal opinion but if I do tip, (except the guy filling tyre at the fuel pump, that's a fixed 10) I tip a minimum of 100. I want the person delivering the service to know I actually appreciate it, rather than just satisfy some entitled personal ego. If I don't feel the service to be worth the 100, I'd rather not tip at all, than insult the person by giving back a few rupees.

<Strictly personal opinion, not intended to judge what others do>

You have nailed it.
The issue I see with tipping culture is the expectation from the receiver.
A poor(er) person may be able to tip Rs 10, A rich(er) person would be able to tip Rs 100.

Do you think the tippee will care to see the background and tipping ability of the tipper and appreciate the gesture accordingly (once it becomes well ingrained as a social expectation)?

We have an existing thread on it with poll.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/stree...u-drivers.html

Interestingly, This thread has different poll results (at 10:13 am of July 02, 2020)
I think it is because of OLA's caption (To Drivers who go the extra mile) and thread's question (positive service experience)

My views are shared in previous thread.
It talks about expectations of drivers for tips.
Here is the link : https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/stree...ml#post4593918

Btw, Ola and Uber chaps are not drivers. They are entrepreneurs. :)
They will be given reward (read tip)
if they walk extra mile.

I am heavily against tipping culture being a norm.

If someone gives you exceptional service, feel free to slip a little cash into their pockets; but making it an official part of the app creates an expectation from the driver to receive tips from customers.

An interesting thread on tipping.
Culture wise I wouldn't debate on its origination and following trends.

Two sides of coin. First where they are getting already paid for what they are suppose to do.
Second being a blue collar job the extra money is for the exemplary service which they offer beyond there work area.

So generally for restaurants, I prefer tipping before placing an order and trust me you can see the difference in service.

Coming to this thread, I tip only if it was a pleasant ride, but I prefer the direct mode, definitely not via app.