Dollars make no sense
When talking about Uber, it’s important to get one thing out of the way: the popular ride share program is not a great service. Yes, the rare pleasant drive equipped with Kirkland Signature water bottles and a complimentary iPhone charger occasionally presents itself like a majestic white dove in a sky of soot- stained pigeons, but most Uber rides feel akin to paying a stranger’s glitchy GPS to lead you home.
This stands in sharp contrast to your average taxi driver: locals with one- way streets and stop signs etched into their brains from years on the road. Timid navigation systems are replaced with screeching swerves and angry honks, all in the name of getting you where you need to be on time.
Yet because Uber’s cashless, affordable, in-app ordering service is so painfully convenient, it’s easy to make the switch over. The cashless part in particular is a huge draw for anyone with an aversion to ATM fees and basic financial planning.
When embarking on a cashless experience, it’s only natural to assume that you do not have to bring cash. You’re liberated, completely free from germy coins and an irrational fear of losing the crisp bills in your wallet.
I do not understand why anyone would risk ruining such a great thing. And yet, destroying this utopia is exactly what fellow Uber users are doing. Instead of vacating the car once the ride is over, people have decided to one- up the rest of us by whipping out cold hard cash and tipping the driver. Not only does this make the rest of us look cheap, but the practice ends up affecting our personal rating, effectively making it harder to get picked up.
It’s not that there’s anything wrong with tipping in principle. Everyone who works hard should be able to make extra money. Given the option, I would gladly fork over 15 per cent to the majority of my drivers – especially if it means boosting my personal rating. But those who have chosen to remain cashless in what is promoted as a cashless experience should not be punished with lower ratings for using the service as intended.
On its website, Uber says: “Tips are not included in the fare, nor are they expected or required.” Yet if the generous among us keep tipping, cash tips will soon become even more expected than they are already, leaving even the most pleasant of cashless riders out on the curb scrambling for an ATM or a taxi that takes credit – whichever comes first.