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Uber is the world’s best taxi app. Tap, tap, tap, and a cab is on its way to you.
Best of all, that cab is clean, smells good, and you can see its progress toward getting to you.
I’m pretty new to Uber. I’ve used it only a handful of times. All of them have been perfect experiences, except for the one when I got scammed for 90 cents (and Uber refunded my entire $20 fare.)
Every time I use Uber, I talk to the driver to try to learn more about the service from his perspective. Last night, the driver let me know that you can change the pre-set tip percentage on uber.com.
It’s fairly easy.
How do you change the pre-set tip percentage on uber.com?
After signing in to the web site, click Payment along the top of the page.
At the bottom, the taxi gratuity option is pre-set to 20% on the dropdown menu.
You can change it to options from 0% to 30%.
I set mine to 0%, so that I can vary my tip based on service, and so that I can ensure my cash tip goes entirely to the driver and not the company. (I always carry cash. Consider a different pre-set tip if you don’t.)
The pre-set tip amount applies only to Uber taxi calls. It doesn’t apply to the Black Car, SUV, or UBERx service.
If you join Uber through this referral link, we both get $10 in free rides. Feel free to post your referral link in the comments.
Are there any other tips you have about using Uber?
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In NYC, Hailo is better. No demand pricing jumps.
That info alone doesn’t say whether it’s better. Supply and demand either meet at the market clearing price or the lack of “demand pricing” will cause a shortage like with normal taxis in the rain. Neither is necessarily better, but I’d favor demand pricing.
It’s always refreshing to be called out for not providing information. How often does that happen in the comments? Demand pricing, excuse me, “surge pricing” as uber calls it (demand pricing sounds so usurious) is a natural development of big data. Uber says it puts more cars on the road during peak times. OK, that’s interesting. Like some uberdriver is woken from his slumber to rush into Manhattan and quell ‘surging’ need? There are obviously barriers to becoming a driver, and the surge pricing happens in a matter of minutes, how could the supply adjust that quickly? Hailo, while not as ubiquitous, is a signaling app for taxi drivers, minimizing their downtime and linking them to waiting passengers, lowering inefficiencies. Uber is a luxury service, demanding what it can get, and ‘disrupting’. Which is technobabble for circumventing regulations borne of another more humanistic time where profits were balanced with the requirements of service. This article has some good points https://medium.com/tech-talk/2ed9de90fcae One of my favorite quotes from an interview with the uber CEO:
-I noticed your Twitter avatar is the cover of Ayn Rand’s “The Fountainhead.”
I don’t know what you’re talking about. [Laughs.] It’s one of my favorite books. It’s less of a political statement. It’s just personally one of my favorite books. I’m a fan of architecture.
-The Randian philosophy has come to bear on this situation, you would admit.
That’s probably true. I’d say there’s an uncanny resemblance, especially on the “Atlas Shrugged” side.
Yikes.
When prices are higher, more quantity is supplied. That is a truism. When Uber charges more (and passes more on to drivers), more cars are on the road. I guarantee it.
The drivers aren’t woken from their slumber necessarily, though possible they are. More likely, they anticipate when a higher paying time to drive is and drive then. This results in a more efficient outcome than quantity demanded outstripping quantity supplied and people waiting longer for taxis.
“…regulations borne of another more humanistic time where profits were balanced with the requirements of service.”
Taxis captured the regulatory agencies and have received super-normal profits in most cities for decades. That’s terrible for everyone but them.
Uber code for 10.00 off = e0b9b
(the 0 is a zero)
“When prices are higher, more quantity is supplied. That is a truism.”
What is the system response time for a rain shower?
“Taxis captured the regulatory agencies and have received super-normal profits in most cities for decades. That’s terrible for everyone but them.”
I am not qualified to make a taxi labor union assessment in cities outside of NYC. But, I don’t understand how your statement applies to Uber NYC, as they are a luxury car service, and charge more than the taxi companies. The demand pricing model means they can potentially charge a lot more – is that super-normal profit or just slightly more than super-normal?
To step back a bit, this debate is only possible inside the context of improved service via ride availability – a bar set by the taxi/livery system. Without the current taxi and livery system for uber to overlay, we would have no comparative criteria. Government regulation, including anti-trust policies, are what protect consumers from price fixing and other monopolistic activities. Uber, by circumventing (and actively lobbying against) consumer protections could ‘disrupt’, consolidate, and/or supplant the existing system. I think airline consolidation has impacted the airline industry, don’t you?
Last thing. I love the driver rating feedback that Uber provides. That is the true disruption – removing asymmetrical information flows. Try and complain about a taxi driver in NYC – you are shit out of luck. It is almost worth paying more. Almost.
My referral link is https://uber.com/invite/i2a2b
Thanks!
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Just read the fine print. Sadly, this only applies to taxi rides. Not Uber cars.
The tip percentage on non-taxi Uber rides is 0%
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