Photo by PoPville flickr user Erin
Now that we’ve tackled the elephant in the rideshare room…
“Dear PoPville,
Looking for the PoPvillers take on rating and tipping Uber/Lyft drivers.
I give a driver 5 stars unless something significant comes up — noticeably dirty car, clearly unsafe driving, etc. — and then always submit a comment on what I “dinged” the driver for. Those above issues equal 4 stars and only if there’s a serious safety/service issue (very rare) would I give 3 stars.
A coworker says his default rating is 4 stars and that only if the driver is exceptional — super personable/friendly, goes out of their way to be helpful (eg helping with luggage) etc — does he give 5 stars. A dirty car would get 3 stars. Unsafe driving would get 2, and “something egregious” (?) would get 1.
However,
he says (and I have no reason to doubt him) that he consistently tips and doesn’t lower his tip based on his rating, because “they’re underpaid as it is” and “withholding a tip is an ineffective means of signaling poor performance since most riders probably don’t tip anyway.” (He is an economist, go figure.)
I know this issue is very First-World Problem-esque, except my concern is that if ratings, for example, affect driver bonuses, it matters.
So, question(s):
– do you default to 5 or 4 stars?
– do you usually tip your driver? How much? – do you lower/withhold tips if the driver is sub-par, however you define that?”