# Lyft is adding automatic tipping



## BurgerTiime (Jun 22, 2015)

https://www.engadget.com/amp/2018/11/15/lyft-changes-for-tipping-and-rating/








And default 5 star rating!​
Lyft is launching another campaign to improve the experience for its drivers, and at least a few of the changes could affect you as a passenger. In December, it's conducting a limited launch for both default tipping and mid-ride tipping. If you always tip at the end of a journey or occasionally forget to tip after you've stepped out, this will make sure your driver gets your money. Only "select" passengers will see this at first, but it'll be more widely available in 2019.






The company is also changing how you rate drivers as of December. If you don't provide a rating, Lyft will default to giving a five-star rating. People who don't bother to leave a rating often do so because "everything ran like clockwork," Lyft said. Moreover, it'll ask you to justify any rating less than five stars, and will nullify ratings for circumstances that were outside of a driver's control (such as bad traffic). And terrible ratings won't necessarily linger forever. Lyft will remove the single lowest rating from a driver's profile for every 100 rides, so one bad ride won't tarnish an otherwise sterling record.






The driver app, meanwhile, will receive an update the same month to highlight potential bonuses, events that could use drivers and a demand graph to help drivers time their stints behind the wheel. There will be new driver-oriented upgrades every month from here on out, Lyft said.

The changes promise meaningful improvements for drivers, who could both count on more consistent income and more customers. The rating shake-up certainly acknowledges a practical reality: it's virtually customary to offer a five-star rating for a ridesharing trip unless you encountered a problem. There is the chance that it'll excuse bad behavior when riders are forgetful (or just too angry to reach for their phone), but Lyft is no doubt counting on these instances being few and far between.

At the same time, these initial improvements don't touch on one of the most frequently requested changes: improving the drivers' standard pay. Officials and drivers alike have complained that they sometimes struggle to make ends meet with the current pay structure. If so (Lyft and others have disputed some of the claims), the solution won't come through more reliable tipping.


----------



## 1.5xorbust (Nov 22, 2017)

Lyft is hoping that this new ‘upgrade’ will increase drivers’ tips and thereby decrease demand for increased pay. Band aid on a severed artery.


----------



## Dan2miletripguy (Nov 3, 2018)

It is something that might actually help us out for a change. Not bad Lyft...not bad.
I wish both apps would simply insert a message at the beginning of the customer's
interaction with the app similar to the ones pizza places use --> "Please remember tip your driver
for outstanding service."


----------



## RDWRER (May 24, 2018)

Maybe it’ll play out well enough for Uber to get the message and copy it. I know it’s usually Lyft copying Uber but I don’t see why it can’t go the other way around once in a while...


----------



## Another Uber Driver (May 27, 2015)

1.5xorbust said:


> Lyft is hoping that this new 'upgrade' will increase drivers' tips...





Dan2miletripguy said:


> It is something that might actually help us out for a change.





RDWRER said:


> Maybe it'll play out well enough for Uber to get the message and copy it. I know it's usually Lyft copying Uber but I don't see why it can't go the other way around once in a while...


The reality is that this _*is*_ Lyft's copying Uber, although it is copying a discarded feature of the Uber application that was limited to just one level of Uber. At one point, Uber _*had*_ a default tipping feature, on _*Uber Taxi, *__*ONLY*_. When the user signed up for Uber, regardless of where he was, even if it were a market where Uber Taxi was not available, one question asked during the sign-up process was how much did he want to tip for Uber Taxi. There was an explanation that this was for Uber Taxi, only, and that if the new user did nothing, it would default to twenty per-cent. Most users either ignored, or, at best, skimmed it. This was one source, for quite some time, of the misconception from UberX and Uber Pool users (as well as Black and the other levels) that the tip was "included".

I drive Uber Taxi, UberX and Lyft, so I can contribute some experience to this discussion.

Uber Taxi showed up in the Capital of Your Nation before UberX did. At the time, it was the second Uber level. Black was the first to appear. At the onboarding events, the Uber representatives did explain the default tipping feature and made it clear that it was for Uber Taxi, only. Most users did nothing, so the tip defaulted to twenty per-cent and you got that on most trips. Some customers did re-set the thing to ten, fifteen or a specific dollar amount. Some did set it to zero. In the early days, you did see what you received before rating. Thus you could one star non tippers. The same was true for Hail-O, which is a taxi hailing application that has since left North America, but has merged with MyTaxi and is available in Europe and Asia.

When Uber finally decided to implement application-wide tipping, after the departure of T. Kalanick (who seemed to have some aversion to tipping in general), it implemented it in the same way on all levels, including Uber Taxi. the default feature vanished from Uber Taxi and the customer tipped in the same way on all levels: he had to tip when he rated. This destroyed the tips on Uber Taxi. Most people never bother to rate, thus they do not even see the tip feature; out of sight, out of mind, *correctamundo?
*
My experience dictates that a default tipping feature will increase tips. When it was present on Uber Taxi, almost everyone tipped. When it vanished, most people did not (and still do not). .....................PRESENT: most tips/ABSENT: few tips............................. If you have it and there are many tips, if you take it away and there are few, it is not illogical to believe that if you restore it (should Uber do that) or add it (as will Lyft), tips will increase and may be the norm rather than the exception. Do note, however, my deliberate choice of words.

It could play out differently. I have seen more than few things that worked in the laboratory or under specialised conditions that did not work in the everyday. Further, I have seen more than ample demonstration of the cynic's statement that "logic is far too often a means of proving the absurd". Despite that, if my experience is any guide, tipping should become the norm rather than the exception.


----------



## RDWRER (May 24, 2018)

Another Uber Driver said:


> The reality is that this _*is*_ Lyft's copying Uber, although it is copying a discarded feature of the Uber application that was limited to just one level of Uber. At one point, Uber _*had*_ a default tipping feature, on _*Uber Taxi, *__*ONLY*_. When the user signed up for Uber, regardless of where he was, even if it were a market where Uber Taxi was not available, one question asked during the sign-up process was how much did he want to tip for Uber Taxi. There was an explanation that this was for Uber Taxi, only, and that if the new user did nothing, it would default to twenty per-cent. Most users either ignored, or, at best, skimmed it. This was one source, for quite some time, of the misconception from UberX and Uber Pool users (as well as Black and the other levels) that the tip was "included".


Oh okay. So since Lyft is still copying Uber then we can expect them to take it away in like a month or two, got it. Everything goes back to normal then, nothing to see here.


----------



## Another Uber Driver (May 27, 2015)

RDWRER said:


> we can expect them to take it away in like a month or two, got it.


In truth, I would expect that Gr*yft* would leave it. It is nothing out of its hide if the customer tips or does not. It makes the drivers happier. It answers their cries for more money without Gr*yft*'s having to raise rates, as tipping is strictly voluntary.

One of the advantages of Gr*yft* is that with the delayed ratings, you can see if the people tipped or did not. At the end of the day, you can go through the whole manifest. Those who tipped can receive either five stars or no rating. Those who did not: automatic one star.

In addition, I would expect that F*ub*a*r* would re-introduce default tipping, but do it application wide instead of confining it to Uber Taxi, as it was previously. Depending on how, or even if, it wanted to spin it, it could say that it had default tipping first, did away with it but is bringing it back to life. It could do no spin, simply re-introduce it. It could spin it that it is doing the drivers a favour. As Uber Taxi is available only in a few markets, most drivers would not be aware that it ever existed on the F*ub*a*r* platform.

Goodness! Most of the UberX drivers on these Boards are of a higher calibre than your ant, but many of them have no idea that F*ub*a*r* offers taxis in some of its markets. To this day, I get derogatory remarks about being a cab driver and told that this is a forum for F*ub*a*r* drivers and that I have no business posting to it. They are in disbelief when I tell them that even if I did not drive UberX (which I do, in addition to Uber Taxi--bit with a different car), I do drive Uber Taxi, thus I am, in fact, a F*ub*a*r* driver. (....and given the garbage rates that F*ub*a*r* pays on X, I am truly and indeed F U B A R.....). A couple of other posters often will chime in and tell the guy that there is such an animal as Uber Taxi. It is counterintuitive, given the Taxi-Uber Wars. What is funny is that in most markets, mine included, Uber Taxi showed up long before UberX did. Portland, Oregon and Honolulu are exceptions in this country. For a long time, the only Uber allowed in Montréal was Uber Taxi. I am not sure what the case is in Sydney, Australia; Berlin or Korea. I am aware that Uberpop (the overseas equivalent of UberX) and Uber Taxi launched at about the same time in Israel, but, Israeli regulators tossed Uberpop and allow only Uber Taxi, now.


----------



## METRO3 (Sep 3, 2017)

Uber will never be implementing anything that will make the rating system fair for their drivers. really uber 500 rated rides and you wont exclude any unfair ratings? whats that all about? i'm glad there is one fair company out there. 

there is one thing i really want them to change and thats adding a dialogue box after you clicked you've arrived at your first pickup point in a multi stop trip if they see you havent gone anywhere. See the problem for me at least is that when ever there is a multistop trip i tend to over click the lower bar and lose my 1st stop or even the entire trip. Today i lost a streak because when i arrived at the first stop i over clicked and ended the trip accidentally. I over click because i dont see google maps load so i click the bottom bar forgetting i had already started the trip and bam there goes either the 2nd stop or the entire ride.


----------

