# What Difference a High Rating?



## Maven (Feb 9, 2017)

Many drivers on this forum like to brag about their 4.99 (or high) average rating. I have no problem with that. They work hard to maintain their exulted average rating.

What I'd like to know is, aside from personal pride and bragging rights, *what is the benefit of a 4.99 rating as opposed to 4.9, 4.8 or 4.7?* Uber does not provide a bonus for higher ratings. You may get an occasional "attaboy" message, but I would prefer cash. A real incentive would be if Uber decreased their cut after 100 rated rides as follows:

average rating below 4.7, Uber cut is 25%
average rating 4.7 to 4.79, Uber cut is 24%
average rating 4.8 to 4.89, Uber cut is 22%
average rating 4.9 to 5.0, Uber cut is 20%
Or Uber could implement a profit based bonus system. Top-earning full-time drivers could get a rebate. This might be adjusted for cities with higher or lower average earnings.

1% of earnings over $2000 gross earnings per month.
3% of earnings over $3000 gross earnings per month.
5% of earnings over $4000 gross earnings per month.
What about rider acceptance? IMHO, most riders do not check, let alone care about a driver's average rating. They are far more interested in how long until you arrive and what it will cost. How many riders have said, "I had to reject 3 drivers before you because their ratings were too low"? *As long as your average rating is above the minimum for your city or region, what practical difference does it make?*


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## DRider85 (Nov 19, 2016)

I thought I read somewhere that the better the driver you are, the more pings they send you.

Explain to me why I picked up another drivers rider and the system canceled him with the other guy when he was their first?


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## Maven (Feb 9, 2017)

DRider85 said:


> I thought I read somewhere that the better the driver you are, the more pings they send you. Explain to me why I picked up another drivers rider and the system canceled him with the other guy when he was their first?


There are lots of theories about why some drivers feel they get an unfairly low proportion of pings. The truth is that we have no proof of any of these theories. The most popular theory is that "new drivers get more pings" to entrap them into the Uber lifestyle.

The obvious decrease in both pings and surges compared to the same time of year and location last year is attributed to Uber's constant recruitment of more drivers. This increases Uber's profits while decreasing the income of individual drivers.

If Uber were to "give more pings" to "more successful drivers" then how is Uber more likely to define "success"? One way is higher average PAX rating that does little if anything for profitability. I favor the amount of profit each driver generates for Uber each month. Unfortunately, there is no way to prove or disprove either to my knowledge. *Do you have some hard evidence that one theory is more valid than another?*


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## DRider85 (Nov 19, 2016)

Maven said:


> There are lots of theories about why some drivers feel they get an unfairly low proportion of pings. The truth is that we have no proof of any of these theories. The most popular theory is that "new drivers get more pings" to entrap them into the Uber lifestyle.
> 
> The obvious decrease in both pings and surges compared to the same time of year and location last year is attributed to Uber's constant recruitment of more drivers. This increases Uber's profits while decreasing the income of individual drivers.
> 
> If Uber were to "give more pings" to "more successful drivers" then how is Uber more likely to define "success"? One way is higher average PAX rating that does little if anything for profitability. I favor the amount of profit each driver generates for Uber each month. Unfortunately, there is no way to prove or disprove either to my knowledge. *Do you have some hard evidence that one theory is more valid than another?*


Well I do have evidence that our ratings are tempered with. I have a 1 star and the customer rep said that she has no record of a 1 star even after refreshing the data. So either Uber gave me the 1 star or they hired an employee that has no clue.


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## charmer37 (Nov 18, 2016)

Uber is a clueless Company, They are saturating the markets,increasing there rates and really need competition to knock them off there high horse. Piss poor customer service equals bad service for customers and a whole lot of disgruntled drivers, Know wonder the company is losing billions of dollars.


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## Silver Cab (Mar 11, 2017)

Maven said:


> Many drivers on this forum like to brag about their 4.99 (or high) average rating. I have no problem with that. They work hard to maintain their exulted average rating.
> 
> What I'd like to know is, aside from personal pride and bragging rights, *what is the benefit of a 4.99 rating as opposed to 4.9, 4.8 or 4.7?* Uber does not provide a bonus for higher ratings. You may get an occasional "attaboy" message, but I would prefer cash. A real incentive would be if Uber decreased their cut after 100 rated rides as follows:
> 
> ...


From now on American Express Platinum card holders will be matched only with the "best" drivers (aka 5*) for a superior experience. Wifey received an email yesterday. Will copy/paste it onto here when I get to it.

Not sure if that will be so much a benefit to the driver or passenger 

Well, maybe it is. She is generally a good tipper and has tipped her Uber drivers so far.


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## Maven (Feb 9, 2017)

Silver Cab said:


> From now on American Express Platinum card holders will be matched only with the "best" drivers (aka 5*) for a superior experience...


I believe two different programs are being confused, UberVIP and AmexPlatinum.

American Express Platinum offers up to $200 in "Uber credits" at the cost of a $100 increase in the annual fee.

The Uber credits will accrue for cardholders in $15 increments, once a month, starting March 30, 2017. Cardholders will get an extra $20 in credits in December. They can also receive *Uber VIP* status, a loyalty program that can help you get access to exclusive benefits and discounts, where applicable.
The $15 credit will be added to a cardholder's account on the first day of each month. The monthly credits must be used by midnight local time on the last day of the month, according to a statement from AmEx. They won't roll over. In other words, you can't get the full $200 worth of benefit unless you spend at least $15 on Uber every month (and $35 in December).
To qualify for the credits, you need to add The Platinum Card® from American Express as a payment method on the Uber app. You can do that by clicking "Payment" on the left rail on the Uber app, then clicking "Add payment."
*UberVIP *has been around since March 2016 in selected cities including

Atlanta, Georgia

Denver, Colorado

Nashville, Tennessee

New York City, New York
Texas (selected cities)

Washington D.C.
Qualifying riders (10 to 100 trips, depending on city) receive benefits including

A 'VIP Driver', which Uber specifies as "drivers with a *4.8 rating (or above)".*
High Quality Vehicles
Parallel Pricing to UberX or UberBLACK
Exclusive Giveaways (special discounts to local attractions, and advanced notice of upcoming Uber-related promotions).
In most cities, UberVIP users can request VIP-rides for either UberX or UberBLACK. In other words, it's possible to use UberX (Uber's most basic service) and still benefit from requesting an UberVIP ride.
A longer average wait time for a rider is never mentioned in the promotional literature. Drivers in the listed cities with a *4.8 rating (or above) *should receive more pings from UberVIP riders than lower rated drivers.


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## Silver Cab (Mar 11, 2017)

There you go. 4.8 is the magic number then here.

Thanks for the details.


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## Grahamcracker (Nov 2, 2016)

Maven said:


> what is the benefit of a 4.99 rating as opposed to 4.9, 4.8 or 4.7


Compared to someone who has 4.8, you can get more low ratings from pax before getting deactivated. With a cushion like that, you can go on a real [email protected]#t streak before getting deactivated


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## Shangsta (Aug 15, 2016)

Grahamcracker said:


> Compared to someone who has 4.8, you can get more low ratings from pax before getting deactivated. With a cushion like that, you can go on a real [email protected]#t streak before getting deactivated


And even then, since they changed rating systems I am not sure they even deactivate drivers over ratings anymore. (Cancellations, pax report deactivation is still a thing)


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## Strange Fruit (Aug 10, 2016)

DRider85 said:


> I thought I read somewhere that the better the driver you are, the more pings they send you.
> 
> Explain to me why I picked up another drivers rider and the system canceled him with the other guy when he was their first?


cuz you were closer. They announced that feature a few months ago.
don't believe waht you read from drivers since instead of saying "I think maybe this happens" they just assert it as if it's true. Then people like you who don't understand that a human is that kind of monkey, thinks they are learning something. There is no evidence that they send pings to higher ratings. Uber doesn't care about quality and giving more rides to higher ratings. If they did that, they'd probably even tell us so we would be more motivated to kiss their riders' ass. They care about revenue. If they are doing anything other than sending pings to the closest driver (the obvious best quality for rider and driver), they would manipulate it based on revenue, like passing up driver with higher boost (more money lost by Uber) to give it to the next closest with a lower boost while keeping those higher boosts in reserve. No definitive proof of that either, but why they wouldn't do that is beyond me. It's too easy and obvious they'd be stupid not to do that.


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## ntcindetroit (Mar 23, 2017)

Silver Cab said:


> From now on American Express Platinum card holders will be matched only with the "best" drivers (aka 5*) for a superior experience. Wifey received an email yesterday. Will copy/paste it onto here when I get to it.
> 
> Not sure if that will be so much a benefit to the driver or passenger
> 
> Well, maybe it is. She is generally a good tipper and has tipped her Uber drivers so far.


HaHA! That's right. When I demand to only accept riders' requests from ppl who rated my service 5 stars or haven't rated any drivers with less than 5 stars, their system blocked my login with many different excuses, with last one demanding a ransomware payment to watch a video made by unknown outfit or 1st grader(s) maybe. Can't take Xber seriously for anything except shooting craps.


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## itsablackmarket (May 12, 2015)

Travis Kalanick is a sick person. Wait, you know what's weird, I didn't have his last name in my phone and Swype thought I was typing the name of the city where that Uber driver went crazy and started shooting people in between rides. Kalamazoo. Anyway, back to what I was going to say, which was that the CEO is a sick psycho and one should not doubt that he's doing all sorts of strange things behind the scenes, causing chaos, confusion, and disappointment wherever he goes. Don't get sucked into it, ironically, like the Kalamazoo shooter did, who claimed he was essentially possessed by the Uber app.


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## ntcindetroit (Mar 23, 2017)

itsablackmarket said:


> Travis Kalanick is a sick person. Wait, you know what's weird, I didn't have his last name in my phone and Swype thought I was typing the name of the city where that Uber driver went crazy and started shooting people in between rides. Kalamazoo. Anyway, back to what I was going to say, which was that the CEO is a sick psycho and one should not doubt that he's doing all sorts of strange things behind the scenes, causing chaos, confusion, and disappointment wherever he goes. Don't get sucked into it, ironically, like the Kalamazoo shooter did, who claimed he was essentially possessed by the Uber app.


No, NO, no. You don't understand, Travis do not shoot people, he only leads. It was Uber driver(s) that going crazy to shoot. or was it UberApp make Uber driver(s) crazy to shoot? Show me the message Uber send to the Uber Driver(s).



ntcindetroit said:


> No, NO, no. You don't understand, Travis do not shoot people, he only leads. It was Uber driver(s) that going crazy to shoot. or was it UberApp make Uber driver(s) crazy to shoot? Show me the message Uber send to the Uber Driver(s).





> bTW, what was that Uber shooter score on target practice, rated from 1 to 5 stars?





Strange Fruit said:


> cuz you were closer. They announced that feature a few months ago.
> don't believe waht you read from drivers since instead of saying "I think maybe this happens" they just assert it as if it's true. Then people like you who don't understand that a human is that kind of monkey, thinks they are learning something. There is no evidence that they send pings to higher ratings. Uber doesn't care about quality and giving more rides to higher ratings. If they did that, they'd probably even tell us so we would be more motivated to kiss their riders' ass. They care about revenue. If they are doing anything other than sending pings to the closest driver (the obvious best quality for rider and driver), they would manipulate it based on revenue, like passing up driver with higher boost (more money lost by Uber) to give it to the next closest with a lower boost while keeping those higher boosts in reserve. No definitive proof of that either, but why they wouldn't do that is beyond me. It's too easy and obvious they'd be stupid not to do that.





> then, drivers that drive faster to get closer to the VIP tippers always win. We love speed, and tips.


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