# Likelyhood-of-getting-tipped calculations. Mostly for the lulz.



## losiglow (Dec 4, 2018)

I was driving two women to a work party last week. About 5 minutes after dropping them off I checked my earnings to see if I'd received any tips from previous passengers. Instantly in my head I knew these ladies wouldn't be tipping. It was one of those super quick judgements your mind subliminally makes. I paused to think about it though. Why did I suspect I wouldn't receive a tip from them? I realized it's because very quickly in my mind, a pseudo-calculation is done which throws together all of the variables about the pax's and determines the likelihood of a tip. This is all based on past experiences of course, and isn't always accurate. But for the rest of the night, I made conscious notes of who I thought might tip and who wouldn't and was surprisingly accurate. Obviously your mind doesn't use numerical values when making this guess but I found it entertaining to throw down some numbers:

I find that age is the #1 factor. The older the pax, the more likely the tip. Teenagers almost never tip. Millennials rarely tip, Gen X have a fair chance. Baby boomers are often likely. Old people are the best. Again, just in my experience here in the SLC valley. And there are a whole bunch of other factors to consider such as conversation, gender, socioeconomic status and the purpose of the ride.

For example:

Males, aged <20, 20-30, 30-40, 50+ = ~ 5%, 20%, 33%, 50%
Female, aged <20, 20-30, 30-40, 50+ = ~ 2%, 15%, 25%, 40%

With that as a base, then factor in the following and add/subtract the percentage of the above percentage. E.G. Add 50% below to 50% above does not equal 100% but 50% of 50% (which is 25%) which would be 75%

Good conversation? Add 50%
Going to work? Subtract 75%
Going on a date? Add 30%
Low income level? Subtract 75%
Long ride? No change. This sucks but it's true in my experience.
Give water or gum? Add 20%. Wish it were more but it isn't.
Businessperson? Add 50%
Older Couple? Add 66% (not just 50+ but both husband and wife in the car)
No conversation whatsoever (with you...)? Subtract 33%
Fat people? Add 33%. I know, this is kind of weird but totally true in my experience!
Hot chicks? Subtract 75%
College student? Subtract 75%
Bros? None if you don't talk to them but if you relate in any way (e.g. music, cars, girls, typical "bro" stuff) then add 50%
Select rides? No difference
Drunk? No difference. Sometimes it's good. Sometimes it's nothing because they don't even remember who you are and don't bother rating or tipping once the ride is over because they're inebriated.
Parents? No difference.
Single Mothers: Subtract 50%
Hispanic? No difference. They tip as often as whities.
Black? Also no difference. We have a pretty small black population in SLC but the few I've driven follow the typical age/tip categories above.
East Asian/Oriental? Subtract 50%. They seem to be cheapskates.
South/West Asian? (India, Pakistan, etc.) Add 50%. Many of the ones that live here have higher paying tech jobs but aren't "rich".
Rich people? No difference. Half of them are cool and always tip, half are stuck up and consider you a commodity.

So in the case of these ladies, they were female (obviously), 30-40 and only talked to each other. That's 25% - factor of 33% because they didn't talk to me (33% of 25 = ~8%) = 17%. They were parents based on their conversation, but that doesn't change the value. Low likelihood altogether. And voila. Never tipped.

Those are several categories. Add some more if you want! Or feel free to disagree if you have found it to be different in your area.


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## FLKeys (Dec 27, 2018)

Funny on your going to work observation. My experience is opposite. Maybe because most people in my area work in the service industry and understand the value of tipping. My experience is when I am taking people to work or home from work I am going to get a tip at least 90% of the time. I regularly take the same people to and from work when I am in those areas because I have picked up on their patterns. If I am in the area I head toward their house/work at the appropriate times. My neck of the woods you have to work what you know if you want to score more rides because they don't come often around here.


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## AlteredBeast (Sep 29, 2018)

People in Utah are greedy and selfish. (source: I used to live there) 

I live in the center of "Midwest Nice" and get tipped from young, old, black, white, or hispanic all at about the same rates. I used to track it for fun, but there was little rhyme or reason in it. I got tipped by literally all but 1 of my 20 rides on Saturday. Every passenger or group of passengers were younger than 40 that night excepting one. (they tipped me very well, for what it's worth)

Friday I had 14 rides and only 4 tipped me. Same makeup of passengers on average, totally different tipped amounts and quantities. 

Thursday - 7 rides, 4 tippers

Wednesday - 7 rides, 2 tippers

NYE - 11 tippers off of 22 rides (+ 3 cancels for $5 each)


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## Dan9908 (Dec 30, 2018)

Stereotyping people won’t get you far brotato. 

For instance, I had a couple hours to burn today and drove to Sam’s Club and signed up mostly for the fuel discount. $45 and then $23 in gas for the Hondamobile. I rolled on the outskirts of the city and grabbed 5 short rides, just looking to cover what I spent. First ride was a bro going to work. “I work for tips too” and he handed me $2 on a $3.50 ride. Second was another bro grabbing a ride back to his car at the bar from last night.... $5 on a $4 ride. Third was a young woman going to work, no tip. Fourth was a bro going home from the hospital, no tip. Fifth was a Jewish woman going into center city to her divorce lawyer. $10 tip and asked how she could tip more in-app because “he still pays my credit card”. 

Everyone is treated the same and I’ll know within a few moments of conversation if I should expect something. 

I’ve been dead-on and I’ve been way-off.


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## peteyvavs (Nov 18, 2015)

Tips what’s that!


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## Stevie The magic Unicorn (Apr 3, 2018)

his math is pretty accurate lol...

Take a <20 year old hot chick college student from campus to her part time job, $50,000 a year in tuition,

Your not getting a tip, there's nothing you can possibly do.

Older Hispanic couple home from a dinner date and they are both buzzed, lower/middle class income level.

Odds are fairly good.

White guy to the airport at the crack of dawn for a business trip

Odds are really good.

Taking someone to work at 711

no possible way.



Dan9908 said:


> Stereotyping people won't get you far brotato.


Driving a cab I can guess who is going to tip more than a few cents (Letting me keep 40c on a $9.60 ride for instance) about 19/20 times. About once a day i was surprised.

I was actually better at guessing who was going to tip than who was going to take off running _*without paying at all*_. Which is absolutely ridiculous isn't it?

Truthfully working _some neighborhoods_ as a taxi driver... being a _racist A-hole_ and demanding payment up front before the ride put me better off than actually being a nice guy and trying to get tips. Namely.... It made the difference between kicking a few people out of the car who didn't have money to pay at all, VS wasting my time and driving them around for free.

SO.... your right, but your not right...


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