# Pick up location at Pin or street address?



## Road Pilot (May 18, 2015)

Yesterday I arrived at the pick up location (in a small condo development) or so I thought.

Follow GPS to pin. App tells me rider has been notified so I turn on the stop watch and wait. 

That's when I noticed the street address did not line up with the pin so I drive around the development which is basically a circle until I find the street address and wait (app message still in place). Call PAX but no answer. 

Nothing happens. I seem to remember waiting at bogus street addresses before so I return to the pin and wait.

Continued this process for eight to ten minutes. Finally cancelled as a no show.

Sound familiar?


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## Fuzzyelvis (Dec 7, 2014)

Road Pilot said:


> Yesterday I arrived at the pick up location (in a small condo development) or so I thought.
> 
> Follow GPS to pin. App tells me rider has been notified so I turn on the stop watch and wait.
> 
> ...


Go to the one you think is wrong, sit quiet with lights off and try to get the cancel fee if there is one.


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## Fauxknight (Aug 12, 2014)

If it's an address range then you know it's a pin drop and go straight to pin. If it's a single definitive address then go to address, maybe passing through the pin on the way. Most addresses line up with the pin, maybe 10% of street addresses don't match the GPS location.


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## nighthawk398 (Jul 21, 2015)

A lot of times google maps puts me in the alley behind the house I have no idea why


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## Fauxknight (Aug 12, 2014)

nighthawk398 said:


> A lot of times google maps puts me in the alley behind the house I have no idea why


You need to read the street address vs where the GPS is actually taking you, the actual street is usually the correct place.

The worst ones are when the GPS thinks the pin is on the freeway. Need to notice those well ahead of time or else you'll spend a lot of time getting of the freeway and circling back around...Either that or you can cancel in embarrassment.


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## JMBF831 (Aug 13, 2015)

You need to have some sort of copy paste message queued up for customers like I do.

Something basically asking for their exact pickup location.


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## nighthawk398 (Jul 21, 2015)

Fauxknight said:


> You need to read the street address vs where the GPS is actually taking you, the actual street is usually the correct place.
> 
> The worst ones are when the GPS thinks the pin is on the freeway. Need to notice those well ahead of time or else you'll spend a lot of time getting of the freeway and circling back around...Either that or you can cancel in embarrassment.


hey Im not stupid and been doing this a long time I am just saying its annoying


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## JimS (Aug 18, 2015)

I've been getting a lot of weird pin drops lately. The pin is nowhere close to the address on the same pickup. Then, when I call the passenger, they are near neither.


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## JMBF831 (Aug 13, 2015)

JimS said:


> I've been getting a lot of weird pin drops lately. The pin is nowhere close to the address on the same pickup. Then, when I call the passenger, they are near neither.


Same here, actually. Last night a couple drops were way off. I mean, they aren't always accurate to begin with, but they were extra bad last night. And of course I send my copy paste message:

Hi, can you confirm the business/building you're at? Thank you. [Uber]

And even when I send that message some customers will wait 3 min to respond, meanwhile I have been waiting at the pin that they dropped.
After I sent my message the lady proceeded to tell me she was at a place that did not exist (I later found out her auto correct changed a crucial word) and she was actually 2 blocks over. Then, to top it off she finally gave me another business she was near because the first one was incorrect. I drove to the spot and she still wasn't there...She mentioned another business and she was probably another half block away from that so at that point I had no choice but to no-show cancel.

-Pin drop was way off
-Told me she was at a location that literally didn't exist
-Told me another location that I drove to and no one was in sight
-I waited 6 minutes, tried to work with her, drove to multiple spots, etc.

I want to educate our customers in a friendly way so that they can learn to be more efficeint so had to send her a brief message before cancelling:

Please ensure your pin drop is accurate, I am in front of "X restaurant you named" and I don't see anybody.

I had to cancel and move on at that point. She was probably new, but at least now they will learn to be more accurate with their pick up/pin drop submissions. It's the best method, when customers understand how important pin drops are we all win.


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## sellkatsell44 (Oct 25, 2015)

Customers don't use the pin.

Or at least I don't.


I always try to find a place that's easy to double park or stop for pick up, and with an easy find like a Starbucks or CVS or whatever... I type that in with the full addy of the spot and wait in front of the establishment's door

Not the back alley

Not around the corner or to the side.

Thinking of how big the map is on some of the mobile phones (not everyone has a samsung note or Apple six plus)

And how the pin drop goes

It's easier to type in the actual address then to try and drop the pin accurately to where you are and not where the gps thinks you are (because it's working off a signal that could be time delayed)


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## JimS (Aug 18, 2015)

sellkatsell44 said:


> Thinking of how big the map is on some of the mobile phones (not everyone has a samsung note or Apple six plus)


Just got a Note 5. Love it. Tell AT&T you're with Uber and they have some AWESOME deals!


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## uberparadise (Aug 2, 2015)

Road Pilot said:


> Yesterday I arrived at the pick up location (in a small condo development) or so I thought.
> 
> Follow GPS to pin. App tells me rider has been notified so I turn on the stop watch and wait.
> 
> ...


I like the pin in the middle of the river or lake trick! Good news, I have a kayak tied to my roof so I can easily paddle to rider.


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## uberparadise (Aug 2, 2015)

Road Pilot said:


> Yesterday I arrived at the pick up location (in a small condo development) or so I thought.
> 
> Follow GPS to pin. App tells me rider has been notified so I turn on the stop watch and wait.
> 
> ...


More alcohol they are drinking the worse the pin gets. Miles away from their actual location is normal! A call or text is usually a good idea at 2am. How about the old "oops I entered my destination not my location" no cancel fee and a worthless drive for nothing. This can really hurt when the surge is on.


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## Danz Haagen (Feb 11, 2015)

Road Pilot said:


> Yesterday I arrived at the pick up location (in a small condo development) or so I thought.
> 
> Follow GPS to pin. App tells me rider has been notified so I turn on the stop watch and wait.
> 
> ...


you have to look at Uber App. do not rely on GPS. sometimes it take little bit of logic to locate the pax. but generally, you get to exact pin location and wait. if they call you to move, then cancel, rider no show. simple.


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## MyRedUber (Dec 28, 2015)

nighthawk398 said:


> A lot of times google maps puts me in the alley behind the house I have no idea why


It's because the rider was at the back of the house, closer to the back lane than the front street, when they requested the ride.
Happens to me quite often in office blocks and factories.
I show those riders how to drag the map so that the pin is on the spot where they're expecting to be picked up.
I also show them how to put their home and office addresses in their favourites.


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## rocksteady (Mar 19, 2015)

Fauxknight said:


> You need to read the street address vs where the GPS is actually taking you, the actual street is usually the correct place.
> 
> The worst ones are when the GPS thinks the pin is on the freeway. Need to notice those well ahead of time or else you'll spend a lot of time getting of the freeway and circling back around...Either that or you can cancel in embarrassment.


Not in my area. The street address is usually not the correct place. Most riders don't punch in the address and rarely are the address and pin in sync. This is an easy fix for Uber but but they are a bunch of dimwits. All they have to do is note that the address was entered or it was confirmed as correct. If not, go to the pin. So many ways they could minimize all the time suck!

Uber is about as pathetic a company as it gets. Won't get out of their own way. Not an ounce of business sense. All the easily fixable inefficiencies add up to lots of squandered potential profits for both us and them.


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## rocksteady (Mar 19, 2015)

MyRedUber said:


> It's because the rider was at the back of the house, closer to the back lane than the front street, when they requested the ride.
> Happens to me quite often in office blocks and factories.
> I show those riders how to drag the map so that the pin is on the spot where they're expecting to be picked up.
> I also show them how to put their home and office addresses in their favourites.


Good on you for taking the time to do Uber's job for them


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## Thatendedbadly (Feb 8, 2016)

nighthawk398 said:


> A lot of times google maps puts me in the alley behind the house I have no idea why


Because it's using GPS locating to tell you where the pax is, it will never be that accurate. The other day my vehicle icon was sitting on top of the pax icon and the 'start' symbol took 30 seconds to appear. Condos and apartments are a nightmare, if I don't have an address/building number I contact the pax by phone and ask before I arrive. Better pax will call you because they're intelligent enough to know better.


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## MyRedUber (Dec 28, 2015)

This isn't a technical problem for Uber to solve. It needs education of the passengers.
If I request a ride from inside my house, the app will show my street address.
If I request a ride from in my garden, the app will show the street address of the house behind, because I'm now closer to my neighbour's street than my street.

Uber's rider app actually says "Set Pickup Location", but almost no-one follows that instruction.


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## rocksteady (Mar 19, 2015)

MyRedUber said:


> If I request a ride from inside my house, the app will show my street address.


For many people, the address that comes up when requesting from inside their house isn't the correct one. It's actually their neighbors. This is more often than not the case with google maps as well. search an address, click on street view and that spot will not be accurate according to the addresses on the buildings or mailboxes. Sometimes far from it.

I agree with you that is not a technical issue Uber can fix, rather, it's an educational one. Though to drive the point home they could design a better system of address confirmation in the rider app. Like fill the screen with an "Are you sure... is the correct address? Please Confirm."


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## fazzieng (Mar 23, 2018)

Rider here. Registered just to put some perspective to your job. I understand very well how difficult this job might be for all drivers and I completely agree on adding compulsory no-show charge for every single ride with uber. If rider isnt smart enough to put a pin on needed spot, thats his problem and not yours. I myself however would like all my drivers to head exactly to pin instead of address as this is absolutely best option. I am not even usingn gps for locating my pin, just quick zoom, quick swipe and I am done, so dont care about latency and inaccurate signal etc.. So quick appeal dear drivers. 
- Try and force uber with adding compulsory charge for every single no-show
- Get straight to PIN POINT
- And please, make sure youre on time. If you susspect you wont make it on time dont accept the job.
Many thanks for all of you for all these safe journeys.


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## Julescase (Mar 29, 2017)

I always hit the pin, THEN, if it seems to be in an odd location, I'll drive closer to the actual address in the app. But always make sure to hit the pin so the timer starts; you don't want to waste your precious time waiting forever on some loser who might be intentionally ignoring your arrival and hoping you're going to cancel so he doesn't have to, AND you're not wasting time waiting for a jackass who is rude enough to make you wait 5+ minutes when he should have been toes to the curb before you even arrived.

Wait- what was the question? 

Hee heeeeee I don't think I know what I'm talking about.


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