Uber is a great service, which, in part, became popular by suggesting to riders that the tip was included in the price. Further, Uber recruited (and still recruits) drivers stating that they can make over $25 an hour, and encouraging them to buy new vehicles.
However, in the fullness of time. Uber has proven to be, shall we say, somewhat misleading in its claims and promises to its "independent contractors."
More below the jump.
in a piece atn+1 online, Annie Julia Wyman describes the plight of the Uber drivers in L.A., highlighted by a caravan of protest through tourist hot spots.
A few men said they had made as much as $3,000 a week when they started working for Uber in 2012; some gave up other jobs in order to drive full-time. When Uber dropped fares drastically, supposedly in order to compete with Lyft (a rideshare app most successful on the West Coast and whose brand, at least, is friendlier, more transparent, and community-based), some drivers to whom I spoke said they found themselves earning as little as a few dollars an hour. One man texted me PDFs documenting his pay in October 2013 and his pay in October 2014. On the 2014 report, the driver’s total income is much lower, but you can’t see the number of trips he completed. This omission of the trip number column is intentional, he says: Uber wants to hide the fact that it is hurting its drivers.
These are small businessmen, not employees of Uber. They can't unionize. They just want the public to understand:
“It’s not that we hate Uber. We love being our own bosses. But we have bills to pay. We should speak up when we’re not being paid enough for our work.” Kyle explained that many drivers felt Uber had misled customers into thinking that tips were included in their rides, and that the public should know this is not the case.
Don't think that tipping is somehow wrong, illegal, not allowed, or against the rules. It isn't. If the service is good, don't hesitate to give an appropriate gratuity.