Vindication: An Uber Driver Gave Me A Huge Compliment

by joeheg

An Uber rating can be a fickle thing. I wrote back in June about how I was worried that my rating was sitting at 4.71 and that anyone with less than a 4.75 rating risks would be losing out on rides from judgemental drivers who will only pick up those with stellar ratings.

I wrote at the time how I’m not an ultra-Uber user and we don’t use the service that often. However, I’m in the midst of a trip where I need to use the service quite often for getting around Manhattan.

I needed to take a trip from Central Park to Penn Station and while stuck in traffic, I struck up a conversation with the driver after which I felt redemption about my “low” passenger rating.

I mentioned how thankful I was for him to pick me up on such a short ride. He said it was no problem and he was glad to have a passenger with such a high rating. I asked why? Was my rating that high?

He said that most people who get rides in Manhattan don’t have ratings as high as mine. Mainly because most of them are self-centered idiots who are often late for rides and make unreasonable requests of drivers. I seemed to be a nice person and he had no problem with me and I was sure to get 5 stars.

I wanted to tell him about the Uber driver who ghosted on me a few days prior but I kept that to myself. How likely was it that he’d read this website. 🙂

I still tipped him with cash (along with the other Uber drivers I’ve deal with over the last week). Amazingly, my Uber rating has slowly started to creep upwards;

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Going from 4.71 to 4.75 doesn’t seem like a big deal but with over 80 rides, it takes a bunch of good ratings to raise your rating even a few percentage points.

Now, I haven’t changed the ways I act during my rides in any way. The only thing I’ve changed it having a few dollars on hand to tip the driver instead of tipping in the app. I’m not sure if that has anything to do with my higher rating but I’ll keep it up for a while to see how high I can get my rating.

I don’t really care if the judgemental drivers leave me behind but I don’t want to have my leaving my tip in the app adversely affect my rating. If that’s the case, why should I even tip at all?

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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary

3 comments

Joel Yong October 4, 2019 - 7:18 pm

As a former Uber driver, I will say that cash is king. I’ve had people who come down late or not so well-behaved – they still get 5* if they tip cash or if they are going on surge trips of > $50. Money talks, really.

Ratings to the profit-minded driver are more an indicator of potential profitability on a ride than they are about rider behaviour.

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Carl WV October 5, 2019 - 1:12 am

Did anybody ever worry about what taxi drivers thought of them? Uber drivers seem to be special in so many ways, I can’t think of any other case where things have spun to the point that people are concerned their business will be turned down. And be sure to tip in cash because the driver will be pissed if he has to pay taxes on the income.

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lenin1991 October 6, 2019 - 10:17 pm

Both tipping and the passenger rating seems to be Uber’s way of making their customers welcome the coming of self-driving cars…

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