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How to tip on Uber or Lyft

Uber Newark

Taking Uber from Manhattan to Newark Airport (Photo: Chris McGinnis)

With the rapid rollout of a tipping option on Uber’s app this month making it quick and easy to offer a gratuity, riders will now have to decide if they will use it – and if so, how much will they tip?

Uber introduced the long-awaited (by drivers, anyway) tipping option on its app in three cities last month, and as of this week, it’s available in a total of 100 urban areas in the U.S. and Canada. (Chris used it for the first time today in San Francisco.) Uber has pledged that app-based tipping will be available for all its U.S. drivers by the end of July. (Competitor Lyft has had app-based tipping for quite some time.)

Something else is changing at Uber this month as well – instead of giving the passenger five minutes to show for a pick-up, that window is being cut to two minutes – after which a fee will apply.

The thing is, many Uber riders may have adopted the mindset that Uber rides are tipless. It was only last year that Uber decided that tipping would be allowed, but it was not added to the app back then, so drivers had the awkward option of soliciting tips with a sign in the car or by telling riders they could offer a gratuity.

So now that riders can tip the driver quickly and easily with a tap, they have to decide first if they will indeed do so, and then how much to tip.

Image: Uber

Once you rate your Uber driver, the updated Uber app gives you pre-set tipping options of $1, @2 or $5; or you can tap “Enter Custom Amount” and put in a different number.

So how do you decide on an amount? Consider some of the same things you would when rating the driver – condition of the car, personal courtesy, professionalism, and so on. As Chris advises in this story on AFAR.com:

So, for regular rides operating at standard rates, a tip of 10 to 20 percent is probably equitable. Some riders might want to reduce that percentage if the the service is running on surge pricing, since drivers make more on those rides.

But essentially, tipping an Uber or Lyft driver is just like any other tipping situation – it’s a reward for good service. Right? Are you more inclined to tip your driver now that it’s easier? Please leave your comments below. 

This article in The Verge lists all the cities where Uber’s app tipping is now available.

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Comments

  1. I stopped using Uber in part because they did not have a tipping option. I regularly tip on Lyft. Sometimes a 20 minute ride costs me less than $5 which is ridiculously cheap. I will add a $5 tip because it is barely worth the driver’s time and gas for the few dollars Lyft is going to pay them out for the ride. At the end of it, a $10 ride home is still really reasonable. If the driver is unsafe or rude, then I won’t tip. If the driver is just okay, then i usually will just do the $1 or $2… but for the most part, I go way over the 20%

  2. Don’t know. There is typically a tip jar on the counter for counter and take-out service, so there are some tips in those establishments. I don’t know that there are tip and non-tip categories of eateries. In any event, the idea is that wait staff don’t have to itemize their tips for their tax return, so it makes sense assuming they do get tops, because they probably average more than 8%.

    Other than wait staff, I’m not aware that HMRC imputes tip income for any other category of workers, so I’d assume not for drivers either.

  3. My understanding is employees in those places are not classified as waitstaff, and tip income is not assumed.

  4. If you tip only for good service then you are agreeing with me.

    And justice has nothing to do with it. In fact, I don’t see waiters as “little people” who need to be patronized and coddled.

  5. My tips do also relate to service as well. Great service gets a great tip, mediocre service gets a mediocre tip. And I would wear the social justice warrior label proudly, as someone has to stand up for the little guy. I’ll take your supposed insult as a compliment. Thanks!

  6. Again, a taxpayer may instead submit their exacted tips and rebut any presumption with documentation. That’s my accountant’s advice, not my kid’s. And if you think about it, it has to be that way because some food places have little in the way of tips e.g. take-away joints, counter service, coffee places etc. In those cases assuming 8% would be egregiously unfair.

  7. “..misguided social justice warrior delusions.”

    Priceless, and well-deserving of a tip! Exceeded my expectations of a self-righteous retort! 🙂

    I’ll be brutally frank and honest…at restaurants I tip proportional to the degree of pulchritude of the waitress, and inversely proportional to my wife’s anger level.

    I suspect most men behave the same way.

    How this will play out for Uber drivers is speculative, but I suspect will be along similar lines…pulchritude, vivacity, and oh-so-bewitching-eye-contact-in-the-rearview-mirror. Grrrr!

  8. Then your youngest kid doesn’t understand the law. Waiters are required to report 100% of their tips! If that reported tips, does not equal at least 8% of the sales, then the company they work for has to declare those 8%.
    Waiters don’t get to choose what they want to do.

  9. No, I simply believe in relating comp to performance, rather than mindlessly spraying cash about regardless of quality or satisfaction.

  11. Can’t believe how many cheap asses are on this forum!
    Take a cab and pay double or triple.

  15. For restaurant servers, tip is not just a reward for good service, it is part of their regular income ( for whatever reasons, only in the USA restaurant servers make $4 an hour), so 15-20% of tipping is required to fairly compensate the waiter’s work. Uber, Lyft and taxi drivers make a fair wage, so tipping if $1, $2 or $5 is reasonable, expectation or suggestion of 15%-20% is not in this case

  16. My guess would be that Miami gets a lot of visitors from nations where tipping isn’t normal, so some joints decided to try and include it in the price. But legally you can always refuse to pay a service charge – in that sense it is no different from a tip even though they try and make it look like its compulsory.

    Of course, they could just add 15% to each menu item rather than have it separate on the bill, and then say “no need to tip”. But then their prices would look worse than the competition.

    I prefer having individual control over whether and how much to tip. If a service charge is imposed I’d prefer a lower amount, say 10%, and then I can add more in cash if I choose to.

  17. It was strange to see it on Miami beach and it wasn’t and option i don’t believe. My only assumption is since there are so many different nationals the restaurants want to guarantee a tip for the staff. It didn’t matter the size of the party as it was only my wife and I. Had diner in Miami (Civ.che105 and absolutely great. A must if you are there) and there was no mandatory gratuity.

  18. Although the IRS may assume or impute tip income in that way, it is rebuttable. Wait staff can either just go with the tax on the 8% or produce itemized records showing the exact tip income received.

  19. Some restaurants do apply a service charge, like they do routinely in Europe, and especially for larger parties. But it is not mandatory and you can pay a different amount, more or less, or even refuse to pay it altogether if the service is miserable.

    A standard tip or service charge encourages mediocrity.

  20. I tip based on having my expectations exceeded and not out of some misguided social justice warrior delusions.

  23. I’ve refused to use Uber for their lack of tipping option in the app from the get-go. Having a son who drove for both Lyft & Uber (and Postmates,& Doordash), Lyft drivers were treated much fairer by the company and the tip option helped immeasurably. Comments about the bribing economy and people’s lack of skills not being your concern are typical elitist, snobbish comments by people with very strange perspectives. I will add that having family members in other service industries (i.e., waiters, bartenders) at various times in their lives influence my tipping behavior. And I also tip cab drivers about the same aount I tip the car service drivers, as I sometimes will take a cab when traveling as well.

  24. The bottom line is that when in San Francisco you get a much more efficient ride in a cab. They know the streets, the traffic, and the shortcuts. Most Under diverse like the knowledge and the skill. They just blindly follow their app even if it means getting stuck in traffic.

    I went with Uber just because of the “no tipping.” Now that I am expected to top Ib will be going back to taxis.

  25. This is a little side note but I think applicable. My wife and I were on vacation this week on Miami Beach (not south beach). Every restaurant charges a minimum of 15% tip on the bill. As a general rule the service show with a few exceptions. Mediocre service and an aloofness. I am generally a good tipper (over 20%). I will be glad when Uber adds tipping (it wasn’t available in this area) and, like Lyft, where drivers can rate a passenger. One is not required to do it. I wish restaurants waiters could have a way to rate customers then some of you cheap SOB’s would get the service you deserve.

  26. Seeing as how some comments are comparing tips to drivers as similar to tips to waiters, please note that waitstaff are assumed to have earned at least 8% of the total receipts in tip income. The employer is expected to treat the actual tip income reported by waitstaff…but at least 8%…as taxable income, and perform appropriate withholding, etc..

    This article has not said whether the IRS will treat drivers the same as waitstaff; if so, then please be aware that the IRS will assume that the tip amount was at least 8% of the total receipts, and include that in the tax liability calculations. This is the reality faced by waitstaff, which is why non/undertipping can actually result in waitstaff losing money.

    I am not a CPA or an enrolled agent nor an attorney. I also didnt study hard K-12, nor did I develop highly marketable skills, but I seem to have made a decent living as a glorified repairman, thanks to the military’s amazing ability of being able to teach anyone anything.

  28. The worst part is when the service provider argues that you “have to tip” because they don’t get paid enough, like waiters do.

    As if the inability of a worker to negotiate a good deal or develop more valuable skills is somehow my responsibility.

  29. “But essentially, tipping an Uber or Lyft driver is just like any other tipping situation – it’s a reward for good service. Right?”

    The original concept of tipping was a discretionary extra payment for a service provider going out of their way to deliver something special and extra. So yes, it’s a reward for good service and it still is in many countries, whilst in others the practice barely exists (Japan, Australia).

    But in the US, a tip has instead become an expectation that is almost disconnected to the quality of service you receive. This is seen most obviously with restaurants where the check even has “suggested” tip amounts, which start at 15% and go on up.

    And when it becomes an expectation or an entitlement, service providers tend to become quite hostile if you decide their service was not worth it.

    So your question is a good one. Do you tip a driver a standard percentage or amount? Or only tip when they go out of their way for you?

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