Don't Be A Jerk: How To Tip Your Uber Drivers

By Tankboy in Arts & Entertainment on Feb 3, 2016 7:22PM

Figure 1: People that tip Uber drivers are happier. (Photo via Uber)

Uber fares didn't drop in Chicago like they did in many other locations, but that still doesn't mean drivers are exactly making bank. Sure, driving for Uber certainly sounds glamorous when the company describes the job in their own words. On their website inviting Chicago drivers to partner with them Uber lists numerous perks:

As an Uber partner, you are an independent contractor, so you have total control. Work where you want, when you want, and set your own schedule. Whether you need to pick up your kids, or just work a couple of days a week, Uber gives you the freedom to do what works for you.

As independent contractors, that also means drivers are not owed a guaranteed salary by their company. And Uber is constantly finding ways to cut into drivers' profits. Since payment is automatic at the end of each ride that means most riders never even think to tip. And that means the majority of people using Uber are exiting cars and unknowingly acting like big jerks. We understand you probably thought you already were, or that tips were somehow calculated into the rate, but they are not.

There are two ways to handle tipping. Tipping TAXI drivers you hailed with Uber is really easy; you can set your account to automatically tip your TAXI driver at the conclusion of your ride.

Log into your account on your laptop or desktop (you can't update this in the mobile app, which seems ridiculous). Go to the payment tab and at the bottom you'll see that you can set your account to automatically add a gratuity to TAXI rides. See?

Figure 2: How to set auto-tipping for TAXI drivers

Now when it comes to tipping other drivers, that's a little more difficult, but it should still be done. If you tip a TAXI driver, why wouldn't you tip an UberX or town car? Unfortunately Uber's claim you shouldn'tUber doesn't believe you should so there's no way to do this from within the app, so you're going to need to carry some cash on you. But you should still tip them!

Figure 3: How to tip every other kind of Uber driver. (Photo by Wade Morgan)

How that you know how to tip every kind of Uber driver you can now walk with your head held high, and hopefully garner your own 5-star passenger rating.