I had to join this forum, compelled to comment.
First off, tipping is customerry in the US rightly or wrongly because employers punt the wage issue to the customer.
Here, taxi, limo, hair, bartender, waitress, uber taxi, nail salon, massage, stripper, valet, bell hop, doorman, and the list goes on, gets tipped. Really, seve me a beer barkeep, here's a buck!
Next, uber leads it drivers into thinking they will make good money. Their first adds placed it at $35 an hour, They started taking bigger commissions and now they claim $18 an hour.
Next, as a result there is an over saturation of drivers in many if not most areas, lured by the promise of good earnings.
Now I will give my experience. I am a new driver with a black car and one off custom truck, lifted, sound system, entertainment, video, karaoke etc built in.
No more uber black is allowed in my market.
I get pinged to Auburn, CA. I was in Roseville. I drove 12 miles to pick this dude up, that's $3.69 hard fuel cost to me before the ride. I pick him up and he is thrilled with the "awesome ride" row 2 miles later, dropped off, no tip! I earned 4.00 and still had to drive 12 miles back!
Lucky I picked up two young ladies for a concert who were thrilled with the "awesome ride" and tipped me $40 for the $24 ride of which I got $19
Point is, uber has everyone brainwashed! They want you to not tip, hassle free experience is so they make money. They do not care about the drivers.
End result, you stop getting clean safe rides and start getting ghetto wagons because that is the cheapest way to the provide service. Realistic driver business model. Now you can change that so a large degree, however...
You don't want to tip... Fine then the service will die and you can go back to dirty cabs ar 3x the cost, pay in cash and... Wait for it... You will probably tip the non English speaking driver, but wow you showed those Uber guys didn' you!
Lastly for the 5 stars is your tip cheaPskate! Uber considers anything less than 4 stars, an epic fail. So by that, a Prius ride equals a Mercedes ride. I will tell you this, you have that choice not tip and give that star that was earned anyway at great discount. Here is what the driver can and will do (your cute little star awards door swings both ways) He/she will rate you 4 or less, likely three. I will for sure! Enough of those and you won't get picked up... EVER! Riders rated less than 4.7 get passed over a lot here. So you can decide to not tip and we can decide to not give you a ride, cool huh!
Lastly, all of you cash no carry types. Tell me, So when you plan to valet your car, you don't cash out a bunch of ones to tip him as you come and go. Neither the bell hop nor the maid, nor the doorman... They all make more than uber drivers and don't use their own personal gear!
I have never seen so many... How do I put it... Cheapskate self centered losers!
Okay, rant over