Originally Posted by
UberDriver
I lived in Japan for a few years in the '90s - some of the best service I received anywhere, and that entire country never tips. But they pay their workers appropriately for such. I'm with you, I do not like having to carry extra cash for tipping, as well. That said, Uber/Lyft just need to raise the rate to a legitimate/minimum $1.50 per mile and all this tipping non-sense will fall off. As can the Surge pricing.
If you raise rates less people will use Uber, and that means drivers will have to wait around longer for a passenger. It would probably work out in bigger cities where the average income is higher, but it wouldn't work out in smaller cities. It would only destroy a lot of Uber jobs, or many drivers would be waiting long periods for a passenger thus their income wouldn't increase by much, or even possibly decrease.
The problem is we all have different definitions about what is fair. In Japan, waiters get paid like $10 USD at regular restaurants. In California, it's $10+ plus tips. I know plenty of waiters that can easily pull $20+ an hour. You could argue that waiters in Japan are underpaid or waiters in California are overpaid.