Thanks to a proposed class-action settlement between Uber and its drivers in California and Massachusetts, your next Uber ride could be slightly uncomfortable — or downright awkward, especially if you don’t have good, old-fashioned cash on hand.

Here’s why: After years of conditioning people — heck, coaching them — to forget about tips, which rhetoric dictates are so clearly a relic of the legacy taxi business, the technology-based transportation giant Uber is being forced to back away from its mantra that tips are included in the price of rides. In fact, the company must now inform customers that the opposite is true.

“Uber agreed it’s going to be more clear to passengers that tips are not included,” said Shannon Liss-Riordan, the attorney who negotiated the terms of the settlement, which includes a $100 million payment to plaintiffs but keeps drivers classified as independent contractors and not employees.

Ultimately, drivers are still benefit-less gig workers, but they do get this one perk: “(Tips) are a significant improvement for drivers. I hope and believe that they’ll make more money as a result,” Liss-Riordan said.


Now, drivers can not only verbally solicit tips (they were discouraged from doing so in the past), but also post small placards in their cars asking for them. And Liss-Riordan is encouraging all 450,000 of them in the U.S. to do so.

That means every one of the roughly 545,000 people in San Diego County who ride with the e-hail transportation provider needs to seriously consider this question: Should I tip my Uber driver?

Maybe the simple answer is yes, you should.

A conversational sea change is happening between riders and drivers. “People were constantly asking about the new tipping policy,” said Uber driver Bill Tesauro of his first weekend making pickups and drop-offs following news of the settlement. (Peggy Peattie)


You used to tip your taxi drivers, after all. And like waitresses, bartenders and other hospitality workers, Uber drivers are performing a service while making a minimum. (That’s $1.10 per mile and 15 cents per minute for UberX rides, less for shared Pool rides, and minus the 20 percent to 25 percent cut Uber takes).

But here’s the rub: Uber won’t be introducing an electronic tipping mechanism so you can digitally reward your driver with a thanks-for-the-ride bonus. Rather, the company is refusing to outwardly acknowledge any change to its tipping policy.

“When we started Uber six years ago, we thought long and hard about whether to build a tipping option into the app. In the end, we decided against including one because we felt it would be better for riders and drivers to know for sure what they would pay or earn on each trip — without the uncertainty of tipping,” the company said in a recent blog post. “That’s still the case today. Tipping is not included, nor is it expected or required.”

Hello, confusion.


No matter what Uber says, drivers want tips. Some expect them. And with the settlement’s proposed language clarification, some drivers will even feel emboldened to ask for them. I hope you plan to keep cash on hand.

Already, there’s a conversational sea change happening between riders and drivers.

“People were constantly asking about the new tipping policy,” said Uber driver Bill Tesauro of his first weekend making pickups and drop-offs following news of the settlement. “They asked, ‘What are you going to be doing to let everyone know they can leave a tip?’”

Tesauro, a San Marcos resident, has never asked for tips and doesn’t plan to start doing so. He also won’t be displaying a please-tip-me sign in his car. But even a laissez-faire attitude won’t make Tesauro immune to clumsy encounters where conflicted passengers leave him a consolatory buck or two.


“I did get more tips this weekend. People were like, hey, here’s a dollar,” he said. “They’re just feeling guilty. I know people are really being truthful when they give $5.”

As Tesauro describes it, the dollar donation smacks of an even bigger insult than no tip at all.

“Now that customers are aware ... I think Uber is going to see a backlash,” Liss-Riordan said. The company extols an entirely cashless experience, but that becomes a sham once cash tips are the new norm, she said. “If drivers and passengers call on Uber to add a tip function to the app, Uber will do it. There’s no reason why Uber can’t do it.”

Indeed. Rival Lyft includes an in-app tipping feature, making it clear to passengers that they can add a few more bucks for good service if they wish.


“People were like, hey, here’s a dollar,” Uber driver Bill Tesauro said. “They’re just feeling guilty. I know people are really being truthful when they give $5.” (Peggy Peattie, San Diego Union-Tribune)

So what’s the big deal? Apparently, e-tips would add complexity to the “hassle-free” Uber experience that riders have come to expect. Here’s the company’s publicly stated reasoning: People tend to tip out of habit, not necessarily because of stellar service. Plus, personal bias often means that we reward some workers more than others.

“This means two people providing the same level of service get paid different amounts,” the company said. “With Uber, drivers know that they earn the same for doing the same trip, no matter who they are or where they’re from.”

What’s more, the argument goes, if tipping were added to the Uber formula, drivers might selectively choose to pick up riders in richer neighborhoods.


Of course, there’s another explanation: Uber banks on its affordability and adding a tipping feature to the smartphone app would essentially make trips more expensive.

Still, Liss-Riordan believes a newfound conscientiousness is percolating among riders who are horrified to learn they’ve actually been shortchanging their drivers for years.

She might be right.

Spokani Nouri of Linda Vista has never considered tipping her Uber drivers, despite engaging in the opposite behavior when she opts to take a Lyft ride.


“When I use Lyft, I do tip,” Nouri said. “Because I have the option (in the app).”

Nouri, who said she notices when drivers go above and beyond, was never purposely stiffing Uber workers. Like most of us, she thought tips were included. She knows better now. But also like many of us, she doesn’t typically carry cash.

It’s as if Uber, in trying to keep the e-hail-and-pay experience hassle-free, is sticking to its policy out of stubbornness alone. When you factor in that drivers get to rate us passengers too, then the company’s tipping stance will feed into the very system of inequality it wishes to avoid, one where riders who do tip get better ratings and thus better service.

If there’s an almost-silver lining, it’s that some Uber drivers like Tilahun Woldemichael of North Park will feel more uncomfortable asking for tips than riders feel broaching the subject. “It’s hard to ask for tips,” he said. “It’s awkward.”


But even if the “Should I tip?” question goes unaddressed by both parties, you know, and your driver knows, that the tip is definitely not included. How you choose to move forward with that information is up to you.