I like to think of myself as a generous tipper as I usually give waiters and taxi drivers 20% if they provide decent service. But I don’t like it when restaurants automatically add generous tips. I really despise the new New York City taxi tip options when you pay by credit card. See the image below. As you can see, when you pay by credit card, the options to tip are 20%, 25% or 30%. Thirty per cent?! That’s outrageous. Yes, you can manually input the amount but most passengers including myself are in a hurry and just hit a button to complete the sale. Don’t you think the taxis should be pre-programmed to read 10%, 15% and 20%? Next time I’m going to use Uber.
Framing cab drivers’ tips as “ripoffs” speaks much more to your mood and mindset than it does to the ethics of the drivers. They work hard, never know who is going to step into their cab, put up with some incredibly rude people and bad tippers, and never know what their paycheck is goinog to be. Maybe you were having a bad day? Hope that is not typical for you.
I live in NYC and I totally think this IS A RIP-OFF. Give me a f&^&ing break, people. I’m not a tourist and I’m tired of the BS in this city. This doesn’t only happen in cabs, it happens in a lot of restaurants. Yeah, sure, I can manually add the tip, but it’s a hassle and the cab drivers KNOW this. It takes me one extra minute and I don’t want to give them that extra minute. This is why I can’t wait to leave this uber expensive city. See ya!
I think that the Taxi drivers probably do more wrong rates. Plugging in a higher rate that the ride calls for.
As I’m based in NYC, I face this all the time. Yes, it’s moderately annoying, but it’s that not hard to just manually figure out and type in a tip — that’s what you’d have to do anyway if they didn’t offer pre-calculated percentages. I don’t think taxis need to be required to do the math for you. And there are so many cities where cabs don’t even offer the convenience of paying by credit cards . . .
Much more of a ripoff is when drivers take routes that are not the most efficient path to your destination . . .
What an utterly useless article. Your laziness makes this an issue. As you acknowledge, you can input whatever you want, or still pay cash, so there is no rip off at all. I am not a taxi driver. The only rip off here is by you ripping off peoples time with uselss drivel. Give people the credit they deserve.
Take the subway
Use cash or take public transportation. Bus or subway, $2.50 per ride ($1 surcharge for new MetroCard, refill an old one for free) j5doto@gmail.com j5doto@gmail.com plus 1 free transfer to another bus or from/to bus or subway.
Simple answer to this problem! With all the identity theft going on never give your credit card number to someone that can disappear like a taxi driver. Use a money belt and cash and tip what you feel the service was worth.
Not much different than restaurants that include gratuity, don’t tell you about it and have space on the receipt to enter one. Many people don’t check and wind up tipping 30-40%.
… How does a cap driver give “excellent service”? miss all the pot holes?…don’t get involved in a fatal accident? I would maybe tip 10% on a good day…..
I took a cab in London recently and paid with a credit card, for which there was a 2 pound surcharge–and there wasn’t an option to not pay it.
I don’t think this is a rip-off. You have the option to input manually or…as I do, pay cash for the tip.
I’ve lived in NYC for years and years and years. I don’t find that all or even most cab drivers are looking to rip you off.
Will some try to take you a longer route? Sometimes. But if you know where you’re going and provide a route…that’s not likely to happen.
FYI: Sometimes the route we think is best is NOT the shortest route at a particular location and/or tme of day. Sometimes, when a cab driver suggests another route, HE/She is right…and we are wrong.
I’ve ridden a lot of cabs over the year for business and personal reasons. With less than a handful of exceptions, they were good experiences.
I also treat cab drivers as people and enter with a pleasant: Hello/Good day/good morning/ etc.
When there is an issue, I politely ask them to do x, y or z.
I also watch how cabs approach and how drivers react as you get in cab. Sometimes it tells you a lot at a time when you can still easily opt out. (I never enter a cab that has cut off another cab driver to stop and pick me up. NEVER.)