<story><title>Lyft Is Said to Seek New Funding as Its Rival Uber Stumbles</title><url>https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/01/technology/lyft-funding-uber.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>mdorazio</author><text>Counterpoint: one of the reasons I prefer Uber is that it &lt;i&gt;doesn&amp;#x27;t&lt;/i&gt; allow or encourage in-app tipping.  Tipping sucks, is economically dysfunctional, and socially awkward.  If the drivers aren&amp;#x27;t making enough from base fares then the fares need to go up - it&amp;#x27;s not my job to be a charity.</text></item><item><author>jbw976</author><text>the in app tipping that lyft provides is what seals the deal for me. the drivers are performing a service for me and having an integrated way to enhance their compensation is really nice. a lot of the drivers have a hard time making a good living especially considering vehicle related costs are all on their shoulders. I&amp;#x27;m happy to have a 1-click way to give them a bit extra.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;ve never understood why uber doesn&amp;#x27;t let you tip from within the app. it further solidifies the perception that uber doesn&amp;#x27;t care about its drivers.  they can&amp;#x27;t wait to replace all their human drivers with a self driving fleet. can the same be said about lyft? maybe. but at least the humans are being compensated better by lyft right now.</text></item><item><author>smileysteve</author><text>The key points are&lt;p&gt;- CEO never blackmailed journalists&lt;p&gt;- No major revelations of sexual harassment&lt;p&gt;- ~~No major revelations of political support~~&lt;p&gt;Related to core business&lt;p&gt;- Surge Limit has prevented complaints about emergency pricing vs Uber.&lt;p&gt;- Lyft takes a lower commission capped at 20%&amp;#x2F;25%&lt;p&gt;- Lyft has in app digital tipping (drivers keep 100% of tips). Uber&amp;#x27;s tip policy encourages cash, which is an often cited complaint of taxis.&lt;p&gt;- Major investment &amp;#x2F; partnership with GM (mentioned in an Uber thread that Car Makers will need a cheap &amp;#x2F; reasonably priced app)</text></item><item><author>techsupporter</author><text>Forgive me if this is me being dense, but from an outsider&amp;#x27;s perspective I don&amp;#x27;t understand what makes Lyft any better than Uber.  Neither company properly categorizes their drivers (as employees), both have a rather sizeable cut from fares, both depended on being basically illegal cabs--except for Uber Black, which uses licensed black car services--to get started, and neither has a financially viable business model.&lt;p&gt;Why is either business the cat&amp;#x27;s meow?</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>kemayo</author><text>I completely agree, and was halfway through writing a similar comment when I saw your post.&lt;p&gt;I &lt;i&gt;actively&lt;/i&gt; make choices for things like transit and food which reduce how much I have to think about tipping. I don&amp;#x27;t &lt;i&gt;like&lt;/i&gt; having to judge someone&amp;#x27;s service, and decide how much it&amp;#x27;s appropriate to tip them based on some unwritten societal rule.&lt;p&gt;The signal that hiding tips away sends is &amp;quot;the service provider is being compensated already&amp;quot;, and if you want to make an extra effort to pay them more you can, but it&amp;#x27;s not required of you.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m absolutely in favor of Uber&amp;#x2F;Lift charging whatever is necessary to pay their drivers properly. Similarly, I love no-tip restaurants which pay their servers and kitchen staff living wages.</text></comment>
<story><title>Lyft Is Said to Seek New Funding as Its Rival Uber Stumbles</title><url>https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/01/technology/lyft-funding-uber.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>mdorazio</author><text>Counterpoint: one of the reasons I prefer Uber is that it &lt;i&gt;doesn&amp;#x27;t&lt;/i&gt; allow or encourage in-app tipping.  Tipping sucks, is economically dysfunctional, and socially awkward.  If the drivers aren&amp;#x27;t making enough from base fares then the fares need to go up - it&amp;#x27;s not my job to be a charity.</text></item><item><author>jbw976</author><text>the in app tipping that lyft provides is what seals the deal for me. the drivers are performing a service for me and having an integrated way to enhance their compensation is really nice. a lot of the drivers have a hard time making a good living especially considering vehicle related costs are all on their shoulders. I&amp;#x27;m happy to have a 1-click way to give them a bit extra.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;ve never understood why uber doesn&amp;#x27;t let you tip from within the app. it further solidifies the perception that uber doesn&amp;#x27;t care about its drivers.  they can&amp;#x27;t wait to replace all their human drivers with a self driving fleet. can the same be said about lyft? maybe. but at least the humans are being compensated better by lyft right now.</text></item><item><author>smileysteve</author><text>The key points are&lt;p&gt;- CEO never blackmailed journalists&lt;p&gt;- No major revelations of sexual harassment&lt;p&gt;- ~~No major revelations of political support~~&lt;p&gt;Related to core business&lt;p&gt;- Surge Limit has prevented complaints about emergency pricing vs Uber.&lt;p&gt;- Lyft takes a lower commission capped at 20%&amp;#x2F;25%&lt;p&gt;- Lyft has in app digital tipping (drivers keep 100% of tips). Uber&amp;#x27;s tip policy encourages cash, which is an often cited complaint of taxis.&lt;p&gt;- Major investment &amp;#x2F; partnership with GM (mentioned in an Uber thread that Car Makers will need a cheap &amp;#x2F; reasonably priced app)</text></item><item><author>techsupporter</author><text>Forgive me if this is me being dense, but from an outsider&amp;#x27;s perspective I don&amp;#x27;t understand what makes Lyft any better than Uber.  Neither company properly categorizes their drivers (as employees), both have a rather sizeable cut from fares, both depended on being basically illegal cabs--except for Uber Black, which uses licensed black car services--to get started, and neither has a financially viable business model.&lt;p&gt;Why is either business the cat&amp;#x27;s meow?</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>nojvek</author><text>But when a driver goes above and beyond, it feels good to tip. One driver offered me water and a towel when it was too hot. He genuinely gave a shit about me and lyft made tipping easy. I found lyft&amp;#x27;s customer service better.&lt;p&gt;Honesty lyft&amp;#x27;s pink branding and mustache logo gives off a fun and underdog vibe. Not many companies go for pink. Their 50% female executive represention probably plays a role.&lt;p&gt;Uber on the other hand with black&amp;#x2F;silver gives off a very strong corporate &amp;quot;we&amp;#x27;re gonna fuck you over if you don&amp;#x27;t play by our rules&amp;quot; vibe.&lt;p&gt;This are emotional arguments but that&amp;#x27;s what branding is all about.</text></comment>