How to change your Uber usage so you don’t pay extra $$ with the updates
Uber is stepping up its game.
They’ve been called out for a ton of shit, from being sexist af to staying silent on Trump’s travel ban. But now, they’re changing a bunch of shit around to support the backbone of their company: their drivers.
From a socially conscious perspective, this is great. The drivers deal with your drunk ass all the time and deserve to be compensated fairly. From a monetary perspective, this might be bad news for you, especially if you’re the type of person to call an Uber and then make it wait downstairs for five minutes while you finish pre-gaming.
So, in light of supporting the new policies but also supporting you not spending your rent money on Uber fees, here’s a guide to the new rules and how to make sure you don’t get hit with extra bills.
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1. Don’t leave your driver waiting
Like the aforementioned pre-gaming example, it’s all too common to call an Uber and have it show up before you’re ready to go. No biggie, as long as it’s not a pool, the driver will wait. Except unlike previously when you had to deal with a slightly peeved driver that keeps calling you, now you’ll have to deal with a late fee. If your Uber driver is waiting for you for over two minutes, you’ll get charged a per-minute rate until you show up.
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2. If you’re going to cancel, do it quickly
Previously, if you cancelled your ride in under five minutes, you wouldn’t get charged. Now, it’s been decreased to two minutes.
As a NYC Uber user, I have mixed feelings about this one.
There are so many times when my Uber says it’s five minutes away, then he consistently drives in the wrong direction and is 10 minutes away five minutes later. At this point, I cancel. I don’t want to be charged for that!
Granted, if you complain to Uber they usually reimburse you, so I guess as long as they’re still good with customer service it’s all gucci. Just be more aware about calling Ubers if you’re not sure you actually want to grab one.
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3. Factor in a tip to your ride estimate
I know I’m not the only broke bitch who checks the Uber rates before deciding whether she’s going to brave the subway or treat herself to a life of luxury. Well, tipping has officially been launched on Uber in Seattle, Houston, and Minneapolis, with all cities to be added by the end July 2017. So now, when you’re calculating if you have enough in your bank account for a Uber trip uptown, remember that you have to tip.
Well, you don’t have to tip, but you’re an asshole if you don’t.
4. Use your non-teen friend’s account
Uber is a teen’s BFF, but unfortunately they’re now going to be charging teens $2 extra for using their services. They don’t give a reason why, but perhaps it’s because they claim they’ll match teen riders with highly-rated drivers specifically. This also might have to do with the fact they assume a teen’s parents are footing the bill. So maybe “accidentally” change the year on your b-day when signing up for the app so that you don’t get charged extra? Not that I’d ever tell you to lie though, that’s bad!
