As Uber continues to dominate in the U.S. and abroad, their growing staff are urging the transportation company to develop a new in-app feature to allow gratuity for drivers.
With excited patrons now able to call on a ride from wherever, however they like, it is the drivers who work for Uber who are looking to shake things up a bit. Peter Faris, an Uber driver who has been with the company for more than two years, recently unveiled a petition to ask the company to create a new feature that would allow customers to tip drivers through the Uber smartphone app.
"Often, passengers tell me they'd like to provide a tip," Faris said to KFSM-5News. "But if they don't have the cash, they can't do so through the Uber app." The company does not prevent its drivers from accepting cash tips from passengers, but most do not carry cash on hand thanks to the popularity and convenience of the app.
For those who don't know about Uber, the car-hailing service originated out of San Francisco and instantly spurned off-shoots like Lyft. Founded by Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp in 2009, the duo launched its mobile app for iOS and Android in 2010. After raising $49.5 million dollars in capital funding, the company expanded its reach internationally to places such as Toronto, London, Australia, Singapore, and Seoul.
Despite protests from officials and companies all around the globe, Uber has trudged along unphased and with Peter Faris' petition in the mix, it seems that the company could be improving on its successes. "Tipping is simply a gesture of appreciation for a job well done," Faris writes in the petition, "and there's no reason to deny drivers and passengers this option." Even though gratuity is not included in the ride, Faris' and the roughly 14,000 signatures he's racked up aim to change things that would boost everyone's earnings and job satisfaction.
All payments made by Uber customers are done through credit card information stored within the Uber smartphone app. Could we be seeing another new feature coming to our iOS and Androids soon?
