Phil Hellmuth making more friends

[Dan Druff]

Uber driver wrote this:

Bring this dude to the airport – acts totally privileged – ordered XL just for him – had heat blasting and interior light on the whole time – one phone whole time talking about his million dollar book deal – leaves his garbage in my car – chips, water and poker paperwork – not even a $1 tip like ok if I was a poker star I woulda tipped you!!!!

[hongkonger]

If she wanted a tip she should have blown him. Isn't that what Uber is really for?

[sonatine]

im not into him trashing his uber's car but that said, this whole 'uber drivers should be tipped' narrative is really unwelcome.

[simpdog]

Maybe he considered the selfie a tip?

[hongkonger]

im not into him trashing his uber's car but that said, this whole 'uber drivers should be tipped' narrative is really unwelcome.

Why

[AhoosierA]

I've also seen several comments stating that this picture may be spoofed and that may be a "fake" Phil Hellmuth. Note that in the picture with the Uber driver his normally very clear & noticeable mole doesn't appear to be there....

I'd say there is an extremely good chance though that it is him.

[HoodedN]

Obv the chips were the tip

[PLOL]

Technically ordering an XL instead of X is a form of a tip, since you get paid more on the XL platform than on X. And XL drivers often have to dish out X rides due to lack of demand.

But somebody get Phil on a diet

[gut]

Judging from Danielle's profile pic and her words.....i'm sure she's a 100% certifiable source for the truth.

[ErickAA]

im not into him trashing his uber's car but that said, this whole 'uber drivers should be tipped' narrative is really unwelcome.

Why

I tip, but I was briefly an Uber driver a few years ago and have had other jobs in the service industry, so I know I tend to tip more than most.

[AhoosierA]

Let’s see if Phil was in the wrong here.

Uber X is typically used to pick up 1-4 passengers (Uber requires a standard Uber to fit up to 4 passengers)

Uber XL fits up to 6 passengers.

All markets are slightly different, but here is a 20 minute ride in Indy.

He paid roughly 1.7x in the Uber XL as he would have paid using UberX.

This means the driver was paid significantly more by him ordering XL...these XL drivers will take both X & XL trips as there is not enough XL trips to make a living.....She made more money from Phil than if he ordered Uber X AND left a 20% tip.....

[sonatine]

uber once upon a time was a consummate professional driver in a spotless towncar picking me up, dropping me off, and not saying a word beyond finding out where im going and to thank me before driving away after refusing a tip.


that.. did not last long.

[hongkonger]

You tip a taxi driver why not tip an Uber driver? What's the difference?

[DRK Star]

How far do you live from Deer Creek (or whatever its now called)?

[PLOL]

Let’s see if Phil was in the wrong here.

Uber X is typically used to pick up 1-4 passengers (Uber requires a standard Uber to fit up to 4 passengers)

Uber XL fits up to 6 passengers.

All markets are slightly different, but here is a 20 minute ride in Indy.

He paid roughly 1.7x in the Uber XL as he would have paid using UberX.

This means the driver was paid significantly more by him ordering XL...these XL drivers will take both X & XL trips as there is not enough XL trips to make a living.....She made more money from Phil than if he ordered Uber X AND left a 20% tip.....

This is all literally what I already said.

It's confusing why Phil would take an XL and not UberSELECT or Black. Since XL cars are not nicer than X cars, they're just bigger.

It does occasionally happen that XL will be cheaper than X. This is due to the fact that they surge independently.

[PLOL]

uber once upon a time was a consummate professional driver in a spotless towncar picking me up, dropping me off, and not saying a word beyond finding out where im going and to thank me before driving away after refusing a tip.


that.. did not last long.

That's because uber drivers now make waaay less money than they used to. They used to get 80% of the fare. Then they slashed fares every year, so they're getting 80% of a smaller amount. Then they dropped it to where drivers get 75%. Then they switched to "up-front pricing" and drivers no longer get a percentage of the fare you pay (though if you do the math they now get less than 70%). This enabled uber to charge passengers more without paying drivers more. The good news is, most uber drivers pay no taxes, because they're able to claim $0 income after taking the standard $1.50/mi deduction the IRS allows.

And Travis sold customers on this lie that "tip is included". It never was. Uber no longer says that because drivers sued and won, because of course the tip was never included. But that became so ingrained in customers that now even though there's a tipping option now, 90% of pax still won't tip.

[sonatine]

uber once upon a time was a consummate professional driver in a spotless towncar picking me up, dropping me off, and not saying a word beyond finding out where im going and to thank me before driving away after refusing a tip.


that.. did not last long.

That's because uber drivers now make waaay less money than they used to. They used to get 80% of the fare. Then they slashed fares every year, so they're getting 80% of a smaller amount. Then they dropped it to where drivers get 75%. Then they switched to "up-front pricing" and drivers no longer get a percentage of the fare you pay (though if you do the math they now get less than 70%). This enabled uber to charge passengers more without paying drivers more. The good news is, most uber drivers pay no taxes, because they're able to claim $0 income after taking the standard $1.50/mi deduction the IRS allows.

And Travis sold customers on this lie that "tip is included". It never was. Uber no longer says that because drivers sued and won, because of course the tip was never included. But that became so ingrained in customers that now even though there's a tipping option now, 90% of pax still won't tip.

Yeah I was going to tuck into the details but I have a fresh pizza situation.

Tl;dr Uber drivers were very well compensated professionals, once upon a time. And not having to hand them a present for their services was just another reason to choose them over cabs.

I tend to overtip in most situations but it was exhilarating to know that Uber was one of those situations where I got a price, I was happy, the driver was happy, there was no need to toke anyone.

[ErickAA]

Yeah. I looked into it and I think uber drivers in LA today make 1/2 of what they did a few years ago when I did it. Of course at the time drivers were making so muxh because Uber was subsidizing all the rides as they were trying to undercut the other platforms and control the whole industry.

It really is a big scam. Basically they destroyed the whole taxi industry by offering drives way too cheap and paying drivers too much and burning through billions of their investors $$. And now that they aren’t subsidizing like they used too, drivers (a lot of whom are taxi drivers that lost their business) are struggling to stay afloat.

The turnover is insane because it actually is a grind and most drivers realize all they are really doing is taking a loan out on their car, as wear and tear and maintenance in car cuts into most of your profits.

[hongkonger]

Uber should be illegal.

[MumblesBadly]

Uber should be illegal.

Some local municipalities have laws against it, but why do you think such riding-sharing gigs should be illegal? As long as the drivers are vetted and the dispatching company provided liability bond in case one of their drivers turns out to be a psycho/criminal who preys on customers, why would this business model be outlawed?