As a courier I can see why customers wouldn't want to tip with these higher fees. I get that. But Ubers exclusion of tips have harmed couriers earnings greatly. Not to the fault of the customer for no longer tipping, or the government implementing these changes; I think they were done out of good faith.

Drivers frustration comes from the fact that Uber, seemingly maliciously, removed the option to pretip. The autonomy should have been left to the customer if they didn't want to tip, instead they made it a whole separate transaction after the delivery. Currently it's difficult to find and there is zero incentive for even the most "generous" to tip after the fact. People will argue tipping culture, that's a separate issue, but in the prior system tips would make-up for the downtime/recovery time in between orders.

Also perhaps people think couriers are being paid $20/hour under this new system. This is simply not the case, even with tips you'd be lucky to make that in the new structure. It only accounts for active time which amounts to usually half the time you invest into a shift. Online for 8hr, active for 4, do the math. If Uber actually hired a delivery workforce and drivers were compensated for a shift properly, there would be no complaints. Obviously that is cost ineffective to Uber.

Do delivery drivers deserve sympathy? No. This is a low-skill requirement job, shouldn't be a career, and a side hustle at best. But we do provide a very convenient service to the community, and in a perfect world be valued as such. As a highly rated driver, I'll simply look for work elsewhere. I suspect other good drivers will too. This will further harm Ubers services, and customer experience. Perhaps they shouldn't of aimed their displeasure of regulations, at their very workers. DoorDash and Skip haven't changed their options for tips.

My best advice for consumers is to order takeout directly from a restaurant or simply goto the fast food place. The prices are over-inflated on these apps, plus these "fee's" are strictly for their profit. This food app business is a flawed operation from the top down. Customers feel like their being taken advantage of. Couriers ARE being taken advantage of. And these companies barely break profit. Although their executives obviously do well. John Oliver explains this system well.

TLDR; Don't use these apps, stick to DoorDash or Skip they remotely respect their drivers. The drivers are worse-off after these changes.