Tips are a significant part of a rideshare driver’s income. Even if you drive for a company that doesn’t encourage tipping (AHEM!), the few extra dollars you could make every night by increasing your tips could be the difference between some profitable hours of work and some barely break-even ones.

Though rideshare tipping is fairly new, tipping in other industries has been well-studied. We reviewed the techniques and strategies that tip-earned in other professions have found to be effective in order to give some advice for rideshare drivers.

This one might seem obvious but can get lost in the hustle and bustle of a long shift of driving. Always greet your riders with a smile and try to keep a positive attitude during the ride. Studies of waiters have shown that a positive, professional attitude tends to yield bigger tips.

Waiters get bigger tips if they know their menu well and can describe their food in detail. The equivalent for a rideshare driver would be to know the area in which you’re driving and be able to not only navigate it but provide some interesting details about it.

Rideshare driving can often take you to unfamiliar parts of your city but do your best to do some quick homework on the areas where you’ll be driving. Know the main thoroughfares and maybe a piece of trivia or two that you can share with your riders.

Believe it or not, this has actually been studied and proven to be effective. Mentioning the weather forecast for the next few days has been shown to improve waiter tips by a few percentage points. Keep a weather app on your phone and check it before you start driving.

Studies of waiters have shown that when a waiter personalizes their appearance in some way, their tips go up. The thinking goes that you become more of an individual to the customer and less of a cog in a corporate machine. People are much more willing to tip individuals than corporations. Try accessorizing with a sharp hat or scarf or put a fun pin on your shirt to set you apart from other drivers.

You can also put a few personal touches in your car to set it apart from the army of Toyotas and Hondas out there. Put a picture of your spouse or kids on the dash or maybe a rear view mirror hanger from your home state or country. You don’t want to clutter the car but a subtle touch here or there can help make you an individual in the rider’s mind and increase their potential tip.

This goes along the same lines of individualization as the last suggestion. ‘Hello, I’m Christine’ can go a long way to making the rideshare experience more personal for the rider and less like jumping on public transportation.

An advantage of the rideshare apps is that you usually get to see the rider’s name before you even see the rider. There’s a reason that waiters always return a credit card receipt to your table with ‘Thank you Mr. Jones.’ People love to hear their own names, it even activates special parts of their brain. Greet the rider by name and try to use it at least once in conversation during the ride.

Waiters and restroom attendants know the value of a few cheap mints. Customers tip more if they leave with a sweet taste in their mouth. Invest in a tin of Altoids or some individually wrapped mints or gum to keep in stock and offer unsolicited to passengers. As a bonus, having fresh breath yourself will make you more inviting to riders.

A classic bellhop trick is to grab a guest’s bag before they’ve even asked for help. Even people not conditioned to tipping rideshare drivers are used to tipping airport shuttle drivers and bellhops. When you see a rider waiting with baggage, do your best to help put them in the trunk.

Waiters are often encouraged to go to restaurants known for their good service to learn new tricks of the trade. You can do this too by taking rideshare trips and noticing habits of other drivers that you do or don’t like. Seeing the rideshare experience from the rider’s perspective every once in awhile can give you a new view on the experience and maybe some new insight into how to maximize your tips.

Try some of these techniques and let us know how they go!