Does anyone else find Google ratings in the US close to useless?

After a trip to the U.S., I’ve realised how broken the 5-star rating system has become. Everything—cafés, restaurants, Uber drivers—seems to have 4.7 stars or higher. But a lot of those places are just... okay. Americans seem too polite to leave honest ratings. Giving 3 or 4 stars feels harsh, even though it really shouldn’t. Add to that the pressure from platforms like Uber and Google, where anything under 4.8 can hurt someone's job, and you get a system where 5 stars just means "it was fine." I lived in South Africa for a few years, where people are far more direct. A 3.5-star place might still be great, and when something gets 5 stars, you can actually trust it. In Australia, we’re somewhere in the middle—we're nice, but still honest enough to give a business a fair rating. The problem is, once you’re using global platforms, you’re stuck in the American-style inflation where 5 stars is the default. It makes the whole system meaningless. If everything’s “amazing,” how are we supposed to tell what’s actually good? --- **Post Details:** - **Subreddit:** r/wanderlust - **Author:** u/antyg - **Score:** 8 upvotes - **Upvote Ratio:** 91.0% - **Comments:** 5 - **Posted:** 5/24/2025 - **URL:** https://reddit.com/r/wanderlust/comments/1ktvwrc/does_anyone_else_find_google_ratings_in_the_us/