Ask a pizza delivery guy...

[downtown]

How do you not pay the whole price?

It was a friday night, so I was a little late. The guy handed me a wad of bills, and slammed the door. He was 1.50 short of the total bill...but he had a pretty angry pitbull at the door, so I just left. We dont deliver there anymore.

 

[JohnRM]

In lieu of the original poster, being that I deliver pizzas for Domino's Pizza, I shall answer. Heh.

What happens when someone "prank" orders pizza for the house you are supposed to be delivering to and that house doesn't want to pay for the pizza? Do you get to eat the pizza?

Although pranks are few and far between, and most of those we detect beforehand; Yes, we do get to eat the pizza.

Do you get pissed when you only get a few cents tip, like my friend does?

Yes. Driver's are paid below minimum wage for their work. They pay high gasoline costs and maintenance costs to bring you your food. When we get "stiffed", it does piss us off.

At the minimum, it will result in your order getting to your home as late as possible. We will take ANY other order we have to that particular address first, and make you wait as long as possible. Also, if we cover the ovens and take the pizza out and cut it, we will not care to do as well with your order as others. With better customers, we will ensure that there are a good amount of toppings on the pizza and that it is covered well and made right. If we see a poor-tipping customer's pizza is not quite up to par, we just pass it off. **** 'em!

At the worst, and I do not do this myself, you may get driver's who get so angry that they will put undesireable fluids or other substances on your pizza. If you ordered a soda pop they may shake it up as much as possible to get it to explode on you. I have even heard of driver's rememberin the house and coming back later to **** on the lawn or trash it with garbage, albeit an extremely rare occasion.

In the end, driver's are going to take very good care of well-tipping customers in ways that you are not aware of. We will make sure they get good food and that they get it on time. If it is late or wrong, we will make damn sure that they get full credit for the purchase price. For the bad customers, they get offered a remake or they get half-off the next order.

how much do you earn per hr ?

At my particular Domino's Pizza, we earn $5 per hour to start. Some other Pizza joints will pay a bit more or less. It depends. When tips are figured in, for my area, we make $8 per hour on a slow day and as much as $20 per hour when it is busy. I worked 51 hours in one week and earned $600 when taxes were withdrawn. You have to remember, though, that $100 of that went towards gasoline alone.

do you make each delivery one pizza at a time or do you serve many on the smae trip (and if so, how do you get them all there on time?)

It is Domino's Pizza policy to deliver no more than two orders at one shot, unless it is simply too busy and you must take more. We keep statistics of our deliveries. If we have too many runs of three or more orders, then we are prompted to schedule more driver's. I have taken as many as five orders in one run.

Do you have to pay for your own gasoline or does the company cover you?

Some companies will pay per actual mile by checking your odometer prior to each shift. Some, like my company, pay a per run charge that varies as gas prices flucuate. Currently, it is $1.30 per run. I get that for each order, not each time I leave the store. So, I get that if I take two orders to two houses right next to each other. I get that if I take an order right across the street.

Some companies do not pay you for mileage, at all, but they are few and far between.

Are you really supposed to tip the driver?

Yes. That is the primary way that driver's make money. If the customers tip poorly, the good driver's who will take care of you and do things right will leave the company and you will have poor driver's who hate you. Do you really want them carrying your food to you, unsupervised?

is $2 enough tip?

Think of how far away you are from the store. That is more important than the size of the order. We don't usually make the pizza, so the size does not matter as much as the time and distance we have to travel. We are not waiters and waitresses. We don't expect a percentage.

That being said, if I drive less than 5 minutes or 5 miles away, I will be happy with $2 tips. If I drive farther than that, I would like $3 tips. Anything more than that is greatly appreciated.

Believe me, there is value in tipping consistently and tipping well. If you are in a major city, it may be different due to the cost of living, but it my area, I don't think anything more than $4 per order is justified, unless you order $100 of food. If I have to lug four big bags of food around, then I expect more. But, $2 - $4 depending on your distance from the store is perfectly fine.

When you tip well and consistently, people will remember your address, name, and face, and they will make sure that you get the best food possible. Any little mistake will be taken care of, and you may get your food before others who don't tip so well, even though they are first in line.

There are other benefits such as specials and coupons. If we take an order from you and we know you tip well, we will tell you about and give you every last little special and do anything we can to save you money. We will give you coupon specials even if you don't have a coupon. If you tip poorly, you can order whatever the hell you want and we won't tell you anything about anything. You had better ask or have a coupon.

What was the nastiest thing you did to a customer you hate.

I have customers that never tip. I will take my time leaving the store, if it is not busy. If I have other orders, I will take those orders first. If I have to get gas, I will stop and get gas before I take the order. I will do anything else that I have to do before I get to that particular home, first.

Beyond that, I do not mess with people's food. I have shaken sodas for those rude customers. I have let pass some bad-looking pizzas. Once, now that I think about it, I saw Mild Wings accidentally made into Extra Hot Wings and said nothing to fix it.

Ever see strange things inside peoples' homes when they open the front door for you?

I have seen extremely messy homes. I have been to the front door of extremely smelly homes, most recently one that smelled like piss. I have been to a home with alcohol, cocaine (I think) and Marijuana all over the place. I have been to a hotel room when a drunk guy answered the door naked (I didn't look). I delivered to the same guy later and his naked hooker answered the door (I did look). I had a younger (16 or 17 year old) answer the door in a bra and underwear). I've had women asnwer in skimpy bath robes.

do you often get savagely murdered like the pizza delivery guy on silent witness a few nights ago?

don't worry, if you've never heard of silent witness; it is a crime thriller programme on BBC in a small country called Great Britain.

My company has never had a driver killed on duty. We have only ever had one driver robbed. Domino's Pizza in Reading, PA have had multiple robberies, attacks, and even one or two killed in the past years.

Do some female clients (attractive and not) get especially friendly with you or seem to order pizza just to get friendly with the delivery boy?

I have never encountered the "especially friendly" variant female customer. I have had some female customers (attractive and not) hit on me.

Although it is only 8 minutes from the Pizza place to my house- I always tip
the delivery person $4 and sometimes $5 . They at least act like they really
appreciate it and I usually get my pizza hot and pretty quickly.

I garauntee that they appreciate it. I would bet my left arm that they also make sure that you get the best food. They likely give you discounts without you even knowing it, or at least tell you about any special they have. You are being taken care of, I garauntee it.

If it's the first time a customer has ordered a pizza. Do you get it there with care, or do you only care for the customers who tip well?

I will take care of them as if they were a high-tipping customer, with exception that they will not get theirs before any other customer. They will get their order in the order it came in, unless a poor-tipper is before them.

Do you spit or pee on the pizzas of clients who generally tip bad ?

I personally do not, but I know that it has happened.

Have you ever had to clamour for a job because it means you get to see a very hot chick?

Ever had any times when you felt your life was in danger?

Yes and yes.

With respect to my life being endangered; I had a delivery to a dark parking lot where some people were supposedly working on a car. At first, I did not see anything and I got a little spooked, but some guy popped out of a garage door and everything was cool.

 

[downtown]

How can you eat the topping off a pizza you are delivering for someone the doesn't pay for in full, if you don't get paid until you deliver the pizza? You'd have to have ESP or something to know he was going to short you.
.

I only got shorted once, and we never went there again. We had several regular customers who would tip less than 5%. After 2 or 3 times of being shorted, I'd eat some of their pineapple.

 

[downtown]

Have you ever had to clamour for a job because it means you get to see a very hot chick?

Ever had any times when you felt your life was in danger?

Yes and Yes. Our system was usually "whoever is back first gets the next order", but we were allowed to trade. I was willing to give up the "hot girl" orders for the bigger tippers, or to make sure that I got to go deliever to my friends.

Also, I was once attacked by two pitbulls, because I had forgotten the man's salad. I had to file a police report. Other than that one instance, I never had much trouble...I worked in a pretty safe town.

 

[Leatherneck]

One of the places I order pizza for they have a big map on the wall of the delivery area, and there are colored dots on them. I asked one day when I was doing a pick-up order and asked the girl working the counter what the color dots where, she said "Oh those are the 'tippers' ... red dot, bad tipper, yellow dot, average tipper, green dot, good tippers! I cracked up and said well what dot is on my house and I gave here my address, she said oh you're a great tipper, and then put a free order of bread sticks on my order. I was like cool.
I live on the far edge of there delivery area way out in the country, I try to give them $5.00-$10.00 tip because I know it's way out in nowhere and gas isn't cheap.

 

[IglooDame]

Think of how far away you are from the store. That is more important than the size of the order. We don't usually make the pizza, so the size does not matter as much as the time and distance we have to travel. We are not waiters and waitresses. We don't expect a percentage.

That's something I never knew - while at my apartment (and ordering pizzas every couple weeks or so) I was tipping roughly 20% as a matter of course. Which makes me an average tipper, we'd order at least two mediums at a time and the bill was usually $15-20.

 

[downtown]

That's something I never knew - while at my apartment (and ordering pizzas every couple weeks or so) I was tipping roughly 20% as a matter of course. Which makes me an average tipper, we'd order at least two mediums at a time and the bill was usually $15-20.

Here is a good rule of thumb:

If you order from a large chain, you dont have to tip on a percentage. The pizza guy didnt make the pizza...and he likely didnt have to take 6 pizzas on one trip.

If its a smaller pizza joint, you really should, because the difficulty of the job actually increases with the size of your order. I worked a small place, and sometimes had to actually help make the pizzas

 

[.Shane.]

This thread delivers!

---

Anyway, my rule of thumb for tipping is, I write checks and I'll round up and add a dollar. If the order is in the ~$22+ dollar range, then I'll round up and add 2 dollars.

Thus a $15.67 pizza gets a $17.00 check. A $24.56 order would get $27.00.

Is that a good tip?

How often do you have to order to become "known" to the drivers? Obviously, an ahole customer, probably only once or twice, but I mean for a good customer.

I gotta say, this thread is much better than I thought it would be.

 

[IronMan2055]

is it ever annoying that you drive with the pizzas and can smell them and you can't eat them.

 

[MobBoss]

In my lower enlisted days when I was a private, I used to deliver pizza as a second job. I delivered for Pizza Time, Dominos and Pizza Hut all over the years...and Pizza Time (a local area business) paid the best: minimum wage, which at that time was just over 6 bucks an hour, plus a 6 percent commission on all sales, plus tips. I averaged between 12 and 20 bucks an hour most nights.

The most odd thing that I remember about tippers was that I was always shocked to see that people with nice houses were the WORST tippers ever. It always seemed to be that rich people stiffed you for some reason, while people in cheaper houses or apartments tipped better.

Never could really figure that one out.

Also, never got robbed. Never had an accident. Never did anything to anyones food. Did have a couple of naked women at the door (and they were dogs, ugh). All in all it was a pretty cool experience.

As for whats a good tip. Back in the day, I thought a buck was ok and anything over a buck was a good tip.

 

[JoeM]

I don't know if this story is relevant in the US, nevertheless;

I order pizza frequently and I pay by credit card over the phone, this is a normal occurance.

So this one time the delivery guy comes and says "That'll be £19.99 please.."
I told him I'd already paid over the phone by card...

He said, "You must have proof or I cannot give you the pizza..."


Cue a long, typically British, sarcastic conversation.

Eventually I phoned the company for him, as he refused to, and convinced him to speak to his own boss.

 

[DYNAMICS]

I work in a supermarket and in addition to filling the shelves on the shop floor and have to do home deliveries once very week it’s usually a Saturday since the main home delivery driver is off once a week. Now some times I get really big deliveries like 8 per slot…and there are like 3 slots. Some of the customers when you reach their homes are really rude. Like this one customer that complained that her tub of ice cream had turn to liquid. And she would not stop complaining about how crap our delivery service was. I just muttered to myself why don’t you put the ice cream in the fringe and when it’s frozen eat it!!!

I never had women seduce me on my job although there was this single mother that kept looking & smiling at me when I was putting her shopping in the kitchen.

 

[Rossiya]

My company has never had a driver killed on duty. We have only ever had one driver robbed. Domino's Pizza in Reading, PA have had multiple robberies, attacks, and even one or two killed in the past years.

what is PA?

 

[IglooDame]

what is PA?

Pennsylvania

 

[JohnRM]

This thread delivers!

---

Anyway, my rule of thumb for tipping is, I write checks and I'll round up and add a dollar. If the order is in the ~$22+ dollar range, then I'll round up and add 2 dollars.

Thus a $15.67 pizza gets a $17.00 check. A $24.56 order would get $27.00.

Is that a good tip?

How often do you have to order to become "known" to the drivers? Obviously, an ahole customer, probably only once or twice, but I mean for a good customer.

I gotta say, this thread is much better than I thought it would be.

If I drive ten miles to deliver a $12 pizza and I get a buck, I'm going to be pissed. It truly is all about distance. The longer I have to drive, the more deliveries go to other drivers and the more money THEY make. I will take deliveries down the street for two bucks all day and let everyone else go ten miles along for four.

I have a good memory, so I pretty much remember everything about a delivery for a month or so. On average, I'd say if you place an order per week, it will take three weeks to be "known".

 

[JohnRM]

is it ever annoying that you drive with the pizzas and can smell them and you can't eat them.

I don't even smell pizza anymore. In fact, I don't even eat pizza anymore. No.

 

[JohnRM]

The most odd thing that I remember about tippers was that I was always shocked to see that people with nice houses were the WORST tippers ever. It always seemed to be that rich people stiffed you for some reason, while people in cheaper houses or apartments tipped better.

Yeah, it is the same thing in my area, with few exceptions. I would say, almost 10-1, the poor will tip far better than the rich.

 

[colontos]

Anyway, my rule of thumb for tipping is, I write checks and I'll round up and add a dollar. If the order is in the ~$22+ dollar range, then I'll round up and add 2 dollars.

Thus a $15.67 pizza gets a $17.00 check. A $24.56 order would get $27.00.

Is that a good tip?

That's a decent tip. No complaining, but it's nothing to write home about either.

How often do you have to order to become "known" to the drivers?

I'd say about once a week.

is it ever annoying that you drive with the pizzas and can smell them and you can't eat them.

Yeah, sometimes. I work during the day, but if it's busy I don't get to eat lunch until 3 or 4 PM. Those days, the smell of pizza can be maddening...

On a related note, I've found that I can't get sick of pizza. Even if I eat it everyday I still want more. So I guess it's good to work in a pizza place...

 

[lobster]

It's a really interesting thread, thanks for educating me on how hard life is for the delivery guy.

Hey I live in Canada, do the same rules apply here? How much should I tip?

 

[Samson]

I know it was mentioned further up the thread, but I did not see an answer. Why do american pizza dilivery guys use cars when british ones use bikes? Bikes must do twice the miles per gallon or (much) more, so you would make more money?