Things I learned as a pizza delivery guy

The Dark Bishop

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1. If you have been in the hospitality business for a few years or many such as I, do not think tips work the same way as a bartender or food server..... People use some other kind of algorithm with figuring out how to tip a driver according.

2. Only do such if you have a cheap secondary means of transportation like an old beater... Depending on where you live, this may or may not be something that is needed, but an AWD is useful for crappy weather. Regardless of weather you are still looking for great gas mileage.... If you live in the northern states please look for an older Subaru, CRX, Rav4, etc.... Anything that can do decent gas mileage and be AWD.....

3. For God's sake do not use your primary vehicle. It is even worse if it is new... The mileage alone will devalue your vehicle to the point of insanity, and if you are honest with your insurance company, it will make your insurance insanely expensive.....

4. The worse the weather the better the tip.... This is true on average, but please do not get POed when some butthole decides to tip $1 or $3 for that matter, to come out to the sticks to delivery food they would not get themselves even with their 4X4..... It will happen...... In fact happened to me 3 times tonight..... Jerks.....

5. If this is the business for you, find a pizza delivery service that puts a premium on how far out you travel..... Where I work we have a 8 mile radius.... Personally I would like this smaller, but being I can take up to 4 deliveries at a time, I will not complain. The reason to bring this up is 8 miles could take up to 20 minutes one way depending on traffic and location. 40 minutes kills your tips when it is the only delivery going that direction....

6. Getting paid $5 an hour is actually a luxury where I work, but there is zero payment for gas or mileage, and the rest of your income is made by tips or part of the delivery fee..... With that in mind the more deliveries, the better per run.... If you work at a slow restaurant, unless you are new to this, please find a faster paced location to make your money.....

7. The tip average, at least around the DC area is $5 per delivery. Mind you that is including the $2 delivery charge they do at most places.... $1 is used to pay your hourly which you eventually see when you get paid. The other $1 is given to you at the end of the night per delivery, to help make up for the gas usage or piss poor tipping some do.....Either way, that tip averages out to $5 a delivery with the $1 delivery fee included.....

8. By all means, get the tip average out of your head until the end of the night. Frustration shows, and will eat away at you if you let it..... People read body language and will see you are having a poor night as you do not want their business. This will hurt your tip average even more. Fake that smile and be a cheerleader of sorts for the one minute it takes to be at their door.....

9. Lastly, learn your routes..... While having many drivers kills the idea of cherry picking the good ones, know your clientele. While first come, first serve is the correct idea, if first come is a stiff or leaves a buck while the second delivery is known to give the average or better, look to better take care of those that take care of you.... While this is our main thought as delivery drivers, also remember the more deliveries, the more money. So first look at how many deliveries are in hand for your run, figure the best path to hit them the quickest, then decide if going out of order would benefit you if it happens.... If you can deliver 3 deliveries in 30 minutes but the newest is closest, then the oldest, then the middle one, do so. The extra minute it takes to deliver the newest should not upset the oldest unless it is already getting late as it is..... Remember as a driver the oldest delivery decides the route you are taking, rather North, South, East, or West....

Hope this helps..... Eventually I will start the complaints and grievances portion of this.....
 

BigStar

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I overtip bc I used to be in the same industry; even late deliveries. They always make it up the next time. I know delivery/restaurants know certain customers always tip well and are treated better as a result outside of random circumstances, etc. Feel your pain brother.
 

CalPolyTechnique

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Lol, good stuff.

One of the best times of my life was delivering pizzas when I was teenager. Our main sources of business was Stanford University. I knew that campus like the back of my hand.

One of the places I hated delivering was Stanford Hospital; just utterly confusing. One time I had gotten so frustrated looking for room # CG-Z274 (or whatever it was) that I literally just ended up throwing the pizzas in the trash.
 

Cowpolk

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1. If you have been in the hospitality business for a few years or many such as I, do not think tips work the same way as a bartender or food server..... People use some other kind of algorithm with figuring out how to tip a driver according.

2. Only do such if you have a cheap secondary means of transportation like an old beater... Depending on where you live, this may or may not be something that is needed, but an AWD is useful for crappy weather. Regardless of weather you are still looking for great gas mileage.... If you live in the northern states please look for an older Subaru, CRX, Rav4, etc.... Anything that can do decent gas mileage and be AWD.....

3. For God's sake do not use your primary vehicle. It is even worse if it is new... The mileage alone will devalue your vehicle to the point of insanity, and if you are honest with your insurance company, it will make your insurance insanely expensive.....

4. The worse the weather the better the tip.... This is true on average, but please do not get POed when some butthole decides to tip $1 or $3 for that matter, to come out to the sticks to delivery food they would not get themselves even with their 4X4..... It will happen...... In fact happened to me 3 times tonight..... Jerks.....

5. If this is the business for you, find a pizza delivery service that puts a premium on how far out you travel..... Where I work we have a 8 mile radius.... Personally I would like this smaller, but being I can take up to 4 deliveries at a time, I will not complain. The reason to bring this up is 8 miles could take up to 20 minutes one way depending on traffic and location. 40 minutes kills your tips when it is the only delivery going that direction....

6. Getting paid $5 an hour is actually a luxury where I work, but there is zero payment for gas or mileage, and the rest of your income is made by tips or part of the delivery fee..... With that in mind the more deliveries, the better per run.... If you work at a slow restaurant, unless you are new to this, please find a faster paced location to make your money.....

7. The tip average, at least around the DC area is $5 per delivery. Mind you that is including the $2 delivery charge they do at most places.... $1 is used to pay your hourly which you eventually see when you get paid. The other $1 is given to you at the end of the night per delivery, to help make up for the gas usage or piss poor tipping some do.....Either way, that tip averages out to $5 a delivery with the $1 delivery fee included.....

8. By all means, get the tip average out of your head until the end of the night. Frustration shows, and will eat away at you if you let it..... People read body language and will see you are having a poor night as you do not want their business. This will hurt your tip average even more. Fake that smile and be a cheerleader of sorts for the one minute it takes to be at their door.....

9. Lastly, learn your routes..... While having many drivers kills the idea of cherry picking the good ones, know your clientele. While first come, first serve is the correct idea, if first come is a stiff or leaves a buck while the second delivery is known to give the average or better, look to better take care of those that take care of you.... While this is our main thought as delivery drivers, also remember the more deliveries, the more money. So first look at how many deliveries are in hand for your run, figure the best path to hit them the quickest, then decide if going out of order would benefit you if it happens.... If you can deliver 3 deliveries in 30 minutes but the newest is closest, then the oldest, then the middle one, do so. The extra minute it takes to deliver the newest should not upset the oldest unless it is already getting late as it is..... Remember as a driver the oldest delivery decides the route you are taking, rather North, South, East, or West....

Hope this helps..... Eventually I will start the complaints and grievances portion of this.....
Good tips some of that stuff works for UBER Drivers also Do they have Door Dashers there yet?
 

yimyammer

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Lol, good stuff.

One of the best times of my life was delivering pizzas when I was teenager. Our main sources of business was Stanford University. I knew that campus like the back of my hand.

One of the places I hated delivering was Stanford Hospital; just utterly confusing. One time I had gotten so frustrated looking for room # CG-Z274 (or whatever it was) that I literally just ended up throwing the pizzas in the trash.
:laugh:
 

The Dark Bishop

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Good tips some of that stuff works for UBER Drivers also Do they have Door Dashers there yet?

Not really but I had 3 phantom deliveries in my time..... So the pranksters do get you from time to time...... As far as 7 delivery services outside of us (Door Dashers) If you ever saw their delivery fees, you would understand why they are not really a thing..... They sometimes charge $10 on a deliveries 2 miles from us.... While it may be 10 miles for them, it really gives businesses a bad name for those that don't deliver......
 
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Cowpolk

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Not really but I had 3 phantom deliveries in my time..... So the pranksters do get you from time to time......
Door Dashers is grocery delivery people order food and they deliver it beer tacos what ever retailer signs up with them I do UBER eats still made 30 bucks delivering 2 burgers with fries today plus a 5 dolla tip
 

Cowpolk

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1. If you have been in the hospitality business for a few years or many such as I, do not think tips work the same way as a bartender or food server..... People use some other kind of algorithm with figuring out how to tip a driver according.

2. Only do such if you have a cheap secondary means of transportation like an old beater... Depending on where you live, this may or may not be something that is needed, but an AWD is useful for crappy weather. Regardless of weather you are still looking for great gas mileage.... If you live in the northern states please look for an older Subaru, CRX, Rav4, etc.... Anything that can do decent gas mileage and be AWD.....

3. For God's sake do not use your primary vehicle. It is even worse if it is new... The mileage alone will devalue your vehicle to the point of insanity, and if you are honest with your insurance company, it will make your insurance insanely expensive.....

4. The worse the weather the better the tip.... This is true on average, but please do not get POed when some butthole decides to tip $1 or $3 for that matter, to come out to the sticks to delivery food they would not get themselves even with their 4X4..... It will happen...... In fact happened to me 3 times tonight..... Jerks.....

5. If this is the business for you, find a pizza delivery service that puts a premium on how far out you travel..... Where I work we have a 8 mile radius.... Personally I would like this smaller, but being I can take up to 4 deliveries at a time, I will not complain. The reason to bring this up is 8 miles could take up to 20 minutes one way depending on traffic and location. 40 minutes kills your tips when it is the only delivery going that direction....

6. Getting paid $5 an hour is actually a luxury where I work, but there is zero payment for gas or mileage, and the rest of your income is made by tips or part of the delivery fee..... With that in mind the more deliveries, the better per run.... If you work at a slow restaurant, unless you are new to this, please find a faster paced location to make your money.....

7. The tip average, at least around the DC area is $5 per delivery. Mind you that is including the $2 delivery charge they do at most places.... $1 is used to pay your hourly which you eventually see when you get paid. The other $1 is given to you at the end of the night per delivery, to help make up for the gas usage or piss poor tipping some do.....Either way, that tip averages out to $5 a delivery with the $1 delivery fee included.....

8. By all means, get the tip average out of your head until the end of the night. Frustration shows, and will eat away at you if you let it..... People read body language and will see you are having a poor night as you do not want their business. This will hurt your tip average even more. Fake that smile and be a cheerleader of sorts for the one minute it takes to be at their door.....

9. Lastly, learn your routes..... While having many drivers kills the idea of cherry picking the good ones, know your clientele. While first come, first serve is the correct idea, if first come is a stiff or leaves a buck while the second delivery is known to give the average or better, look to better take care of those that take care of you.... While this is our main thought as delivery drivers, also remember the more deliveries, the more money. So first look at how many deliveries are in hand for your run, figure the best path to hit them the quickest, then decide if going out of order would benefit you if it happens.... If you can deliver 3 deliveries in 30 minutes but the newest is closest, then the oldest, then the middle one, do so. The extra minute it takes to deliver the newest should not upset the oldest unless it is already getting late as it is..... Remember as a driver the oldest delivery decides the route you are taking, rather North, South, East, or West....

Hope this helps..... Eventually I will start the complaints and grievances portion of this.....
Keep good records of mileage for tax time some states even allow oil changes as deductables
 

Reality

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I think that they should do away with the tip concept for pizza deliveries. It should be a flat $10 delivery fee with all of it going to the delivery driver. If people are too lazy to go get their pizza themselves, they should be willing to pay the delivery driver a fee that covers their wages for their time, their gas costs and the depreciation of their vehicle. An exception can be made for disabled people of course.
 

The Dark Bishop

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I overtip bc I used to be in the same industry; even late deliveries. They always make it up the next time. I know delivery/restaurants know certain customers always tip well and are treated better as a result outside of random circumstances, etc. Feel your pain brother.

While all delivery persons enjoy such, it is really not about the better sales percentage.... Being a bartender/server for over 25 years, I love such, but since we are not taxed on our sales like a server or a bartender would be, It is more about the mileage and route to your location. If you live in a prime location, chances are we have multiple deliveries..... If you live in BFE, chances are you are a solo delivery.... That is what truly matters unless you are dealing with poor conditions which means you are driving slow, risking you vehicle and time to complete the delivery. Like I said many understand this and take care of you, but there are a few that..... Well to be nice, don't care or understand.....
 
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The Dark Bishop

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I think that they should do away with the tip concept for pizza deliveries. It should be a flat $10 delivery fee with all of it going to the delivery driver. If people are too lazy to go get their pizza themselves, they should be willing to pay the delivery driver a fee that covers their wages for their time, their gas costs and the depreciation of their vehicle.


While I would be so envious of such, sometimes I do deliveries within a mile.... In fact multiple in a day's time..... They know such and tip accordingly.... While I wish it were different, I would be more lacked then that.... I could live with $4 with the $1 delivery fee that goes to me.... Sadly it is normally $1 or $2 that I get, but there is always the guy 5 miles away that understands the mileage and the time that pays $10 and fixes the average..... Hence why I say $5 average per delivery.....
 

The Dark Bishop

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Door Dashers is grocery delivery people order food and they deliver it beer tacos what ever retailer signs up with them I do UBER eats still made 30 bucks delivering 2 burgers with fries today plus a 5 dolla tip

Sorry I was late adding the amends to my first reply.... I did fix such, but after you replied..... Forgive me.... When it comes to me, give the drunk 5 minutes or so to get his stuff right... LOL Sorry my friend.....

Anyhow I will add such again....


"As far as 7 delivery services outside of us (Door Dashers) If you ever saw their delivery fees, you would understand why they are not really a thing..... They sometimes charge $10 on deliveries 2 miles from us.... While it may be 10 miles for them, it really gives businesses a bad name for those that don't deliver......"

To be honest, they are only useful for those companies that don't deliver....
 

Cowpolk

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Sorry I was late adding the amends to my first reply.... I did fix such but after you replied..... Forgive me.... When it goes to me, give the drunk 5 minutes to get his stuff right... LOL Sorry my friend.....

Anyhow I will add such again....


"As far as 7 delivery services outside of us (Door Dashers) If you ever saw their delivery fees, you would understand why they are not really a thing..... They sometimes charge $10 on a deliveries 2 miles from us.... While it may be 10 miles for them, it really gives businesses a bad name for those that don't deliver......"
Have never done Door Dashers but I do Uber eats Seems odd to me that people would pay as much as they do to get food delivered by Uber It may be the 1st time users cashing the free coupon and ordering from a long way away so Uber has to eat the fee
 

The Dark Bishop

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Have never done Door Dashers but I do Uber eats Seems odd to me that people would pay as much as they do to get food delivered by Uber It may be the 1st time users cashing the free coupon and ordering from a long way away so Uber has to eat the fee

So sorry to hear.... Did not know that fell on Uber...... But if you knew the charges that companies like Takeout Taxi or Bit Squad charges, you would understand..... One time I saw a $20 charge for 5 miles within the sports bar I was working before breaking my foot...... It is true we did not deliver, but wow.... $20? As a manager I would have delivered such for our name sake..... Unreal.....

Again they give restaurants a bad name if people think we charge such for delivery......
 

Cowpolk

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So sorry to hear.... Did not know that fell on Uber...... But if you knew the charges that companies like Takeout Taxi or Bit Squad charges, you would understand..... One time I saw a $20 charge for 5 miles within the sports bar I was working before breaking my foot...... It is true we did not deliver, but wow.... $20? As a manager I would have delivered such for our name sake..... Unreal.....

Again they give restaurants a bad name if people think we charge such for delivery......
They charge people out the buns Tomorrow I will make 40 bucks for taking a Preacher to his church from Grand Prairie to Richardson and no it will not be an Uber ride he liked my services as an uber driver so we cut out the middle man saves him 20 bucks earns me an extra 10 bucks plus he likes my ride
 

The Dark Bishop

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They charge people out the buns Tomorrow I will make 40 bucks for taking a Preacher to his church from Grand Prairie to Richardson and no it will not be an Uber ride he liked my services as an uber driver so we cut out the middle man saves him 20 bucks earns me an extra 10 bucks plus he likes my ride

Well Sir, like we talked before, I do not have the SUV of the Kia's we are found of, I still use the hybrid Optima....... Great for mileage put sucks in weather..... The fact you are making a clientele that prefers your ride over his options is awesome.... The fact you found a way to not cheat the guy, shows you are out for consumer while taking care of yourself..... I applaud you..... Chances are he will see such and take care of you accordingly....

I hope anyways.....
 

JohnnyTheFox

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Good thread.........
I was going to Vegas once{back in 06} and needed extra cash, I got a part time job at a local Mom and Pop Pizzeria as a driver and told myself I would only work there for a few months just to give me some extra gambling money in Vegas:laugh: Lo and behold 12 years later I still there but as management. Will post a bit more after I get a good nights sleep, because I have some really great stories to tell.
 

MichaelWinicki

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1. If you have been in the hospitality business for a few years or many such as I, do not think tips work the same way as a bartender or food server..... People use some other kind of algorithm with figuring out how to tip a driver according.

2. Only do such if you have a cheap secondary means of transportation like an old beater... Depending on where you live, this may or may not be something that is needed, but an AWD is useful for crappy weather. Regardless of weather you are still looking for great gas mileage.... If you live in the northern states please look for an older Subaru, CRX, Rav4, etc.... Anything that can do decent gas mileage and be AWD.....

3. For God's sake do not use your primary vehicle. It is even worse if it is new... The mileage alone will devalue your vehicle to the point of insanity, and if you are honest with your insurance company, it will make your insurance insanely expensive.....

4. The worse the weather the better the tip.... This is true on average, but please do not get POed when some butthole decides to tip $1 or $3 for that matter, to come out to the sticks to delivery food they would not get themselves even with their 4X4..... It will happen...... In fact happened to me 3 times tonight..... Jerks.....

5. If this is the business for you, find a pizza delivery service that puts a premium on how far out you travel..... Where I work we have a 8 mile radius.... Personally I would like this smaller, but being I can take up to 4 deliveries at a time, I will not complain. The reason to bring this up is 8 miles could take up to 20 minutes one way depending on traffic and location. 40 minutes kills your tips when it is the only delivery going that direction....

6. Getting paid $5 an hour is actually a luxury where I work, but there is zero payment for gas or mileage, and the rest of your income is made by tips or part of the delivery fee..... With that in mind the more deliveries, the better per run.... If you work at a slow restaurant, unless you are new to this, please find a faster paced location to make your money.....

7. The tip average, at least around the DC area is $5 per delivery. Mind you that is including the $2 delivery charge they do at most places.... $1 is used to pay your hourly which you eventually see when you get paid. The other $1 is given to you at the end of the night per delivery, to help make up for the gas usage or piss poor tipping some do.....Either way, that tip averages out to $5 a delivery with the $1 delivery fee included.....

8. By all means, get the tip average out of your head until the end of the night. Frustration shows, and will eat away at you if you let it..... People read body language and will see you are having a poor night as you do not want their business. This will hurt your tip average even more. Fake that smile and be a cheerleader of sorts for the one minute it takes to be at their door.....

9. Lastly, learn your routes..... While having many drivers kills the idea of cherry picking the good ones, know your clientele. While first come, first serve is the correct idea, if first come is a stiff or leaves a buck while the second delivery is known to give the average or better, look to better take care of those that take care of you.... While this is our main thought as delivery drivers, also remember the more deliveries, the more money. So first look at how many deliveries are in hand for your run, figure the best path to hit them the quickest, then decide if going out of order would benefit you if it happens.... If you can deliver 3 deliveries in 30 minutes but the newest is closest, then the oldest, then the middle one, do so. The extra minute it takes to deliver the newest should not upset the oldest unless it is already getting late as it is..... Remember as a driver the oldest delivery decides the route you are taking, rather North, South, East, or West....

Hope this helps..... Eventually I will start the complaints and grievances portion of this.....

Fascinating read.
 
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