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soccerchamp76 04-04-2006 08:50 PM

Pizza delivery charges
 
Alright, here is my dilemma as a poor college student. Papa John's charges now $1.50 for a "delivery charge." Now, does the driver get this money, or is it going into the shareholder's pockets? This matters for the tip of the driver, if he/she is getting $1.50 already, no tip is necessary, maybe a move by PJ to eliminate drivers getting stiffed.

Anybody here have any inside info on where exactly the money goes?

Gatorade Frost 04-04-2006 08:58 PM

I suspect the 1.50 factors in to the mileage for them paying back the driver for gas, car maintenance, etc.

cyrnel 04-04-2006 09:04 PM

Soccer, sorry to sidetrack things but what pizzas do you order from PJs? The few I've had from them here and in California compared favorably with wet cardboard. Maybe.

As to delivery charges, I've noticed more places adding them or limiting delivery distance since gasoline stuck to the roof.

soccerchamp76 04-04-2006 09:07 PM

I am just wondering how much, if any, of the fee goes to the driver. If all of it does, then it is considered a "forced tip" and maybe shouldn't tip another $2.

Toaster126 04-04-2006 09:27 PM

This site details many of the myths of pizza delivery. It's a good read, plus it has a lot of cool delivery stories. The short of it is that pizza delivery drivers usually do more for you than a resteraunt waiter does, and pizza delivery is one of the 10 most dangerous jobs in the US. Police officer and fireman doesn't make the top 10 list, to put that in perspective. So at least tip them like you would a waiter, if not more. :)

http://tipthepizzaguy.com/

analog 04-05-2006 12:30 AM

Here where I am, Papa Johns is really good, and i've not seen any delivery charge... unless they've JUST started this, very recently.

flat5 04-05-2006 01:03 AM

Toaster126, interesting link.
I believe this link is most relevant to the USA.
Not sure how it is in Amsterdam, NL.

stevie667 04-05-2006 01:51 AM

There are delivery charges in the UK for some items too. Bastards.

maleficent 04-05-2006 03:48 AM

Papa John's adds $1 fee for delivery
Quote:

Pizza maker cites labor, gasoline costs

By David Goetz

Papa John's company-owned stores are hitting customers with a $1 fee for pizza deliveries, following the lead of Domino's and Pizza Hut. The company blamed the $1 surcharge on rising costs, especially for gasoline and labor. The extra buck for deliveries took effect Monday.

"We're kind of third to the market with delivery fees," said Papa John's spokesman Chris Sternberg. "We've tried to hold off putting a delivery fee in place for as long as we can, but for us to continue to give our customers a quality pizza at a competitive price, a delivery fee has become necessary."



Some Louisville-area Domino's stores have had fees for at least a year and Pizza Hut restaurants for about three years. Both charge $1 per delivery.

"We went to a delivery charge when gas prices escalated last year," and the majority of the 41 Domino's stores in the Louisville market have such charges, said Greg Neichter, president of Central Missouri Pizza Inc., a franchisee with 15 Domino's outlets in Louisville.

"Delivery fees are common now both among franchisees and in corporate restaurants" in Louisville and elsewhere, said Pizza Hut spokeswoman Patty Sullivan.

The fee applies to 430 company-owned Papa John's stores across the country, Sternberg said. About 40 company stores already have been charging for delivery, mostly in markets where Papa John's franchisees had initiated the charge. The company owns 568 U.S. restaurants.

About 60 percent of franchised Papa John's stores charge for delivery, some 1,200 of the nearly 2,000 franchised domestic Papa John's outlets, Sternberg said. Some have had charges for three years.

None of the charge will go directly to pizza delivery drivers, whose pay is hourly and per delivery.

"In many of our restaurants we've already increased driver pay and the delivery amount that we pay them over the last 12 to 18 months to retain drivers," Sternberg said. "We've already borne the cost of part of what the delivery fee will offset now."
this article was from may of 2005... the charge is on a franchise basis... and none of the charges go directly to the delivery dude... tip the dude..

martinguerre 04-05-2006 03:58 AM

i started getting in the habit of picking up my orders if possible. no delivery, no tip.

Cynthetiq 04-05-2006 05:54 AM

fuel surcharges???? why don't they just increase costs of products???? People don't seem to get the idea that the product is costing more they just see the fuel surcharge and don't attribute it to the cost of the goods inclusively.

I've seen this all over the Northeast from delivery of heating oil, groceries, Home Depot... *sigh*

shoegirl 04-05-2006 06:51 AM

I used to work at a local pizza place. When the gas prices went through the roof last year, the owner raised the delivery charge. At our store, the driver did get to keep a portion of the delivery charge, but simply so he/she could fill up their car so they could keep delivering all day/night.

Bill O'Rights 04-05-2006 07:34 AM

Quote:

The company blamed the $1 surcharge on rising costs, especially for gasoline and labor.
Quote:

None of the charge will go directly to pizza delivery drivers, whose pay is hourly and per delivery.
Does this not seem contradictary? The cost of fuel has increased, not the cost of pizza dough. Now, if the drivers are responsible for their own fuel (granted, I'm assuming that they are...) then shouldn't the delivery charge be given to the delivery drivers, instead of Papa John's bottom line? Sounds to me like a nifty way to make an extra buck or two per order, while your delivery drivers get stiffed on their tips, due to customers mistakenly thinking that the drivers are being "taken care of".

Quote:

Originally Posted by analog
Here where I am, Papa Johns is really good, and i've not seen any delivery charge... unless they've JUST started this, very recently.

Same here. Papa Johns is the second best pizza available in my neighborhood. Home Team Pizza blows them out of the water, but they're still better than the other alternatives. Nor have I seen any additional charges for delivery....unless, of course, it's just hidden in the bill.

Daval 04-05-2006 07:47 AM

When I worked at Domino's when I was in college we got 3$ for every pizza delivered - this was incorporated into the price as a delivery charge. Now I've noticed that the Domino's around here (as well as most pizza places) now charge this as an extra amount.

We also got (and depended on!!) tips as well. Even though there is a 3$ delivery charge I still will tip 3$ on average per order (doesnt matter the size)

Toaster126 04-05-2006 07:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by flat5
Toaster126, interesting link.
I believe this link is most relevant to the USA.
Not sure how it is in Amsterdam, NL.

Did you read it? I'm confident most if not all of it applies to NL. If something doesn't, feel free to discuss it.

Gatorade Frost 04-05-2006 08:03 AM

I think it means is that they pay the driver, the driver makes tips, but then they have to pay them additionally for the gas they use, and since they haven't been able to keep making the money for that they have to make you pay a dollar to reimburse the driver for gas and the like.

pavel_lishin 04-05-2006 08:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cynthetiq
fuel surcharges???? why don't they just increase costs of products???? People don't seem to get the idea that the product is costing more they just see the fuel surcharge and don't attribute it to the cost of the goods inclusively.

Exactly. If you raise the price of pizza, you lose some customers. If you only add a delivery surcharge, people don't really think about it until they're about to click the "submit order" button, and by then, they're already drooling.

kutulu 04-05-2006 08:52 AM

I don't know why people trip out about delivery charges, it's so cheap. You're paying for delivery whether there is a formal charge for it or not. At least they are up-front about it. Drivers get paid hourly plus an amount for each delivery, sometimes it's mileage based, sometimes its a flat rate. Some see this as a 'tip,' it's not. A tip is additional money to show gratitude, hence 'gratuity.'

If they didn't get money from the store, their costs would barely be covered by the pathetic $1-2 tips that so many people give and they'd LOSE money when they deliver to people who don't tip.

Overall, a delivery charge makes the most sense. Why should someone who picks up their order subsidize the cost of deliveries?

If you don't want to tip, or think that the delivery charge is a tip, get up off your butt and pick it up yourself.

shalafi 04-05-2006 09:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bill O'Rights
Does this not seem contradictary? The cost of fuel has increased, not the cost of pizza dough.

When the cost of fuel goes up so does the cost of everything else. Just like it costs you more to drive to the store or work it costs the companies that deliver ingredients to restraunts more to get the food there. They pass the cost on to the restraunt. The restraunt is passing the cost on to you (with maybe some extra padding). Unfortunately by calling it a delivery fee people think the delivery driver is getting it which affects his tips so he is getting the double whammy of paying more for gas and having his tips gouged by the (probably intentionally) mislabeled "delivery fee".

stevo 04-05-2006 09:51 AM

I delivered food whilst in college. I got paid hourly and per delivery + tips. The per delivery I was paid is meant to cover gas. As gas prices went up so did my per delivery fee and i was paid more to put it in the gas tank, but I wasn't coming out with a net gain and I doubt the pizza delivery driver is either.

Daval 04-05-2006 09:54 AM

just to clarify, i only made 3$ per delivery plus tips. We were considered 'independant contractors' so we were paid in cash - was up to us to declare. No gas, no mileage.

Sultana 04-05-2006 10:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cynthetiq
fuel surcharges???? why don't they just increase costs of products????

*snip*

Because it wouldn't be *fair* (whatever *that* may be) to charge more delivery $ to folks picking up their own pizza. I don't particularly care to subsidize the stay at home folks, and I don't expect them to cover me.

xepherys 04-05-2006 11:27 AM

When I managed a Little Sleazers back in the day, the driver got half the delivery charge, and the store got half (to help pay is hourly wage). Tips are still a good thing. If you don't want to pay delivery charge AND tip... get off your duff and go pick the pizza up. *shrug*

Nisses 04-05-2006 11:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toaster126
Did you read it? I'm confident most if not all of it applies to NL. If something doesn't, feel free to discuss it.

I think you'll find that not true.
(I'm going to take a wild guess that it isn't that different in Belgium, so...)

You get paid a bit more than minimum wage, you don't have your own insurance, your own vehicle *or* your own gas to pay, since the law here requires that the business provides these items for you. No tip is ever included in the bill from the start though, so that seems to stay the same.
I think the big difference tho, is that around here, they can't pay you less than minimum because it's expected you'll be tipped.
(That's one thing I find totally idiotic about the system in the US, that they'll pay you less than minimum wage, because they expect people will tip you... Why is it called minimum wage then?)


I've read the page about tipping and reasons why... Apart from it being extremely inflated, and contradictory in half what it says, I can certainly agree with the first point: "It shows you appreciate the service. "
Sadly, most people don't...

Cynthetiq 04-05-2006 12:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sultana
Because it wouldn't be *fair* (whatever *that* may be) to charge more delivery $ to folks picking up their own pizza. I don't particularly care to subsidize the stay at home folks, and I don't expect them to cover me.

that's market forces and the cost of doing business. in fact i'd bet that they would make more money and increased profits by doing so.

they just don't want to make it appear that they have "increased" their prices since it's an "add on" fee.

the costs of deliveries for their trucked in goods cost them plenty but there's no surcharge there. that definitely affects their bottom line.

Rodney 04-05-2006 12:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xepherys
If you don't want to pay delivery charge AND tip... get off your duff and go pick the pizza up. *shrug*


Ditto. It'll be fresher, too. I pick mine up; if they tell me on the phone it'll be 20 minutes, I get there in 15, and they're usually taking it out of the oven just as I pay.

There are times when we do order pizza with delivery -- because we're just too damn lazy or it's pissing rain. Then I tip 20 percent -- maybe 25 if it's crappy outside and I had a coupon.

Cynthetiq 04-05-2006 12:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rodney
Ditto. It'll be fresher, too. I pick mine up; if they tell me on the phone it'll be 20 minutes, I get there in 15, and they're usually taking it out of the oven just as I pay.

There are times when we do order pizza with delivery -- because we're just too damn lazy or it's pissing rain. Then I tip 20 percent -- maybe 25 if it's crappy outside and I had a coupon.

I definitely give the delivery guy whatever the amount of the coupon is for tip on top of the tip...

soccerchamp76 04-05-2006 12:22 PM

I emailed the Papa John's website and they forwarded it to some department on where exactly the money goes. I'll let this board know the answer from them when I receive a response. If the money goes straight to the driver, then I feel as if that is the "tip" and none extra is necessary.

On a side note, delivery charges vary from location to location and from different franchises. In some places it might be $1.00, others $1.50. Where I order from it was recently increased to $1.50 which I feel is quite ridiculous. If i order a pizza that costs $7, then you add in the $1.50 delivery charge, plus ~$0.75 for tax, and ~$1.50 for the driver tip, you reach ~$10.75 for a $7 item. Using those numbers, 35% of the money is paying for the delivery, which IMO, is too much.

kutulu 04-05-2006 12:50 PM

It doesn't cost the driver a percentage to deliver you food. It's a fixed cost. How far do you live from the store? What is a reasonable rate to assume as a cost per mile? My work (an engineering company) pays us about 42 cents/mile when we have to use our own car. Therefore with $1.50 for a delivery charge the driver is losing money if the round trip distance is more than 3.5 miles. Think about that before you decide that $3 is too much.

I don't want to be rude or anything but if all you are giving a driver is a buck fifty (plus delivery charges), they'd prefer that you just pick it up yourself.

/By the way, $3 is 27.9%, not 35%. The driver does not get the sales tax.

//My last delivery job was great, about 80% of the customers tipped at least $5 and they didn't complain about delivery charges ($2.50). The thing that sucked was that the store was pretty new and the runs averaged 10 miles round trip.

Toaster126 04-05-2006 02:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nisses
I think you'll find that not true.
(I'm going to take a wild guess that it isn't that different in Belgium, so...)

You get paid a bit more than minimum wage, you don't have your own insurance, your own vehicle *or* your own gas to pay, since the law here requires that the business provides these items for you. No tip is ever included in the bill from the start though, so that seems to stay the same.
I think the big difference tho, is that around here, they can't pay you less than minimum because it's expected you'll be tipped.

While it was interesting to read about these caveats in NL, it doesn't cover the two most important facts in my opinion. First, being a delivery driver is very dangerous. Second, unless you compare an extremely high end resteraunt, the pizza delivery person does more for you than a waiter. So at least tip them like one.

AngelicVampire 04-05-2006 03:07 PM

I don't understand all this tipping (Uker), tipping is meant to encourage good service by rewarding service above and beyond the call of duty, generally a delivery driver is doing their job and little more (heavy rains, snow etc I normally tip, I didn't want to go out in it so its nice that someone is willing). Now I know its different across the pond but where does the "tip everyone" culture come from, surely a job well done is enough?

kutulu 04-05-2006 03:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AngelicVampire
surely a job well done is enough?

Not if you ever want your food on time again...
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Unless doing so made it very inconvenient to me, I did my best to make sure that orders were delivered in descending order of what that house usually tipped me (yes, if you are a semi-regular customer, we see the address and know ahead of time what you usually tip). The cheap tippers or non-tippers got the pie that sat in my car for 20 minutes (if I even took it with me to begin with) while I delivered the fresh stuff to the good customers.

If you are a regular customer somewhere, I don't understand how you can think that consistantly tipping good/bad won't effect your level of service. Frankly, it wasn't worth my time to take a delivery if it meant I'd only get a couple bucks out of it. I was more than happy to let it wait for 10 minutes while the next one comes out. Even if it was a bad tip also, at least then you'd have two bad tips instead of one. People who tip well get their orders rushed out the door: you know you'll do well on that one so it makes sense to go and hope there are more when you get back.

soccerchamp76 04-05-2006 04:05 PM

Well, I forgot about the sales tax. So toss those percentages out. But the Papa John's nearest my college is 1.45 miles away. For reference, let's say the gas price is $2.50. That is $0.125/mile, and in my case, 18 cents in gas money. But for the sake of argument, let's round up to 50 cents to ass in oil changes/repairs/etc. So the driver is receiving already a $1.00 tip in the form of an automatic charge.

One of the main focuses of this discussion would be when is a tip qualified, and there is another lengthy thread about that. I think a tip should be given, but as kutulu said, the better tippers receive faster pizza. In that logic, the poorer tippers have no reason or motivation to tip more as their pizza takes longer.

Toaster126 04-05-2006 07:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AngelicVampire
I don't understand all this tipping (Uker), tipping is meant to encourage good service by rewarding service above and beyond the call of duty, generally a delivery driver is doing their job and little more (heavy rains, snow etc I normally tip, I didn't want to go out in it so its nice that someone is willing). Now I know its different across the pond but where does the "tip everyone" culture come from, surely a job well done is enough?

Tip everyone? Almost nobody gets tips. People in bars, waiters \ food delivery people, and bellhops are the only people I can think of.

mandy 04-06-2006 12:40 AM

the pizza place close to my house, doesnt charge a delivery fee at all plus they promise if your pizza is not at your house,piping hot, half an hour after placing yoru order, the pizza is free.

but, if they do charge, it probably goes towards the pizza delivery guys' petrol usage, if he's using he's own car and toward the company's petrol usage if the company supplies the car.

i feel that even though they do charge a delivery fee, i am obliged to give them a tip because the money that they use for the petrol is not exactly for them.but so they can deliver pizza to your house.

tip comes in afterwards in that he/she took the time to actually bring the pizza to our houses, still hot out of the oven, because we were to lazy to go and get it ourselves.

maleficent 04-06-2006 02:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toaster126
Tip everyone? Almost nobody gets tips. People in bars, waiters \ food delivery people, and bellhops are the only people I can think of.

true. but there are tip jars out in way too many places... The tip jar in starbucks is the one that makes me the craziest... or in dunkin donuts...

add to that list ...hairdressers also get tipped, and taxi drivers - door men of buildings, maintenance staff of buildings at the holidays, newspaper delivery people at the holidays...

ShaniFaye 04-06-2006 03:29 AM

You know what burns me? Places that expect to get tips when YOU, yourself go to pick up a carry out order. Its taken me two years to convince Dave NOT to leave a tip....and he still does it sometimes at waffle house. Chinese places are the worst about it, they get really sucky around here if you go to pick up food and you dont leave a tip.

Toaster126 04-06-2006 05:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by maleficent
add to that list ...hairdressers also get tipped, and taxi drivers - door men of buildings, maintenance staff of buildings at the holidays, newspaper delivery people at the holidays...

I don't tip those people.

Sultana 04-06-2006 06:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by maleficent
true. but there are tip jars out in way too many places... The tip jar in starbucks is the one that makes me the craziest... or in dunkin donuts...

True dat! Everyone has a tip jar out, and for what? It's not a service or a skill to take my money! It's a job. But honestly, if a cashier at a food place is extra friendly or helpful, I'll add a tip to my bill.

Quote:

Originally Posted by maleficent
add to that list ...hairdressers also get tipped, and taxi drivers - door men of buildings, maintenance staff of buildings at the holidays, newspaper delivery people at the holidays...

I regularly tip my hairdresser, my masseuse/therapy guy, and the nice lady who waxed my privates! :lol: The folks you want to take *good* care of you.

Oh, and how could I forget, don't forget to tip your belly dancers!! :D

Cynthetiq 04-06-2006 06:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by maleficent
true. but there are tip jars out in way too many places... The tip jar in starbucks is the one that makes me the craziest... or in dunkin donuts...

add to that list ...hairdressers also get tipped, and taxi drivers - door men of buildings, maintenance staff of buildings at the holidays, newspaper delivery people at the holidays...

I'm going to put a tip jar on my desk to see what kind of responses i get from my fellow workers.


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