I love sleight of hand tricks.
Occasionally, a coworker of mine named Fred will stop by my office and regale me with some truly amazing acts of prestidigitation.
I’m always left in awe every time he seemingly pulls a coin out of thin air — or makes one vanish — despite the fact that I know ahead of time he’s going to pull a fast one on me. It doesn’t matter how hard I concentrate on those coins; I always succumb to Fred’s subtly masterful acts of misdirection.
Needless to say, the art of deception can be very advantageous to those who’ve mastered it.
In 2006, magician David Copperfield reportedly used his sleight-of-hand talents to deceive a mugger into thinking he had empty pockets — even though they actually held his wallet, passport and cellphone.
Today, the pizza companies are honing their sleight of hand skills too. Take delivery fees, for example.
My experience has been that most pizza joints rarely mention their delivery fees when quoting their prices over the phone. That’s pretty sneaky if you ask me. Usually, the conversation ends up sounding something like this:
“Okay, sir, you ordered two Pizza Planet pepperoni specials for delivery. That’ll be $30.17.”
“Hold on; those pizzas were advertised at $11 each. I know taxes are high here, but they’re not that high.”
“Well, sir, that total includes a $5 delivery charge.”
“Whoa! Five dollars? Say, your last name wouldn’t happen to be Copperfield, would it?”
“No, sir. Why do you ask?”
“This isn’t Fred, is it? Why on earth are you moonlighting at Pizza Planet?”
“Who’s Fred, sir?”
“Oh, never mind.”
Okay, the part of the conversation where I talk about Fred is a stretch, but you get my drift.
Pizza delivery fees have climbed sharply since 2002.
Delivery charges are illusory in other ways. Ironically, they don’t always go directly to the driver. Instead, most — if not all — of that money is typically used to boost the bottom line by offsetting business expenses like the cost of ingredients and employee wages.
It turns out that the major pizza chains began dabbling with delivery fees in select areas shortly after the turn of this century. Back then, Pizza Hut’s delivery charges were typically 50 cents, while Papa John’s and Domino’s hovered around a buck.
However, those fees have increased dramatically since then — especially when compared to the inflation rate over the same period.
Where I live, Papa John’s currently levies a $4.50 fee for delivery, while my neighborhood Domino’s charges $4.00 to bring their pies to the door. Meanwhile, the local Pizza Hut now imposes a $5.00 fee for all deliveries — 10 times more than they were charging back in 2002.
Out of curiosity, I surveyed two other local pizzerias to see what they were charging for delivery: Round Table tacks on an additional $3.00, and an independent joint down the street charges $4.50.
If you ask me, the most likely reason why pizza delivery fees continue to outpace inflation is that they provide a subtle way of disguising price increases. That monetary legerdemain allows pizzerias to painlessly raise prices while continuing to advertise pies at seemingly bargain rates.
By the way, in case you’re wondering, those pizza delivery charges only became permanent and more widespread once it was apparent to the major pizza chains that they wouldn’t result in an appreciable loss of customers.
Of course, with all the hocus pocus going on, it’s uncertain exactly how many people realized that they were even being charged a delivery fee in the first place — but that really doesn’t matter now. We’ve got nobody to blame but ourselves.
Unfortunately, because we didn’t balk when we had the chance, pizza delivery charges are almost certainly here to stay.
In fact, they’re so firmly entrenched in the market now, I suspect even David Copperfield couldn’t make them disappear.
Photo Credit: DiGiorno
The truth is part of the delivery charge does go to the driver. Usually a dollar. If the delivery charge is two, then we would get one. The pizza places like us to tell the customer that it does for insurance for the drivers, but we have our own insurance. We get the tip (if there is one), a dollar for taking the delievey and our hourly pay.
Thanks for the added info, Jackie. I’m glad to see drivers are now getting at least a small portion of the delivery fee. Still, even if it’s a buck, that means the rest of it is being used by pizzerias to offset other costs.
I think we’d all be better off if the driver’s got them all.
What ‘other costs’? A pizza costs the pizzeria the same to make whether it’s delivered or picked up. The whole delivery charge should go to the person who takes on snow, rain, rude / drunk customers and robbers (as I did). When I was a driver I also had to perform other functions such as folding boxes, answering phones and sweeping and mopping at the end of a shift.
I suggest a “Boycott Pizza Week”, for everyone in the USA or world. Let them know why! Dominoes showed record returns on Mad Money with Jim Cramer today. CEO Rich wagon there bragging today! Driver’s don’t make enough as it is. look at their cars! If we all agree NOT to order one Freaking thing from these scumbag, overpaid CEO companies, just one week, They would drop the delivery fee, maybe even go out of business. NO PIZZA THIS WEEK. 3-16-20 to 3-20-20!
We would all be better off if the delivery guy got the whole delivery fee but, they don’t. I should know I am a deliver for papa john’s.
I can confirm that Papa John’s drivers get no part of the delivery fee. They also only make $4.25 or so while on delivery, so tips are critical to their survival. To the person suggesting a boycott, the only people hurt by that, would be the employees. For many of them, it would be devestating.
while it’s true drivers carry their own insurance, delivery fees help counter the cost of the iability insurance pizza delivery shops carry on those drivers. pizza places have two choices: raise menu price to counter the increasing costs or raise menu prices. Applying the delivery fee still leaves open the carryout option, with no fee. Insurance isn’t cheap, and the costs only continue to rise. Have you ever looked at the cost of an insurance policy for a pizza delivery shop? Maybe that will help shed some light on the subject.
Okay let’s talk B.O.P. insurance policies ( the combo meal of insurance policies) which yes is expensive. I work in Orlando which is probably the tourist capital of the world and a lot of pizzas being delivered. The shop I worked at charge a $3.00 delivery fee which the driver’s gets nothing. Now figuring on the low end at 33 delivers a day for the shop not the driver which that number is probably twice as much, equals $100 a day in delivery fee up to say $200 day. This comes out to over $35,000 a year to $70,000 a year. Now for a policy that may cost $10,000 to $15,000 on the high end. Who do you think gets the extra money ( the owner)…. in addition the B.O.P insurance covers a lot more then the delivery part of the business. The owner’s are NOT paying anything and are actually making more money. Basically stealing from the poor. But it’s legal so it’s not stealing right? Wrong!!! Does this shed enough light on your I’ll informed comment. You must own a pizzeria or sell insurance.
Maybe you should drop $300,000 to start your own pizza shop and higher someone who has invested nothing to delivery your pizza so you can reap the benefits.
Trent, you owe the fine taxpayers of whatever the school district was that handed you a diploma a refund.
PLUS on top of THAT beautiful demonstration, DID YOU KNOW:
ANYONE can take life insurance out on you? ANYONE!!!
So I am pretty sure these pizza joints (especially the big ones ALSO have taken a life insurance policy out on your ass too [maybe hence where more of the money is spent?] even though THAT would be a gamble in actuality and not pure profits).
If you think it’s macabre, you would be right, if you think this is pure fantasy, you’re an ignorant that needs to realize just how MANY places have you listed in a life insurance policy somewhere.
Awesome reply Kelby! Boycott pizza week because of unfair fee’s. week 3-16-20, 3-20-20.
Trent. You can buy a franchise for 50k idiot! Lern to spell, and know what your talking about . You obviously slept in school. If you went.
Love how Jenny chides you for using the word higher incorrectly and then she uses “your” incorrectly. Best I can tell you’re (note this is a contraction for YOU ARE, Jenny) idiots.
A”greed”
Heh. I see what you did there.
What you just claimed is a complete lie! Dominoes and others places i have worked made sure they had our insurance policies on file to make sure they didnt have to carry insurance on us! Only reason a company would have to is they arent making sure their drivers are insured!!!!
Drivers get paid per delivery and an hourly wage. The money they get paid per delivery covers a car expense so to speak. Regardless they get paid from the income of the store. Like every job in the world. You get paid from money coming into the business. It’s people in the normal world earn a living.
Morgan,
Your forgetting a lot of car repairs, continuous car maintenance, higher car mileage and inclement weather. I’ve did this nearly 2 decades brother, so I know whats going on. I go through a car every 4-5 years at this job. I do it because I love people and kids. Nothing is better and more heroic than the Pizza man! And well, somebodys gotta do it—we ALL order delivery! I worked 2-3 jobs with this for 15 years and now I went back to school and the flexible hours are good to do that also. its not a bunch of high school kids like in the 80’s. Its hard working adults trying to make it. Don’t fall short on respect until you walk the mile…
amen brother!! ive been delivering pizza for a really long time i personally like the job but yea between gas and vehicle maintenance it gets expensive!
YOU’VE obviously NEVER been a pizza driver for more than a few months or less.
On paper it looks feasible… BARELY feasible but none the less, no extra playstation games for you.
This guy is talking reality you moron, NOT some armchair warrior white paper tactics.
They should be glad to to be able to more than double their sales with pizza delivery. The drivers HELP their business. It’s a bonus for the company to be able to get their food to someones door. It don’t cost the owner anything. Without delivery, they would do more than half.
Just ruined the after work get a pizza. Too tired to go, so someone can get a job deliver your food. Now the owners get their hands in workers pockets. It makes us unable to afford to tip. I guess we should pay a pizza oven maintenance fee too.
Jackie,
No we don’t get any part of the “Delivery Fee”…at least in Maryland. I worked for Dominoes 2 years, Little Caesars 2 years, and then Papa Johns for 13 years and now I have worked for another company for 2 years. There used to be FREE DELIVERY up until about 2005, in which they started charging .75 and then increased it every 6 months (greedy John Schnattner). When I started in 1993 we got .45 a run plus whatever was tipped it then increased to .60 cent a run by 1995, but everywhere above is only $1 for us even though the delivery charge was implemented and increased. Due to todays gas prices if we have a run that is more than 10 miles and the customer doesn’t tip, we actually lose money. Yes we have a base salary, but there are a lot of car repairs and then all the FED and State taxes on that. While the owners and the higher ups get richer we get poorer. No raises for drivers in years for many of these companies. In fact I left PJ’s a couple of years ago because they were cutting our pay as they were going to give us minimum wage while we were in the store, but only $4.25 while we were out on a run (or punched it out and had to wait for it to get ready). On average we lost a $1 an hour with this scheme that Papa Johns did, when I refused to sign to it, they fired me. I won my unemployment case and got some compensation, but it was not right what they did and still do to drivers who use their own car.
No part of the delivery fee goes to the driver!
Drivers have always been compensated for the use of their car, mostly on the low side of a per mile formula.
Pizza at $10.00 used to be $9.00 in the register with a buck for the driver. Now Pizza at $10.00 with a $2.00 delivery fee results in $11.00 in the register and a buck for the driver.
Delivery fee is just a sneaky price increase.
Plus most drivers have been placed on “tip credit” and get about $4.00 an hour with tips “theoretically” making up the difference.
If you think the delivery fee is a TIP for the driver, you are mistaken.
Only part of it goes to the driver??? I don’t like paying the $2.75 or whatever it is, but I’d rather it go entirely to the driver.
I agree, Jim.
Nope, I did at one time work delivering pizza, and it depends on the company. Most do not give any of that fee to the driver. Some small pizza places may. But from my experience its that did not happen.
Facts most comments are forgetting –
1. Pizza Hut and Papa John’s charge a delivery fee that drivers DO NOT GET (I’m sure most other chains do the same).
2. Drivers are NOT allowed to tell the customer that the driver does not receive the “delivery charge”.
3. If you said something in opposition to this in the comment section you are likely one of the many shady business owners deceptively stealing your drivers tips.
Hope that helps folks!
At Pizza Hut we do not see a dime of that money. We do get about 30 cents a mile but we get that no matter what, even if we take a free pizza that is without the “Convenience fee” (milage reimbursement does not cover the full cost of being a driver and it does change slightly as fuel prices change.) I have been doing this far too long and I have seen drivers go from no delivery charge to the current state, in my 23 years of making the poor decision to get me stuck in this spot, I make far less than I did back then. Proportionally speaking of course. Drivers have gone from starting at minimum wage and receiving yearly wage increases based on performance, to now getting far less than minimum wage with no wage increase ever. A great number of people think that we get the charge and tip, or don’t, accordingly. People that do this long term for a living are forced to have cars that we work on ourselves and I tell every new driver that their car will absolutely break, I often get the look of “whatever” and when their car breaks, they are not usually around after that.
I’m a stay at home dad these days, my years of knowledge inside the store and as a driver give me the flexibility with my schedule to do my dad job well. If I could find job making 10 dollars an hour, with the flexibility need, I would absolutely do it and I would not be worse off.
The cliff notes is that we do not get the delivery charge from Pizza Hut, it is profit for company.
The government gives 60 per mile.
60
60 cents, dagnabit.
do you think your mileage reibursement comes out of nowhere? it come from the delivery fee, so yes, you are getting some of it. If you didn’t get mileage, you’d have a point.
Jackie, if you work for one of the big three (Dominos, Papa John’s and Pizza Hut) you do NOT get any part of the delivery fee. Even though we get $1 or so as a mileage reimbursement per run, this is not from the delivery fee. 100% of the delivery fee goes to the store. The mileage reimbursement is a non-taxable amount (the store writes if off as an expense and the driver doesn’t have to pay taxes on it) that is used to reimburse us for the use of our own vehicles. It has always been there since the dawn of time. The delivery fee is newer; only about 10-15 years old. If we got any part of the delivery fee, we would have received MORE mileage when it was introduced. But our mileage rate stayed the same. In other words, if you were getting a $1 a run back in 2002, then they added a $1 delivery fee, you didn’t start getting any more than a $1. You are still getting a $1 now. Not $2 with an extra buck coming from the delivery fee.
The delivery fee is there, as stated in the article, to subsidize low advertised prices, in particular, a seemingly permanent special price of $12 for any large pizza. For at least the same time as the delivery fee has been around, there has been the $12 (sometimes $10) large or extra-large special. This is what everyone orders. The chains all have to compete with each other, and if the price was raised, sales would suffer. Pizza Hut (which is owned by a mega company (YUM) and now serves pizzas made from frozen crust) can afford this. The other two have to keep up. Costs of things like store rents have gone through the roof in the last 10 years. If there was no delivery fee, your pizza would be $15. But the goal is to display that big $12 on every screen and piece of print advertising for all eternity.
You are generalizing. Most pizza places don’t give drivers any of it. Also depends on state laws.
The mom and pop shop I work for has always paid us drivers minimum wage. For 8 of the 20 years I have worked for them they used to have free delivery and paid us a commission of 7% of all the orders we delivered in city limits and 9% of all the orders we delivered outside of city limits.
The owner explained that this was for the depreciation of our vehicles because of high mileage and also for maintenance. For all the drivers that work at a busy pizza place you know that the maintenance of your vehicle seems like every time you turn around. I go through cars on the average every 3 1/2 to 4 years because of high mileage. *No delivery driver in there right mind would destroy their car for work if there was no form of reimbursement for it.
After the 8th year he started charging a delivery fee of $2.00 and ALL of the delivery fee went to the driver for the same reasons as I stated above.
Anyone who argues tips are enough then obviously you have not delivered for very long or never delivered for a full time job. I have walked out on a very busy night (35 deliveries) with only $20.00 in tips. I spent $20.00 out of pocket for gas and drove a little over 200 miles. So if I didn’t get paid the delivery fee of $2.00 each delivery I made then that would be like making minimum wage and putting 200 miles on my car. Tips vary sometimes you have your bad nights and awesome nights but you cant just expect that you are going to have an awesome night.
A lot of people in my area think that the delivery fee of $2.00 is the tip included so they do not tip at all. I got tired of explaining why we get the $2.00 delivery charge after working there 20 years and that its not a tip.
There is one major franchise that starts with a P that has a $3.95 delivery charge and the drivers only get $5.15 an hour while they are are out on delivery and minimum wage when they are in the store. They are out on delivery 90% of their shift. Those drivers only get $1.25 of the $3.95 delivery charge. That company infuriates me because they literally care nothing about their drivers. But they also have some promotion on BOGO or coupons to get dirt cheap pizza. All of this made possible by them screwing over their drivers.
If the OP is talking about a place like the “P” company above I whole heartily agree with your post. But for the other companies that actually care about their employees I do not.
Baloney! I know for a fact in some restaurants it does not. That’s why they even mention that it’s NOT a tip. These fees always affect the driver and their tip because it makes people even less likely to tip.
Car costs: $10,000. Gas costs: $5.00 a gallon. Tires cost: $1000 for four. Struts, Brakes, Oil Changes and a ton of other little things add up fast. A 5 dollar delivery fee these days is pathetic. That’s 2000 deliveries just to pay for the car which may need a transmission soon thereafter? Last time I checked, Insurance wasn’t free and neither were registrations, inspections and the other stuff. Used car prices have doubled! Show some sympathy to your delivery driver by adding a nice fat tip.
This is why I pick up the pie myself.
@Jackie – interesting you get an hourly wage. I was always under the assumption it was fee+tips.
In some places I’m sure that is still true. How those delivery fees are distributed will, of course, depend on the employer.
We must live in the hinterlands because we have no delivery fees for our local pizza chain. We always tip the driver, so it comes out to about the same.
We did pick up 2 pizzas at a “gourmet” pizza shop in another city & were shocked to pay $49 for 2 large pizzas. Since we picked them up there was no delivery fee. When did pizza get so expensive?! The only reason we did that time was because we offered to buy pizza for someone’s birthday & that’s where they wanted the pizza from. We won’t be doing that again!
People do it, Maggie. We have a place nearby where you can easily spend $25 for a pizza. It’s good — we’ve splurged once before on them — but it’s not that good.
Maggie and others,
I’ve worked at several pizza shops over the past 19 years…I advise everyone to always use coupons in your weekly flyers or order online. This can cut the usual price nearly IN HALF! There are usually BOGO’S (BUY ONE GET ONES) that every store has. If you just walk in or don’t say anything, most pizza places think your from out of town and will charge you full price. Its a win win for managers as they either get the extra money or if you use the coupons or the internet, they say to corporate headquarters, see the marketing is working. Whats outrageous is OCEAN CITY, Maryland Boardwalk pizza at average $20 for just plain cheese and $3 a topping just for a large that usually is a 14 inch.
Um, its not the same, because we have to tip on top of that fee. So its just a way for the company to hide price changes and take a little more money from the driver. I would tip more if that fee was not attached, its logical.
The worst part is just recently Papa John’s raised the delivery fee and lowered the drivers mileage rate
Please read my post #27 and you would see why tipping is important to a driver.
oh man….you’ve opened my eyes to something i probably didn’t know about. when we do order pizza its usually for a party so i’m already expecting a high bill.
guess i’m going to have to get off my lazy rear end and go pick that thing up….unless you feel like doing some math for me that justifies the delivery fee. its got to cost more than 2.00 for my SUV to get there….maybe delivery is actually a bargain…;)
It’s a convenience charge, more than anything — which is fair enough. I just think these places need to be more open about the charge when advertising their specials.
Your right about that Len…although they are getting better about it as the respectable places will train their employees to say…”After Tax and Delivery charge, that will be …”.
Don’t forget your favorite Chinese delivery place either and all the Food Delivery Service establishments that charge $5 even $6 or more for each restaurant you order from. Of course thats their business and thats what opened up the average Pizza Place as well as the corporate places to do it.
Convenient charge for who, though? For increased profits? I used to work as a pizza delivery guy, and Little Ceasars paid for nothing carwise. Is that still the case these days? I had to use my own car, buy my own gas, etc. Had a base pay, and tips were how I got that extra that made delivery worth it. If they are charging a “delivery charge” now, but not providing the cars for delivering in, and pocketing all of the money without giving it to the drivers, it’s noting more than free money for the pizza place.
Delivery charge implies they’re delivering something. They in fact are not deliveryjng anything… some 16 year old kid is delivering it to you for the hope of a tip. The “company” has nothing to do with it, other than collecting free money under the guise of having had anything at all to do with that delivery. All they did was make the pizza, the let the kid pay for everything to get that pizza to your door.
Ok, math. Let’s say you get the worst MPG’s around, 15. In my city I am right at the cut off point to the store which is 2 miles away, which gives us a two mile radius. The max you would have to drive, if eligible for delivery is 4 miles. This is 26% of a gallon of gas. A tank of gas here, regular, is 3.80, so it would cost you a dollar versus PPJ’s extorting $3, which used to go to tips. It cost you 300% more to have it delivered at the max distance and with the worst MPG’s. It cost only 69 cents if you have a newer SUV with 22mpgs going the max distance. If this is the case it cost you 434% more to pay the delivery fee. If you consider a compulsory $1 tip your looking at 400% to 579% more in acquisition costs. To be fair, your total extra paid is about 20% (on a $20) for delivery versus versus 5% to pick it up yourself,at the maximum delivery distance, and the worst mpg’s out there! Still pretty crazy!
Jesse,
Until very recently I worked for a very notable nationwide pizza chain that has Pizza in the name. While different franchises treat the charges differently it is very complicated, and I believe that’s on purpose. The fact is that the driver truly gets none of the charge. They do get compensated a certain amount per delivery, it is not at all connected to the charge though. If you order two separate orders and the driver shows up with both, the company only compensates them for one delivery even though in most cases you would be charged twice. Conversely, if they have to deliver a completely free order with no delivery charge, they still get compensated.
Also, my smallest delivery area had places in the area that were a five mile one way trip. Counting the fuel and maintenance, which is a lot, they do in fact lose money on an even closer than that run. Overall for the night it’s about even, with a small delivery area. I have worked in a few areas that I needed the customers tips to break even for the on my maintenance and fuel. I have had great customers, so I usually do come out ahead and have a few extra dollars for my bills as well. None of us are rich though. The companies have squeezed us too, making it hard for us to do our jobs efficiently thus costing them and us financially. I know it makes no sense, but it is true. Overall, our delivery times are worse than when I started 20 years ago and they don’t have to be.
What seems a little crazy is that you took the time to not only complain, but did so with such eloquence and demonstration of your math proficiency, all over $3! What has the world come too? Interesting that you considered fuel efficiency and price but failed to go on a rant about the oil companies. Maybe that is on another website for whiners.
Ok, reality. No pizza place besides yours is using a 2 mile radius. Literally absolutely none. Pizza hut and Dominos use 6 mile FLY OVER radius. Meaning if you could flyover trees and water. This usually amounts to a 10 mile driving radius.
I am glad they choose to make those who actually use delivery pay for it. Why should I have to subsidize delivery costs because someone is too lazy to get their butt in the car or walk to pick it up? Once again, it costs more to be lazy.
Also, try getting pizza from a locally owned joint. Almost always better quality and lower prices. And for those lazy folk who like delivery, they usually have free delivery (at least around here).
I don’t know. I think that argument depends on the pizzeria. Domino’s whole business model is primarily based on home delivery — so why isn’t the cost of delivery, okay I’ll say it, “baked in” to the price of the pizza? I’ve never seen a Domino’s sit-down restaurant (yes, there may be a few, but they’re certainly not the norm), so I don’t think I should be subsidizing Domino’s pizzas for people who choose to pick them up or eat them on premises.
For sit down pizza joints, however, I think you make a very valid argument. I also agree about local pizzerias — especially the ones in the Northeast. There is nothing better!
Len,
Look at what Tom Monaghan did to his business (and the Detroit Tigers) and you will know why he does business that way.
Not as bad as John Schnattner as he just flat out lies. he stated on the History Channel that he always passes what profit he makes down to everyone that works for him, when in fact he cut everything from middle man positions, to overtime, to rewards, to raises to just flat out decreasing our salary and now faces a multi million dollar lawsuit. I’ve met him…if you think Don Draper from Mad Men has Charisma, this guy will have you feeling like your the most important person on earth, he does his homework, but to him its all bottom line…his bottom line as even snakes seem to smile.
I wholeheartedly agree with you that costs (delivery and otherwise) should be baked into the price. This is the standard. For example, credit card purchases costs the merchant 1-3% fee of the total amount processed to a card. These credit card charged are absorbed by pricing regardless if you paid by credit card.
All these tag-along service fees (delivery fee, card fee, time-of-day fee, etc.) are nothing but evil marketing designed to fool the consumer, rip off the worker and increase the profit bottom line. That’s the capitalistic way we live in. The whole concept of employers not providing a decent living wage to their employees is just wrong.
I totally understand the point of view of the driver. But you must also understand the point of view of the customer. Paying $4 to $5 delivery fee on a $15 pizza leaves me no wiggle room to tip. $4 is my budget and I can’t afford more.
Luckily, in my area most mom&pops pizzerias, restaurants and other delivery places do not charge “delivery fees”. However, corporate chains like Pizza Hut, Domino’s, do! It is rare for me to order from one of these cheap, substandard quality corporate chains but when I do, I explain to the driver that his $4 tip went to pay the outrageous delivery fee (surprisingly, drivers are very sympathetic and they have heard it all before).
Don’t buy the argument from the chains that “everyone else does it”. Yes, corporations do it but many smaller places don’t rip off their drivers so shop around!
And drivers… you chose to be ripped off by your employer. Find one without these outrageous fees so you keep the tip 100%. Just because you agreed to be ripped off, doesn’t mean the consumer (me) have agreed to the same.
Would you mind showing me ANY mom and pop shop that has $7.99 3 topping large pies? Ill wait here because mom and pop pizzas ARE better but are not more affordable….And its not even close. A large 3 topping pizza in the northeast is somewhere around 20 bucks.
If it’s worth the couple of extra bucks to be able to catch all of the game, or avoid going out in cold/rain/snow, then by all means go for it. 95% of the time I’m willing to make the ‘sacrifice’ of going out to save the couple of bucks involved, but if I would prefer to stay home, I accept full well that the cost of that convenience is going to hit my wallet. I don’t really think there’s much ‘sneaky’ about it as it’s been pretty standard practice, which you mentioned.
Since there is probably some tieback to the cost of gas, you have to figure that since gas prices have also outpaced inflation over the last ten years, the cost increases in the delivery charge might not be as crazy as they seem at first glance.
You make a good point about the gas argument. Although, call me a cynic, but I think the similarity in price increases between delivery fees and gasoline is a coincidence.
@Money Beagle
Thank God, there is at least one remaining who possesses logic and common sense! Kroger doesn’t deliver your groceries, and if they did would anyone expect them to do so for FREE?
What’s sneaky about a delivery fee? If I ordered food with delivery service (I’ll bet it’s been at least 10 years since I’ve done so), I’d expect to pay a delivery fee for the service. If the quoted price didn’t add up to the advertised price, I’d ask, just as you did.
What *is* sneakier about fast food, with or without delivery service, is all the imitation garbage ingredients it’s made with. Imitation cheese that is more vegetable oil and gum binders than real cheese, soy-extended meat toppings, chemical flavor enhancers, etc. No appetite for fake füd anymore.
I’ll expound on my earlier point…
Unlike some other pizzeria’s, Papa John’s and Domino’s especially are in business to deliver pizzas. So why should I expect to pay a delivery charges? That’s kind of like me buying an airline ticket and getting charged — on top of all their other ridiculous fees — a “transportation fee” on top of the air fare. Am I wrong here? What am I missing?
I’d much prefer they be more transparent with their pricing, drop the phony surcharge, and adjust their pizza prices accordingly.
You can pay a delivery fee or the price of pizza can continue to rise to $20 for 1 pizza. The cost of goods,rent and insurance continues to rise. You would have to pay regardless.
Yes, you are wrong. Your argument is a non sequitur, it is simply a rhetorical matter whether an airline charges a fee and calls it a “transportation fee” or a “baggage fee.” Am I expected to fly without any clothing or hygiene items? Apparently, the answer is yes, unless I am willing to pay $25-$50 dollars to check a bag or purchase a ticket from an airline which includes checked baggage but charges a significantly higher rate. You could have written about airline baggage or the inflated price of much less refined diesel fuel at a much more refined unleaded price, but you chose the pizza delivery fee. What outrage!!! I am afraid that this idiocy (both of the original article and the mindless complaints of those willing to champion the cause) have consumed enough of my time. I better go make three dollars so that I can afford my next pizza without excessive complaining.
Actually, Aaron, I complain a lot around here. I’m a blogger. It’s my job.
In fact, I’ve complained about a lot of other misleading fees, surcharges and other add-ons that company’s use to make the prices of their products and services appear cheaper than they really are. Here’s eight more of them that I’m sure you don’t mind paying for:
http://lenpenzo.com/blog/id1041-8-stupid-fees-consumers-hate-to-pay-but-often-do-anyway.html
Enjoy.
This is why we either buy a fresh pizza from the store, or make our own pizza from scratch.
Surprisingly, it’s not that hard to do. It just takes time, but it can be a family project to make the dough, a sauce (basically just a can of tomato sauce with herbs and garlic added), prep ingredients and decorate the pie. There are lots of youtube instructions on how to make pizza.
You can shortcut the process by starting with a fresh or frozen cheese pizza and decorate at will.
My whole family loves homemade pizza too, DC. We haven’t had it in awhile at our house though; it’s probably time to put it back on the menu soon.
I use my bread maker to prepare the dough — it’s really no trouble at all when you do it that way.
That’s why we don’t eat pizza. lol Well, almost never. If we do, we go and get it ourselves. I am really stingy on tips, so if I add pizza price plus delivery charges plus tips, no pizza is worth it.
Yeah, those $11 dollar pizza deals don’t look quite so good after you’re done ringing up the delivery fee and tax — especially if you are only ordering one pizza.
At least when you buy multiple pizzas, you end up diluting the delivery charge’s effect somewhat on a price-per-pizza basis.
What I would give for a pizza, whatever price would be worth it. We have some dietary restrictions in our house, no pizza for us.
Say it ain’t so, KC! Is it because of the cheese? I’ve had some tasty pizza before that was made without cheese.
That’s up to you. I agree with you to a point; if the driver is getting $1 of that delivery charge, as Jackie says, then it’s essentially a mandatory tip in my book.
(And I’ve written my opinions on the oxymoron known as the “mandatory tip” here before.)
Go deliver and experience it for your self. Before the delivery fee drivers were still earning money per delivery.
Maybe so, but that overhead was already baked into the price of the pie. Er, so to speak.
What really bothers me are the places that advertise “free delivery – 10% discount for pickup”. That is not free delivery. The cost of delivery is the lack of the discount. I see this mostly at Chinese food restaurants.
(To be clear, I don’t mind the discount for pickup setup, in fact I think I prefer it to the charge for delivery setup. It is the false statement of ‘free delivery’ that bothers me.)
I’m with you, Jenny. These pizza places advertising pizza specials that get 98% of their business via delivery are being deceptive by not mentioning their delivery fees.
Think about it: That $11 Papa John’s pizza special is 25 percent higher than advertised in my hometown after adding in the previously unmentioned delivery fee.
I’ll quit squawking after they drop the delivery fee and advertise their pizza “special” at $13.75.
I owned a pizza restaurant for over 11 years. We hated when we had to add the delivery fee, but our drivers actually requested it. It happened when gas prices really started to spike. I can honestly say that 100% of the delivery fee went directly to the drivers. When our customers questioned the fee and we explained, they understood, especially after they found out that it all went to the driver. The drivers also told us that their tips didn’t change either. The other independent pizza place down the street also started to charge a delivery fee after we did, but unfortunately, none of the fee went to the drivers! We were firm believers that if you charged the delivery fee, it should go to the drivers 100%
I’m not surprised, Jennifer. Even I understand the concept of — and reason behind — the delivery fee. I totally get it.
I like Jenny’s idea: Why can’t the pizzerias that offer delivery service raise their pizza prices and offer discounts for pick-up/dine-in instead?
Now that is an honest pizza!
Yep. Just as long as they don’t advertise free delivery in the same breath as the discount for pickup.
After reading this I guess the question we have to ask is “how much am I willing to pay for convenience?” You’re left with the choice between delivery or a chance for a little aerobic walk before indulging in the fatty goodness of pizza 🙂
I’ll take the convenience and the fatty goodness.
We rarely get delivery cause the bride is too cheap to pay the fee. But since she’s the one that is too cheap,she does the pickup-so I get free delivery…(I know, nothings free.)
That actually sounds like a great deal for you, Dr. Dean!
I hope the missus lets you get at least one topping on that pizza. (Although I just love a good cheese pizza!)
Thought I would let you know something interesting on the subject. I delivery Dominos pizza and when the driver is in the store we get min wage. When we check out to deliver we get $4.80 an hour plus our tips when we get them and our $1.70 per run on milage. Here they charge I think $2.70 for delivery. Also if you take a double run or more the second or third run you only get 85 cents for them for milage. Thanks.
I can’t remember the last time we had pizza delivered. We live so lose to Little Caesars and Pizza Hut that we pick it up.
Whenever I buy ANYTHING I want the price upfront. I just signed up for a half marathon and there was a $2.75 “processing fee” (apparently because the gerbils who power the internet need to be fed).
I agreed to the fee BEFORE I pressed the button to be charged. I think it should be the same for pizza.
Do you really think you should get hot and fast delivery to your door and a lot of those doors are up 3 or more flights of stairs often times they are unshoveled or at least unsalted plus the 20 minute or more round trip drive which takes at least a couple of dollars in gas for the same price as if you come in and pick it up yourself. And then you want to not tip the poor guy. I’m a delivery man and most places i have worked for give you all or most of the delivery charge and only a dollar or 2 an hour for gas so i have been making less and less as the price of gas along with oil, tires, brakes, insurance and other costs all keep rising. I used to make 10 or 12 dollars an hour. Now i average about half that as prices of food and everything else continue to rise and delivery charges and tips do not. So by all means go clean off the car, warm it up and make the twenty minute trip to the pizza joint and pick up your food yourself and save 5 bucks or so. Do me a favour. See how that works for you.
You seem to have missed the point of the article, Jim. Then again, a lot of readers who commented on this (over at MSN, not so much here) missed it too.
I’m not railing against delivery fees per se; I’m against delivery fees being used as a way to keep pizza prices deceptively low. Based on those 260+ comments I received at MSN regarding this post so far, you getting 100% of the delivery charge is the exception — not the rule.
But you call it sneaky. It is no secret. Delivery charges began with Pizza Hut then Papa Johns and lastly with Domino’s. It is not in neon. But it is there.
This is definitely a good point! I’ve always just taken delivery charges for granted because one of my first jobs was at a pizza place, but it’s not something they usually quote you over the phone. I do a lot of my delivery ordering online, and there’s always a line for the delivery fee.
I have three children who are three and under, so I often don’t feel like leaving the house. But if my husband is home or on his way home and can pick something up, I always avoid the fee. I’m cheap that way. I won’t tip less than $5 (well, unless the delivery is super late or something- I used to deliver pizzas, so I tip well), so I have to figure that into the cost. It gets expensive fast. One way around delivery fees with Domino’s is having a membership to Shoprunner. It’s something ridiculous, like $79 a year. I would never ever actually save that much with shipping or delivery charges, but Domino’s offered a free membership from their facebook page, and I was lucky enough to see it right away. So, free delivery for me this year! Well, except for the tip, of course.
Jeez have you never run a business! The COST for an extra employee to deliver your food is expensive. If it takes 20 minutes to do a round trip, then the driver can only make 3 deliveries per hour. If you are paying $9 per hour and collecting $9 in delivery fees, the business is still making a SMALLER profit. With matching SS costs and unemployment insurance, plus if you pay the driver some sort of gas allowance, this cuts into any gross profit. It is really simple! The restaurants that deliver would rather you picked up your food!!!! And if you can’t or don’t want to, shut up and pay the delivery fee!
I know I am beginning to sound like a broken record here, but I’ll add you to the alarming list of folks who completely missed the point of the article.
If the cost is so high, Gene, then why not just include the added expense in the price of the pizza? Is that too much to ask? Why do the pizzerias have to be so deceptive?
Because then people who pick up are subsidizing your pizza. Why should people who rather pick up pay more because you want delivery? It makes sense to charge the people that are causing them higher costs more. Don’t like it? Then drive over and pick it up yourself. They would prefer that and that is what this fee is doing, trying to get people to stop doing something that is costing them more money and get them to pick up the food themselves. Seems like the free market at work to me…
Len,
I see what point you are trying to drive home to everyone…let me shed some light on answering your question and easing your frustration. And I do know it is very deceptive at times as its thrown in there. But its all about the books and taxes. If you charged $13.75 to everyone instead of $11 at the end of the quarter or year you are paying more tax. If you set that extra $2 plus into a delivery charge and you have a good tax guy (like I know a lot do) that can put that somewhere else and justify it against an expense (like I know some have done), they end up with more profit. Simple as that.
That makes a lot of sense, Dave. Thanks for taking the time to add (all) your comments to this thread. I appreciate you sharing your experience gained from being in the pizza business for as long as you have.
Len, it’s the way the article is written that is getting you so much flack.
Do you know an English major who can edit for you?
Yes, it is clearly a poorly written article. I get that a lot. LOL
Len- I can remember back in college when you could get a delicious 16 inch pizza for $4.99, no fees! Then we would walk up and down the halls of our dorm & scrape together everyone’s loose change to buy huge breadsticks at 10cents a pop! Granted it was in southwest Virginia with a low cost of living (and 1993), but still!
So what do you think about Burger King starting fast food delivery. Think that’s got legs?
I think the Burger King delivery will be a BIG success, Geoff. You heard it here first!
But you forget that you are only charged that once per delivery no matter how many piazzas so it would be impractical to have it built I.to the cost of the pizza
While I understand where you’re coming from, that doesn’t make it impractical, cs.
It will be just another cost of doing business that helps determine the ultimate price of the pizza. And it’s unique impact on the price of the pizza will be irrelevant to consumers.
We we order delivery pizza we pay a $2 delivery fee and I give the driver a $2 tip. They always take care of us and I don’t mind tipping for good service.
Get sneaky back, ‘shop runner’ occasionally offers a years membership for $1 or even free. With this membership, dominos delivery is free!
Hi Len,
For my family ordering pizza is a 24.00 affair including tip and worth every penny. Here’s why.
My husband, sister and myself have cerebral palsy and cannot drive. Our Local pizzeria is an independent outfit and offers a large New York Style pie that we adore. It is also the best pizza we have ever had.
The staff is courteous to us whenever we call, the delivery driver will come into our home to set the pie on the table (a real gift when your hands are taken up holding a walker). And it’s a bargain when you consider not having to add the price of cab fare to the restaurant. (20.00 more round trip) Long Live Garden Deli and Pizzeria, Manteo, NC. 🙂
I deliver pizza. The company I work for charges $2 for delivery. They give the driver $1 for delivering the pizza plus minimum wage. The $1 barely covers the gas, if that. The drivers have to use their own car, pay for oil changes and repairs. Usually, it takes at least one set of tires per year. Most people tip, some don’t. When you add up all the tips and divide it by the number of deliveries, the average tip is $2. If it wasn’t for the tips, there would be no way I could afford to deliver pizza.
Well, I figured that the driver’s got part of the delivery charge, so I give less of a tip. I’ve worked at various pizza chains and depending on which night of the week it is, delivery driver’s make good money. So my solution is to give less in a tip because they charge for delivery. I already know that the driver gets a certain amount for taking the delivery, plus his hourly wages. If the company keeps the delivery charge, I feel bad.
yes the driver gets maybe a whole dollar but something is telling me youre shorting their tip much more than that dollar. A tip is to show appreciation for the service being provided that YOU REQUESTED. Pizza places used to not even deliver much in the 80s and into the 90s. Then people figured a tip would suffice…. then people like you came along who cant just do whats correct and start trying to “math” out and guess other peoples wages so you could give less…. then pizza places didnt keep up with minimum wage AT ALL and made us rely on the customers for tips… then they tell us not to tell customers where the delivery fee goes…. so you guess…. and after all these “thens” the only people getting absolutely fkd are the people making the pizzeria 75% of their profits and providing a service for people who are too cheap.
Please don’t stiff the driver. They still deserve a fair tip. It’s a large portion of what they make. They really are not paid much. I used to work for Dominoes.
Hey Len, What about the umbrella coverage we have to carry on all drivers. Just incase their insurance doesn’t cover. Do your homework Len before you start shooting your mouth off. It’s not cheep to have 18 year olds delivering pizza
Thats understandable that you have the extra insurance but customers SHOULD tip
The change in cost of gas is completely ignored in this article. The change in cost of delivery although slightly disproportionate to change in gas prices largely reflects increasing gas prices. The delivery charge pays for the driver to be employed. There are numerous different ways of paying the driver hourly/by delivery/tips.
A reasonable article would be similar to this one but focusing on grub hub which charges a higher delivery fee and pays drivers much less than they earned before. Not only is the customer getting screwed, but so is the driver and the restaurant is paying upt 20% of the price of the food to have it delivered. That makes more sense than going after Pizza places who’s delivery charges have increased similar to pace with fuel.
I worked briefly for a grub hub delivery sub-contractor in Chicago. Delivery charges were up to $5 and drivers were paid $3 per delivery. Please publish something about how Grub hub is Sneaky.
Thanks for the warning, but I only buy DiGiorno’s….to get into someone else’s party…..
Well I’ve got to admit, pizza delievery fees help offset the gas price and low wage we are paid when on delieveries. I started working for fox’s pizza den and the wage while out is $4.25 + $2.25 for delievery fee + tips. So if we are given $3 tip plus that $2.25 we only make $5.25(not counting in the wage) but after driving around and maybe only making several stops a night we aren’t paid that much. Don’t complain about it because at my work it goes directly to me to compensate for gas…small tips don’t help it…
I dont know when this was posted, but based on the comments related to gas prices, i have followed it though about 5 years. As of now, april 9th, of 2013, gas prices are around $3.30-4.35 per gallon. I have worked for pizza hut for 2.5 years, i started out as a cook, and about 6 months ago, i became a shift manager. I have always been interested in the business side, as i plan to be an accountant, so i talk to the store manager about things, and try to learn stuff. I feel i havea pretty good grasp on this delivery charge concept, and hope to shed some light on some people.
When i started, there was a $2 delivery charge. Pizza Hut is a franchise, here in Olathe, KS, we charged $2, it increased to $2.50 a few months ago. NPC owns most of the stores around the country, they charge $2.75. In Olathe, drivers get $1 per delivery, whether it be accross the street, or the max of 10 miles round trip. At NPC, the driver got paid per mile, something low, like 11cents. At $3.50 per gallon, at 20MPG, the max spent on gas is $1.75, the max reimbursed is $1.11, so on some deliveries, and a lot, in Olathe, drivers are losing money. Add on top of that, the cost of maintaining a vehicle – delivering pizzas takes a large toll on your car. You drive as fast as possible, and as hard on your car as you can, to try to make it to that house aas quick as possible, in hope that you will get a tip – not a large tip, but any tip. It hurts your car, you have to change oil every 3000 miles, change your brakes more often, change tires, it takes a lot! Drivers in most of the country make $4.25/hour on the road, and $7.25/hour in the store. This income, I would say goes towards the maintenance and the gas. If a driver makes no tips throughout the day, they pretty much breakeven, they made no money, but they lost none either. So all of their actual earnings, comes from tips. I have seen some good drivers that make more than the store general manager, that is a pretty good salary… But they still do a hard job, and deserve it, in my opinion. I am jealous, because they make more than me, but at the same time, it is more of a risk, I make $9 an hour, their income isnt gauranteed, as they dont know how many deliveries they will take, how well they will get tipped, if their engine will die on them, i know what i will make. They get more, because it is uncertain, it is a gamble, it is stressful.
For the business side, drivers in Olathe, get $1 per deliver, the rest of the $2.50 goes to the store, this covers their $7.25/hr payout to the drivers, the cost of buying new delivery bags every year, the cost of liability insurance for the drivers, and many other costs. It is not free to offer delivery service, the store sees little profit from the markup, and the drivers are only reimbursed to a breakeven point.
Bottom line: tip your drivers, 15% minimum, they work a hard job. ignore the delivery charge, as it is life, costs of business go up, and they have to charge you more. Every company wants to offer $10 pizza now, but it doesnt cost $5 to make a pizza, Overall, it costs a lot more. The driver doesnt see all of this fee, tip them. The company wants to survive, let them charge you a couple bucks for the convenience. Maybe if the economy improves, it will go away, maybe not, but it is a tough world for everyone. Be courteous to the people who service you.
it’s obviously the greed of the pizza companies. you know for sure that the people at the top are not going to lose $$..at all costs. gigantic corporations could buy their employees cars,etc, but they choose not to because of greed and charge an additional fee that they keep half of in their own pocket. ripping the employees and the customer’s off in the meantime.
we all know that. the employees know that. everyone knows that.
GREED is the center of it all. welcome to slavery. haha.
-the end.
I’m a delivery driver and the delivery charge is based on the distance the driver has to drive… for example if I have to drive 4 miles one-way to make a delivery we charge $3.75 if my delivery is within 1 mile of the store the charge is $2.00 when we take down all the info “address phone number etc..” the computer system checks Google maps for distance and such and the area in which we deliver is all marked out in zones… zone 1 zone 2 etc… zone 4 being the farthest we deliver. as a driver we get paid 1.25 for any deliveries in zones 1 and 2… 1.75 in zone 3 and 2.50 in zone 4
I can’ t believe that these multi-million dollar corps want to nickle and dime there customers …we pick up there pizza…do we pay a walk in charge?….so why a delivery charge?….same product….if the delivery charge went to the person delivering it….i am all for it….but from what i understand it doesn’t….so basically if everyone picked up there pizza instead of having it delivered….these multi million dollar corps will lose money….
Joe – I’m 100% in agreeance!
Just paid $3.49 “Delivery Fee” for a single pizza from Papa Johns in Washington… Driver confirmed that he received only minimum wage from the pizza shop, and nothing per delivery.
I remember when It was a dollar, two dollars, then two fifty… but $3.49… I’m sure it will be four dollars soon.
It’s a sad state of affairs…
And just to be clear — I gave the driver a $3.50 tip as well
(Don’t want it to sound like I stiffed the driver! 🙂 )
Matt, often drivers will tell customers they receive nothing in hopes of getting your tip. If a driver only made $8/hr, they’d probably seek employment elsewhere. There’s no way minimum wage would cover their expenses.
With all these comments, I am appalled at the complaints for pizza delivery fees. Do you forget the convenience of getting food delivered. If you go to a restaurant, you will wait for service, get seated, wait for the food to be cooked, then tip the server 15% if the bill. For pizza drivers they are lucky to get a lousy $2 bucks. If you want to really avoid the fees and the tip, just used your own car, time and gasoline to pick up your pizza. Consider the service convenient and the $3 fee does not even compared?
Won’t Be ordering pizza anymore! I am so over Deception!!!
What????????
I always tips the delivery person! That is not the problem! It is the big companies that just keep adding fees!
So if every other pizza joint is selling $10 pizzas, you want one to “step up” and charge $12 but discard the delivery fee? Any guesses what would happen to that company?
There’s very little brand loyalty in the pizza business. People will go where they get the best price, period.
As a pizza franchisee, I am caught between what specials corporate blasts all over TV and social media (usually a loss leader, emphasis on the “loss”), and trying to make sure my drivers get enough compensation to keep them viable. Enter the delivery charge.
Let the record show my drivers make minimum wage, and of the $2 delivery charge, they get $1.50 per run, regardless of distance. My driver turnover is very low because we take care of our employees. The other $0.50 per delivery offsets my increasing liability insurance. And I mean offsets, it doesn’t even come close to paying for the increases we’ve seen in the last 3 years.
Absolutely, if the delivery charge sticks in your craw so badly, stop in. We’d love to see you. But if you want to avoid crappy weather, getting out of your jammies, traffic, cold cars, hot cars, etc etc, don’t complain. We truly would not have instituted a delivery charge if people were consistent tippers.
Oh, and our drivers have gotten up to $1.75 of that delivery charge when gas topped $4/gal. So, at least here, that shoots the hole in that argument.
Greedy corporate monsters, indeed. Step into my shoes, bucko, and see how greedy I am. Me and my 14-year-old car, we’re living the high life…
I wish we could make a revenue stream out of our delivery fees. We are a one location pizza place. We charge 3.00 per delivery. No less than 1.00 and no more than 2.00 go to a driver. the remaining amounts offset and subsidize the insurance we take out against our drivers. They have to have their own insurance, but who’s going to get sued if there’s damage to property or person-a driver making 6K a year, or us?
Obviously few people commenting here own or run a small restaurant business.
so thats known as a business expense… not a delivery fee. Call it an insurance fee if you want. JUST STOP DISGUISING THE WORDS TO COVER YOUR EXPENSES! Write it on your pizza boxes. “DELIVERY CHARGE IS NOT A TIP”…. And when your drivers get fked give them what a tip should be and we all know what that is… 5 BUCKS MINIMUM. You wont do any of that because narcissists like yourself care ab 1 person and 1 person ONLY…. YOUR FKN SELF. If that means robbing from a person making 6k a year or lying to your customers ab what theyre really being charged for, youll do it. If anyone IS curious what a tip should be just uber how much it costs to drive from your delivery address to the pizzeria. THATS how much driving costs. Sick and tired of people being like “its only 5 miles”… cool….uber the price and see if uber thinks 5 miles is worth 1 or 2 dollars…. something tells me it wont be 1 or 2 dollars though.
Back when I was delivering pizzas, if I took a multiple run and I knew one was a regular tipper, they got theirs first. Just thought for some of you who think it doesn’t matter, drivers rember and you get your food faster.
Christ, what I wouldn’t give (aside from more money) to have a 3 dollar delivery fee. Up where I live it’s a 7-9 dollar delivery fee for Round Table. The ONLY place that delivers around here. On top of a price increase for their pizzas as well. With a 3 dollar tip An order of 6 garlic twists and a large pepperoni came to 40 friggen dollars. Unfortunately, they are pretty much the only game in town so no one has a choice.
Yeah, that pretty much blows, Thrasher. You have my sympathy.
While I agree, most pizza places, including mine use the delivery charge as a means to offset rise in costs such as rising food costs, employment tax & and any other costs that may arise. Most places will also consistently raise menu items as well. It has nothing to do with the delivery charge. And some places may not mention the delivery charge for the drivers benefit as they only give a small percentage to them.
At my place, they started mentioning the delivery fee and I noticed a tepid decrease in tips over the following year. That combined with the declining economy we recently and are still facing makes it very hard to make money these days as a delivery driver.
Here’s what most people don’t realize… Almost all delivery drivers pay 100% of the cost for delivering. That means gas, insurance, major & minor repairs, oil changes, tune-ups, tire replacements, brakes, the purchase of the vehicle itself for delivering, etc. It is a tremendous cost and the delivery charge barely covers the cost of gas and does not cover the cost of any maintenance.
It is unfair that pizza places charge such a high fee but give the driver such a low amount while making it appear on the phone that the driver gets the whole fee. At the place I work at the charge is $3.50 and they finish all phone calls saying your total with tax and delivery fee is this amount. I’ve had countless people not tip me based on the fact that they thought the delivery charge was a tip and that the person on the phone made it appear that it was. Another thing people don’t realize is how expensive it is for round-trip delivery.
The average delivery driver drives a truck or an older beater car and typically gets between 17-25MPG with an average of 21MPG. With an average of 6 miles round trip for most delivery zones, with today’s gas prices you are looking at just under $1 in gas cost per delivery alone which eats up the delivery fee most drivers get on each delivery. This fee of course doesn’t compensate for any wear & tear or other things mentioned above.
And also, please note that delivery drivers require specialty insurance which is required by law. Drivers delivering with a standard policy are NOT COVERED and if discovered by the insurer will most likely result in the claim being denied and/or policy revoked. Meaning if you total your car you are SOL. It is also required by your employer to make sure you have the required coverage which most employers don’t do.
Some insurance companies won’t even cover you if they find out you will be using a car for delivering. When I had to tell my insurance company I delivered, my insurance went up from $66 to $208 per month. In addition, in gas alone for a full time driver I was spending between $500-600 a month and an oil change every month as well. Just to give you an idea of how much it actually cost to be a driver. I was losing so much money that a lot of days it was hard to even make minimum wage delivering. So I ended up buying a Prius which cost me $18,000 of my own money just so I can get ahead of the game. Now I spend about $130 in gas.
Some people reading this typically tip 5% or 10% and they’re obviously not thinking of the whole picture and what cost are actually involved in being a pizza delivery driver. I used to get 15% to 20% tips on average and somewhere along the lines over the last five years It just dropped down to under 10% of what I can only imagine is the declining economy and websites out there telling people 10% is a good tip for a driver.
When you go into a restaurant and you tip 15% or 20% you have to remember those servers have zero overhead. No gas, no insurance to pay, work in a comfortable warm environment and not out in the severe weather conditions that some drivers have be in. In my situation, I lose money on every single delivery I take and it’s only when I get tipped I get into the positive. I can’t say that’s the same for every driver, but I know it’s the same for a lot of them.
Len, I can’t speak for the other guys, but I’m a single-store franchisee for one of the “Big Three” and here’s my breakdown:
Delivery fee $2.25 ($2.75 if out of area)**
Driver receives $1.50 ($2.00 respectively)**
**when gas prices get ridiculous, we increase the amount to the driver without adding to the existing delivery charge.
The rest of the delivery fee covers the astounding insurance increases we’ve experienced over the last 4 years, some as a result of insurance companies, some as the mother company adds on even more services we (they) need to have covered. As it is, the remainder of the delivery fee is still not enough, it just offsets some of the costs.
We also pay our drivers $7.85/hr, while our minimum wage is $8.10. (Other pizza companies in our area pay $6.00 and below/hr).
I wish that, before you excoriate businesses, you would take a breath and try to understand that not all of us are greedy corporations. A full 40% of our company consists of owner/operators, and some of us still try to take the high road and treat our employees and our customers fairly.
Pizzagirl: Thank you for the info. I have no problem with those pizza delivery fees, per se. Believe me, I am as pro-business as they come. My beef is how the pizza companies disguise the true price of their pizzas by shifting some of their expenses into the “delivery fee.” Insurance and franchise service costs are a cost of doing business — in my opinion, those costs should be rolled into the pizza price for maximum transparency to the consumer.
That is the reason why I avoid having pizza delivered and as much as possible if it is really convenient for us, my husband or I get it to save some money.
Ive lost count the number of times I went to order a pizza, made it all the way to check out and then noticed that after the delivery fee and tipping the driver, it is just as much as the pizza itself, suddenly pizza no longer sounds like a good choice and I just don’t order at all. So these companies are losing out on my business for their “delivery fee”
I haven’t had a pizza delivered since maybe like 2001. I always just go pick it up. As much as I like my favorite pineapple & onion, no one else really likes that…so to make things easier if we get pizza, 90% of the time it is Little Caesars, and here in its home state of Michigan, a large pepperoni is still only $5 (they were like $6 in OKC back in 2009 when I was there for work). LC isn’t “great pizza” by any means but it fits the bill, I suppose. DeLuca’s, a local restaurant for almost 60 years has pretty good pizza but it can be almost $28 for some of their offerings. Like Len said, it’s good but it’s not “that good”.
I casually know a guy who’s engaged to one of the Domino’s Pizza founder’s daughters. It appears she’s doing pretty well from the pizza empire her dad built.
I delivered pizza for years. At Dominos we did not charge a delivery fee. We were paid 25 cents per mile.
At a small hometown pizza joint I worked at we charged 2$ per delivery and 100% of that went to us instead of the company paying us per mile.
Pizza Hut charges their fee and uses a percentage of it to pay the driver per mile. They are being truthful, but not completely when they say the fee doesn’t go to the driver. Yes because a portion of it covers x amount of cents per mile, the rest they keep.
Pizza chains are pocketing the entire fee. It is extortion. Us drivers are bearing the blunt if the pushback from customers who don’t want to tip because they know that it is the greedy store who is enhancing their bottom line. It costs the store less to deliver than pickup.
Dominos steals another way. I have to answer the phone sometimes when my delivery is almost ready. I make two dollars an hour less when I’m on the road. After I get off the phone I look over and I’ve supposedly been on the road for five minutes. It’s about 5 bucks a week or $260 a year. Times 14 drivers. Times hundred thousand stores.
If we all just refuse to tip these drivers will be forced to get a different job. Putting pizza delivery out of business. But I. Order for that to happen all of society would have to be on the same page. But in the long run it would be better. Because the driver would be forced to get a better paying job.
There’s a current Pizza Hut special, 2 topping large pizza for $7.99. But with the $4 delivery fee in my area, Long Beach CA May of 2017, along with tip and tax and that $7.99 pizza comes to about $20. Which is OUTRAGEOUS, I canceled my order and I sent Pizza Hut an email letting them know that I won’t be ordering from them again. Pretty soon GETTING the pizza will be more than the actual pizza. Because in this situation, it’s nearly the same amount of money after delivery charges and tip. This insanity has got to stop.
Yep … definitely misleading. I feel your pain, Vanessa.
Dominos in Seattle
$5.99 Delivery Fee
Garlic Knot Pizza in Fort Collins, CO is $3.99!!! I’m disabled so pick up is not an option for me. The store is a mile from my residence. I live on a small disability pension. I tip, but I tip based on the cost of my food. I refuse to tip on an outrageous delivery fee. I’m hoping to find a store that does not charge delivery. On a $10.99 calzone I’m paying over 50% in delivery fees and tip. That is insane, but I’m a new resident and haven’t found anything better yet. The search is definitely on though.
I just ordered a $20 pizza. They charged $4 delivery fee, $1.20 for a little thing of parmesan cheese and another $1.20 for a thing of crushed red peppers (you know, the things that used to be free, kind of like getting ketchup with your fries? Then $2.60 for taxes. Then the driver, of course, expected a tip (and generally if you don’t tip about 18% people get pissy).
All told, for a simple frigging $20 pizza, I wound up forking over almost $35. What a rip off.
In my case, I will talk about the drivers side, some people think that the delivery charge is already the tip, when truth is, its not, it goes to the Company, which is the reason why a lot of drivers are not making enough money. I don’t know why they approve this kind of pay scheme, I still think that it’s not fair for some pizza delivery drivers. First thing, they use your car and pay very little mileage, which cannot even pay the wear and tear of your car. Secondly, they give $9/hour coz they think the drivers are making a lot of tips. (I’m talking about our area in Baltimore.) And most of all, they only provide you with a T-shirt and have the guts to demand you buy a new pants if it’s already faded. Tsk tsk tsk.
When I was younger, I worked at a pizza place that had no surcharge for delivery….The price you paid if you walked in and ordered was the exact same as you paid if ya had it delivered. As a driver, we got 1.50 per pie delivered, plus hourly wage, plus tips. It was honestly a great job, and a great “family” owned business….They took very good care of staff, and it reflected greatly in product and presentation…..
Our local independent pizza parlors make the best pizza and a variety of other Italian foods which are good, far better than the national chains. They all advertise FREE delivery and you are expected to tip the driver. The independent stores periodically run coupon specials in the local shopper and penny saver magazines. One offers a 5% discount if you order online. I always pick up our pizza! I order online, use a coupon, pay with my United credit card to get miles, drive home directly from the pizza place with a couple of clean bath towels wrapping the box to retain the heat. I buy low priced gas for cash (to get the best price for the gas!) and get the best deliver service (I have a stake in this deal!) and save money. If you’re not severely handicapped, get up and get your own pizza if you want to save money.
Papa Johns makes it a point to say that the delivery fees are *not* a tip, or something that goes to the driver. I think it says it on checkout when you pay online or maybe on the receipt when the driver shows up to the door.
I used to deliver food in college, so when I tip I’m always fair. That said, I find myself picking up my pizza more often than not. Tip+delivery fees will be $6-7 bucks. It becomes a simple equation for me. 20 minutes round trip for me to go get the food: $7 savings. Gas is $.50 cents. So $6.50 That’s $19.50 per hour, which is how I view things. It’s all about time and what your time is worth. The added bonus is that I get my food faster, and its hot. (I have a food bag that I haul it back with).
Wow! Reading the comments on here make me realize just how many people lack basic business acumen. So you think $3-$5 is a lot of money for a delivery charge? Let me break it down for you all….
The average number of deliveries per hour is somewhere between 2-3 over the course of an entire 5-6 hour evening shift. Lets assume 2.5 Deliveries per hour with an average round trip being 5 miles.
Minimum wage for tipped employee is approximately $3.75/hour divided by 2.5 is $1.50 per delivery.
Fuel and maintenance allowance minimum .25 per mile times 5 miles average round trip is $1.25 per delivery.
Insurance for non-owned company delivery vehicles is very expensive. This is usually around $1.00 per delivery, however, if you have just one claim, this can easily double and sometimes triple if its a major claim with injuries.
In summary, even using conservative numbers, the cost of each delivery to the pizza shop is a minimum of $3.75 with $5,00 easily within the realm of possibility. Pizza shops are making zippo off of delivery fees and many even allow delivery to eat into already low margins to keep delivery fees artificially low.
If you dont want to pay for the service of delivery, hop in your own car and go get it. Delivery is a necessary evil for pizza shops. Theyd rather not offer it and eliminate the hassle and risk.
Hope this helps you all have a better understanding of the true cost of pizza delivery.
We get it, Craig. Most pizza places were created on a delivery-based business model; in the past, delivery costs were baked into the cost of the pie. Now they are not. The point of the article — which you somehow seemed to have missed — was how pizza companies use their delivery fees to mislead customers in their advertised pie costs, making the pies appear to have a lower cost than they actually do.
Do you really get it, Len? Seems to me you do not. So you prefer a model where the pizza shop spreads the cost of delivery across all customers, including those who choose carry out by baking the expense in to the price of the pizza? We always provide the customer with the total price after tax and delivery. This is how nearly all restaurants communicate the total price. No one is trying to be misleading. Delivery is a separate service… it is not required… therefore, there should be a separate charge.
“So you prefer a model where the pizza shop spreads the cost of delivery across all customers, including those who choose carry out by baking the expense in to the price of the pizza?”
In a word, Craig: yes.
My budget for a pizza or delivery order with a total of less than $20 is $4 (can go to $5 if exceptional). Most local restaurants and pizza places do not have delivery fees in my area so the driver gets the whole $4 (usually cash). However, big chain pizzas charge $4 (like Pizza Hut). That $4 delivery charge is also taxable since it’s added to the bill so in reality, the delivery charge is $4 + taxes. I simply cannot afford to dish out an additional $4 on top of that. I do explain this to the driver that $4 is my budget and I’m sorry for not tipping. I do feel the driver is being gouged. Bottom line, I very rarely order from big chains with abusive practices and there are better restaurants anyway. I do feel bad for the driver in those instances but paying $4 + taxes + $4 tip + $14 for food is outrageous.
Gas prices, liberals demanding outrageous pay rates, insurance rate hikes, etc all contribute to higher delivery fees. Enjoy the mediocre pizza. Get some real pizza next time at an independent pizza restaurant.
Yep. You can’t beat a good independent pizza joint!
I wish people understood that if a driver did not get tips then whatever part of the delivery charge or lack of that they get would only go to replace the gas they used and for the maintenance upkeep and depreciation cause of wear and tare of their vehicle so they would only make minimum wage. If all the delivery drivers everywhere did not get tips then delivery would cease to exist everywhere unless the employer paid well above minimum wage. If the employer did that than the cost of pizza would sky rocket to all new levels . Guess who would pay for that increase in price? Bottom line is delivery drivers absolutely depend on tips no matter if they get any portion of the delivery charge. If the pay is not good enough to be worth delivering because people no longer tip = no delivery services anywhere anymore and you have to go get your own food.
Who gives a shit what goes where. Everyone deserves a living wage; its a right. 15$ an hour and if you use your car reimbursement for mileage and a tax break for depreciation on your car just like you were running a business.
Interesting. So you’re saying every job on planet Earth must pay a “living wage”? The utopian belief that every position has to pay enough to support a family falsely presupposes that there are no stepping-stone entry-level jobs in life.
I understand your frustration; the problem lies in our debt-based monetary system, which is on its last legs. It’s a problem that began way back in 1971 when the dollar’s anchor to gold was broken. Before that time, blue collar workers — including my Dad — could indeed support a family of four on his single income. Even so, there were plenty of entry level positions back then that did not provide a wage capable of supporting a family. Even blue collar workers had to work their way up to a position that paid enough to support a family.
Until we get a new monetary system that is anchored in some way to gold — or the current one resets — depressed blue collar wages will remain with us. The bad news is, either option will result in significant short-term pain for a lot of people who are close to retirement. The good news is, the changes will allow blue collar workers to once again support a family on a single income — and that day will be here relatively soon because the powers that be have no choice (I’m guessing no later than 2025).
It’s not gonna be due to a new monetary policy (that’s not happening). It’s going to be because Democrats pass a federal 15 dollar minimum wage law.
Nope. All that will do is raise prices for everyone and decrease employment as business owners reduce payrolls to compensate for the artificial wage hikes.
I’ll pay the fee, but you can forget getting a tip. I will not be guilt tripped into one. When they stop charging their bogus fee, I will start tipping again.
Just don’t buy it.
Honestly, none of this pizza is good enough to cost as much as they do for delivery, tax, and tip. So I just bow out. I’ll eat a peanut butter sandwich before Dominos gets 30 bucks for a large pizza.
It’s not gourmet. It’s barely better than Tony’s.
I say pay the minimum pay the least amount you can. Let these wealthy companies and Wealthy CEOs pay a livable wage to their workers.
I just (June 2020) thought to order a pizza from the local LIttle Ceasar’s franchise that recently opened here in my little corner of the world. So not only are they now charging a “delivery” fee of 3.00 they’re also charging a (get this) “service fee” of 1.10. Apparently the same legerdemain is now being applied to the original iteration, like some sort of endless feedback loop of deception and greed.
Needless to say I cancelled my order and closed the page, before coming here to report. Just found this place on the internets after trying to find other instances of double-deception
In the Pittsburgh area some family owned places give ALL of the delivery fee to the drivery (typically $1.50 to $2). But I was talking to a Pizza Hut driver & he told me he gets less than half. What’s worse is when he takes multiple orders to the same address (hotel, hospital, office bldg, etc) he still gets less than half of ONE delivery fee – because he parked his car & was able to take those different orders in the same building. Total SCAM
The ones who are to blame are the people who were too lazy to pick up pizza themselves in all the years prior to COVID 19. Now people who are using delivery to stay safe at home are the ones paying for these additional and increasing fees. I never used delivery prior to the pandemic.
Nope, I deserve zero of the blame. Blame the greedy corporations, not me.
And because there is no shortage of people who are both willing and able to do the job, not unlike pizza delivery drivers, their wages will always remain woefully low.