Pizza delivery Totally Explained

Everything about Pizza Delivery totally explained

Pizza delivery is the service of delivering a pizza to a customer.

History

In the United States, modern pizza delivery began after World War II, when many pizzerias were opened by former soldiers who had encountered the dish while serving in Italy. In northern European countries, like Germany, Belgium and The Netherlands, many pizzerias were opened in the 1950s and 1960s by Italian immigrants. Today, in many European countries, take-out döner kebab or shawarma restaurants sell pizzas as well. Domino's Pizza, founded in Ypsilanti, Michigan in 1960, is credited with popularizing free pizza delivery in the United States.

The process

Time guarantees

Pizzerias, such as Ontario's Pizza Pizza chain, will incorporate a time guarantee or a promise delivery within a predetermined period of time, perhaps specifying that late deliveries will be free of charge. For example, Domino's Pizza had a commercial campaign in the 1980s and early 1990s promising, "30 minutes or it's free." This practice was discontinued in 1993 due to a number of lawsuits arising from accidents caused by hurried delivery drivers. Now, pizzerias will commonly state to the customer an approximate time frame for a delivery, without making any guarantees as to the actual delivery time. In early 2008, Domino's introduced the "You Got 30 Minutes," which isn't a promise or guarantee, but a goal that Domino's strives for. Sometimes you may get more than 30, sometimes you may get less.

Hotbags

Bags used to keep pizza hot while being transported are commonly referred to as hotbags or hot bags. Hotbags are thermal bags, typically made of vinyl, nylon, or Cordura, that passively retain heat.

Delivery charges

For decades, "free delivery" was a popular slogan for almost all pizza stores.
In Australia the delivery of food to a home or place of work began to take hold in the regional cities around 1993-1994. The price of delivery has always been included in the overall price of the order, usually in the cost of a main course meal or pizza, not in the condiments or drinks. The habit of a gratuity depends solely on the temperament of the customer, but wages paid for a driver exceed the wages in other countries; even with the restaurant industry being a very cut-throat business. The major portion of a delivery charge is passed on to the driver it amounts to about a 70/30 cut, so a charge of $1.50 would amount to a wage of $1.10 for the driver. The potential for harm to a driver is rare, even with a customer that's irate because they believe they waited too long; a well-managed business can usually give a timing for delivery on the day/night.
In the United States, Pizza Hut began experimenting in 1999 with a 50-cent delivery charge in ten stores in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. By the summer of 2001 it was implemented in 95% of its 1,749 company-owned restaurants in the U.S., and in a smaller number of its 5,250 franchisee-owned restaurants. By 2002, a small percentage of stores owned or franchised by U.S. pizza companies Domino's and Papa John's were also charging delivery fees of 50 cents to $1.50, and some of Little Caesar's franchisees charged delivery fees. Domino's credits delivery charges as a way to adjust for variable ingredient, energy, and labor costs without adjusting menu prices.
It should be noted that the driver doesn't usually get the full delivery charge, and that the amount they receive per delivery is only moderately more than what it was before delivery charges were implemented. Most of the added fee goes to the store.

Tipping

In some countries, it's common to tip the pizza deliverer with an optional gratuity upon paying for the order.
In the United States, tipping for pizza delivery is customary. Opinions on appropriate amounts vary widely, with news articles typically suggesting around 15% of the bill or at least $2. Slightly more is suggested for deliveries in inclement weather or relatively distant deliveries. The Original Tipping Page website (External Link

), cited by a few dozen news sources, suggests $1-2 for short distances, $2-3 for longer distances, and $5 or more for large orders. U.S. deliverers may be employees or independent contractors. Employees are legally obligated to report tips to their employer for income tax purposes, while independent contractors, who may charge a per-delivery fee to a restaurant, are legally obligated to report tips to the Internal Revenue Service.
In Australia, tipping for pizza delivery is rare and not customary, and hourly wages for deliverers are considered relatively high. Prices for delivery orders are typically higher than for carryout orders, and "free delivery" can't be advertised if carryout pricing is lower. The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, which categorizes pizza delivery drivers and taxicab drivers as "drivers-sales workers," ranked it the fifth most dangerous job category.
In 2004, Pizza Hut fired a delivery person who shot and killed a robber while on the job, citing its company policy against employees carrying weapons. Other national chains such as Domino's also prohibit carrying weapons, though many independent pizzarias allow delivery persons to carry weapons in a legal manner. Employer restrictions on carrying weapons is a controversial issue in the U.S., where most states in the U.S. allow most citizens to carry concealed weapons in many circumstances.

Labor unions

In recent history, two labor unions have been formed specifically for pizza delivery drivers - the now-defunct Association of Pizza Delivery Drivers (APDD) and the American Union of Pizza Delivery Drivers (AUPDD).

Association of Pizza Delivery Drivers

APDD was formed in 2002. Its initial claim to fame was as an Internet-based union, eschewing traditional methods of organizing, and making contributions and the sale of goods the center of its fundraising activities, instead of dues. People could join APDD using a form at their website, or chat with its officers in an IRC-compatible Java chat every Tuesday evening. At its peak, it claimed approximately 1,000 members in 46 US states. APDD held several certification votes in the US, but was never successful in organizing a local. In March 2006 APDD lost a lawsuit against a Domino's franchise in Mansfield, Ohio. This combined with massive debt left the union with little choice but to shut down.

American Union of Pizza Delivery Drivers

AUPDD was founded in early 2006 by Jim Pohle, a driver for a Domino's Pizza store in Pensacola, Florida. Pohle cites the sub-minimum wage paid by his store as the instigating factor in forming a union.
   In Trigger Happy TV, pizzas were delivered to a Wendy house in a busy London street, and had to be posted through the letter box slice by slice.
   In "The Pizza Patrol", a short on Garfield and Friends, Garfield takes advantage of a pizza place which guarantees that its pizza is free if not delivered in less than thirty minutes. Eventually, a truce is made which allows Garfield to get free pizza for a year.
   The main character in Futurama, Philip J. Fry, was a pizza delivery boy in the 20th century before he was cryogenically frozen and woke up in the 30th century.
   In Drawn Together, the major plot of one episode ("Dirty Pranking No. 2") involves an extended and somewhat off-color pizza prank.
   On Degrassi, Jimmy and Spinner call a pizza restaurant to place an order under their teacher's (Ms. Kwan) name, to get revenge on her for giving them detention.
   In the pilot episode of the Doctor Who spinoff, Torchwood, Gwen Cooper attempts to infiltrate Torchwood Three by delivering a pizza to it, to the amusement of the agents working in the base.
   In Pizza (TV series), an Australian comedy series, the show centers on the activities of Pauly and his fellow co-workers as they deliver pizzas for the Sydney-based small business of Fat Pizza, whose motto is "they're big and they're cheesy". In the suburbs of Sydney, the men have dealt with aliens, killer kangaroos, bikies, drug dealers and other evil forces. Despite all this, no one seems quite surprised at any of this happening, and they persist in the dead end job which pays AU $3.00 an hour.
   On The Daily Show and more recently The Colbert Report, there's a recurring sketch involving Stephen Colbert and a pizza boy who enters with the line "Did anyone order a pizza?", followed by Colbert eating a slice of pizza in a suggestive fashion (and sometimes sharing it with others on the show, including Jon Stewart and Congressman Brad Sherman).

In computer and video games

Radikal Bikers is the satirical quintessence of the dangers posed by deliveries, where the only goal of the player is to avoid traffic, and deliver the pizza by bike as fast as possible, doing so sooner than the computer- or player controlled other contestant. has a "Pizza Delivery" mission in which the player rides around the city on a "pizza bike" delivering pizzas to pedestrians.
   In February 2005, it was possible to order pizza while playing Everquest II. Players could enter a special command in the game to have pizza delivered to their door. This feature generated a lot of publicity, but the service has since ended.
   In The Sims, characters may order pizza delivery. In The Sims 2, characters may order pizza delivery. If the character doesn't have enough money to pay for the pizza, one of their possessions is taken.
   In the WarioWare series, the character Mona is a delivery girl for a pizza shop named "Mona Pizza."
   In Spiderman 2 the game, players can go on a series of pizza delivery missions for Peter Parker's job.

Other

At a historic Minuteman Missile Site in South Dakota, the entrance to the underground Launch Control Center is sealed by a blast-proof door emblazoned with a painted spoof of Domino's Pizza's red, white, and blue pizza delivery box. The box is labeled "Minuteman II," and hand-lettered text on the door reads "World-wide delivery in 30 minutes or less, or your next one is free," spoofing a former Domino's Pizza slogan.

Further Information

Get more info on 'Pizza Delivery'.

External Link Exchanges

Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:

<a href="http://pizza_delivery.totallyexplained.com">Pizza delivery Totally Explained</a>

Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned.