Pizza delivery

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"Pizza Delivery" redirects here. For the SpongeBob SquarePants episode, see Pizza Delivery (SpongeBob SquarePants episode)

Moped used for pizza delivery in Hong Kong.

Pizza delivery is the service of delivering a pizza to a customer. A number of variables that factor into the efficiency of pizza delivery include map knowledge, driving skills, route planning, the quality of the vehicle, and customer management on the part of the delivery-person. Pizza delivery also presents potential hazards to those individuals, ranging from practical jokes to robbery and murder.

[edit] 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 nothern 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.

Most pizza restaurants in the U.S. offer call-in pizza delivery services, because pizzas can be made quickly and are easily transported. The pizza business is now dominated by companies that specialize in home delivery (or serve it that way exclusively), including Domino's Pizza (a pioneer in the field^[1]) and Papa John's Pizza. Even Pizza Hut has shifted away from its historical emphasis on pizza parlors and toward home delivery. These national pizza chains often coexist with locally owned and operated pizza chains and independent restaurants, which compete for the business of delivering pizzas to homes. In Europe, Pizza Hut has opened many outlets as well, but traditional Italian pizzerias and take-out döner kebab or shawarma restaurants are more popular for ordering a pizza.

In defence of the threat posed by the major American pizza delivery firms, Italy has requested that the European Union safeguards some of the traditional Italian pizzas, such as "Margherita" and "Marinara". This is part of an ongoing effort within Europe to prevent the names of regional foods from being commercially exploited by companies based elsewhere.

[edit] The process

The pizza delivery process begins when a customer makes a telephone call to the pizzeria and specifies the number of pizzas, sizes, toppings, and any other items desired. Ordering on the Web is also often an option. The customer must provide an address to which the delivery person must bring the pizza. Most pizzerias also require the customer to provide a telephone number for the purpose of preventing fraudulent orders.

If the address is too far from the restaurant for delivery to be practical, the customer may be told that he or she is outside of the delivery range of that particular establishment, although chain restaurant outlets may recommend another location that serves the region where that customer lives. Some pizzerias have been accused of falsely claiming that nearby low-income neighborhoods are outside of their delivery range, in order to avoid having to make deliveries to areas perceived to be unsafe. Although this and other such practices may be considered to be improper, or bad business, it is a restaurant's perogative to accept or decline any individual order, regardless of whether or not it is inside the restaurant's declared delivery zone. Some restaurants forego defining a predetermined delivery zone altogether, deciding on the spot whether or not to take orders when they are received, depending on the value of the order, the distance from the restaurant, and the restaurant's ability to cope with the amount of delivery orders it is currently receiving. Often, busy restaurants will refuse orders that would be accepted if business was slower.

The pizzas are generally transported in pizza boxes, square cardboard boxes that are large enough to hold a pizza but flat enough to be stacked, often prominently displaying the logo of the pizzeria. These boxes are carried in specially designed square bags designed to retain heat.

[edit] Time guarantees

Many pizzerias promise delivery within a certain set 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.^[2] As a result, many pizzerias will state to the customer an approximate time frame for a delivery, without making any guarantees as to the actual delivery time.

[edit] The delivery person

Pizza delivery persons typically use their own vehicles for deliveries. In the US they may receive little or no other remuneration from the pizzeria outside their normal minimum wage^[3], aside from a small reimbursement, usually in the range of US$0.50 to US$1.00. Drivers who document their vehicle expenses extensively have found that the reimbursement is adequate if they drive a highly fuel-efficient vehicle. Delivering pizza in a vehicle with low gas mileage can cause monetary loss for the driver.

In the US, pizza delivery is primarily a male-dominated occupation, although females are increasingly becoming involved [1].

[edit] Hotbags

A typical heated pizza bag. Note the plug at the bottom.

The device used to keep hot pizza hot while being transported to the customer is commonly referred to as the hotbag. There are a few distinct varieties:

Uninsulated, unheated bag. These are usually simple vinyl, plastic, or canvas bags, for protection from water or snow only. Very few shops use this type. This type of bag generally keeps the pizza hot for about 5–10 minutes on a day where the weather is not cold. They generally cost about US$10.
Insulated bag. These bags are generally vinyl, with cotton insulation. They generally keep a hot pizza hot for about 15 minutes. They are both very light, and very cheap, often about US$15 per bag. This is the most common type of bag used.
Heated bag. These bags come in both insulated and uninsulated forms, and will generally keep pizza hot for about 30–45 minutes. This type of bag is almost always in two parts; a core, and a bag. The core is powered either by alternating current from an outlet, direct current from a car cigarette lighter, or both. There is also an experimental core, which Pizza Hut is testing, powered by a small microwave oven, in which the bag is placed, which in turn causes the core to become hot. Donatos, Dominos and Papa John's all use a magnetic induction system to heat their bags, removing the power cords (and the risk of banging the cord around) from the bag. The heated bags generally cost US$125–$200 per bag.

[edit] Pizza boxes

A pizza box is a square cardboard box in which a pizza is packaged for take-out or pizza delivery. Pizza boxes are often emblazoned with the logo of the pizza company from which they come. However, some smaller restaurants will use boxes with a generic image. Pizza boxes are not accepted by most municipal recycling programs because there is often cheese stuck to the boxes. ^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Tipping

In most countries it is common to tip the pizza delivery person upon paying for the order. In the US, it is customary to tip the delivery person, who may receive little or no other remuneration from the pizzeria outside their normal, minimum wage.^[4] United States etiquette guides suggest that the tip should be 15% of the bill. Special circumstances might be considered before determining the amount of tip, such as weather conditions. Many argue that the store should cover costs such as fuel and repairs, while some suggest that customers should cover these costs by giving a tip.

Tipping the delivery person is less common in Europe, where minimum wages are higher. Tipping is almost unheard of in Japan, where tipping is not a part of the culture.

In Australia, tips are rarely given, however, it is very common to round up the price so the difference effectivly becomes the tip for the deliverer; this can be very unreliable and many customers will make sure they have the correct change so as to avoid tipping.

[edit] Delivery charges

For decades, "free delivery" was a popular slogan for almost all pizza stores. That changed in the USA in 2000 when Pizza Hut began to charge 50 cents per delivery and other companies shortly followed suit. Starting in 2004, delivery charges escalated into the range of $1.50 and sometimes exceeding $2.00. The primary reason for delivery charges is to cover the minimum wage increase and the cost of food, without actually raising the price of the food for the customer. The charge means that the customer still gets the prices they're used to hearing. "Free delivery" remains the standard around the world.

The delivery charge is not paid to the driver. Vehicle reimbursement rates did not increase when the delivery charge was first introduced. However, 5 or 10 cents of the delivery charge might cover increased reimbursement rates for drivers, while the rest goes to the store.

Basically this is the same in Europe, but there are many pizza delivery firms, which charge the fuel, especially since fuel prices have increased tremendously since 2005.

[edit] Hazards

Pizza delivery, by its nature, can pose risks for those engaged in it, because they are required to go to the homes of strangers in unfamiliar neighborhoods. Persons practicing this trade have been robbed, car-jacked, and occasionally even killed. The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics "puts pizza delivery drivers in the category of drivers-sales workers... the fifth most dangerous job in the country just behind pilots-navigators and structural steel workers."^[5]

One particularly bizarre incident occurred on August 28, 2003 in Erie, Pennsylvania, when a 46-year-old pizza delivery person named Brian Wells robbed a bank with a timed bomb strapped to his neck. When police intervened, Wells claimed that the bomb had been placed there by unnamed persons who had instructed Wells to commit the robbery. Unfortunately for Wells, the police were unable or unwilling to disarm the device, and it exploded, killing him minutes before the bomb squad arrived. The crime has never been solved. Prior to his appearance at the bank, Wells had last been seen when he set off to deliver a pizza to what turned out to be the address of an unmanned radio tower at the end of a dirt road. Other pizza delivery people have been murdered outright.^[6]^[7]

In one California case, a pizza delivery was used as a ploy to lure a murder victim out of her house. Tanya Holzmayer was then murdered by a man she had fired recently, scientist Guyang Matthew Huang, who had been lying in wait.^[8] Huang then shot himself. Domino's promptly sent another driver to retrieve and deliver the remaining pizzas.^[9]

In Fargo, North Dakota a pizza delivery man was assaulted after he refused to accept marijuana as payment for a pizza.^[10]

Because pizza deliverymen's income usually depends critically, either explicitly or implicitly, on the number of deliveries they perform, they have a strong incentive to complete deliveries as quickly as possible, potentially jeopardizing their own safety or that of others. This is particularly true in large congested cities where they usually drive motorscooters or light motorbikes, which provide little protection for a rider. In Paris, for example, pizza deliverymen are notorious for their reckless driving habits and are often involved in traffic accidents.

Pizza deliverymen have also been involved in more nefarious activities. In Amsterdam, a 20-year old man of Moroccan descent conducted terrorism-related surveillance of the city's red-light district from his delivery scooter.^[11]

[edit] As a labor movement

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

[edit] 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. As of March 2006 its website had been suspended by its host, and the organization is presumed defunct, although no formal announcement has yet been made by its officers.

[edit] 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. It was certified as the representative union for his store in April 2006 [2]. At the time of this writing, negotiations between AUPDD and the store were still ongoing, although Pohle cites the sub-minimum wage paid by his store as the instigating factor in forming a union.

While formed in the more traditional method of organizing at one's own workplace, AUPDD uses certain Internet-based techniques originated by APDD, such as its mass communications with the press and its fundraising activities (although more traditional dues are collected from the eleven members of the fledgling local). It also uses the Internet as its primary outreach to those wishing to start locals across the US.

[edit] Major issues

Several major issues currently face delivery drivers which have become platforms for debate between unions and major pizza corporations, namely the following:

the rising incidence of sub-minimum wage as the norm at certain pizza restaurants and within certain major pizza chains
the failure of per-delivery reimbursement rates to keep pace with fuel and other maintenance costs
the contrast between the actual dangers involved in pizza delivery, and the shortcomings in training and tools provided by the companies to avert those dangers
the unwillingness of companies to pay for the difference in motor vehicle insurance premiums to cover accidents and injuries while on the job
the seemingly deceptive nature of the delivery charge, which, due to faulty information provided by many pizza companies, is erroneously believed by most pizza delivery customers to cover the drivers' costs of delivery, thereby negating the perceived necessity of proffering a tip to the drivers, which reduces the drivers' income

[edit] In popular culture

The basic concept of a stranger being called upon to bring food to a customer's home has become part of popular culture to the extent that it is an occasional subject of pranks or parodies. For example, in a prank featured prominently in the first episode of the animated series Futurama, a delivery person, Philip J. Fry, is sent to deliver a pizza to "I. C. Wiener" at a cryonics lab.

Except as a device in pornographic films, the pizza delivery person does not have a significant role in European popular culture.

[edit] In literature

The focus of an extended passage in Douglas Adams' 1988 novel The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul was the lack of pizza delivery services in England at the time.

In Tom Wolfe's novel I Am Charlotte Simmons (2004), one of the characters works as a pizza delivery boy, and has a bad experience while delivering pizzas to the college basketball team.

Neal Stephenson's cyberpunk novel Snow Crash (1992) gives a futuristic spin on pizza delivery: pizza drivers (including the novel's protagonist) work for the Mafia, and drivers have state-of-the-art training and technology, ensuring that everyone gets pizza delivered in thirty minutes or less... or else.

[edit] In film

Since the 1970s, pizza delivery has been a recurring plot vehicle in pornographic films, where it is used to introduce men (or women) for random sexual encounters. Titles in this genre include Pizza Girls, We Deliver (1978); The Pizza Boy: He Delivers (1986); California Pizza Girls (1992); Hawaiian Pizza Punani (1993), Pizza Sluts (1995); Big Sausage Pizza (2003); Big Sausage Pizza 2 (2004); Fresh Hot Pizza Boy (2004); DD Pizza Girls (2004), and Pepperoni Tits (2006).

In the 1982 film Fast Times at Ridgemont High, the protagonist Jeff Spicoli (played by Sean Penn) is delivered a pizza during class.

In the 1990 film Home Alone, Macaulay Culkin's character utilizes voices from a movie playing on a VCR to welcome (and scare off) a pizza delivery driver, so as to avoid personally interacting with him and thus exposing the fact that he is home alone.

In the 1990 film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Michelangelo has a Domino's Pizza driver deliver his pizza through a sewer grate. Michelangelo refuses to pay an additional $3 due to its lateness. In its sequel, a young pizza delivery boy and martial artist befriends the titular characters after repeatedly delivering them pizzas and being saved by them from muggers.

In the 2004 film Spider-Man 2, Peter Parker works as a pizza delivery man until he gets fired for failing to deliver pizzas on time.

The 2005 film Drivers Wanted is based on pizza delivery. The plot is centered around the drivers for a small town pizza shop.

[edit] On television

A SpongeBob SquarePants episode ("Pizza Delivery") features the title character having to overcome obstacles in order to deliver a pizza to a customer, who then refuses to take it because he didn't get his drink.^[12]

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.

[edit] In computer and video games

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City 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 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 video game series Wario Ware, Inc., the character Mona is a delivery girl for a pizza shop (ironically) named "Mona Pizza."

[edit] On the Internet

Pizza delivery firms often have to deal with prank calls or other related misdemeanours. Controversially some of these have appeared with the advent of online broadcasting, people uploading their own personal pranks.

[edit] In defense affairs

Pizza delivery box on the bunker door.

At the outset of the first Gulf War in 1991, a Washington, DC pizzeria was one of the first to know that something was happening, as the event was marked by a flurry of pizza deliveries to The Pentagon.

At the Minuteman Missile Historic Site, Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota,^[13] the entrance to the underground LCC capsule is sealed by an eight-ton, blast-proof, steel-and-concrete door. Artwork on the door serves as a darkly humorous reminder of the LCC's ultimate purpose. Emblazoned on the door's outer face is a painted depiction of a red, white, and blue pizza delivery box labeled "Minuteman II." A hand-lettered legend reads: "World-wide delivery in 30 minutes or less... or your next one is free."

[edit] Law enforcement

There have been instances when undercover police have dressed as pizza delivery persons. This has been done in order to capture fugitives who were attempting to receive a pizza delivery. Undercover police might ambush a fugitive, displaying police identification after arriving at the door.^[14]

Pizza parlors are sometimes among the first to know that a major case is being investigated by law enforcement operatives. Around some military installations, it has been known for media representatives to receive information from pizza parlors to the effect that something significant might be occurring, because the military police at those installations often order large amounts of pizza as they work extended shifts to investigate a major crime.

[edit] See Also

Association of Pizza Delivery Drivers

[edit] References

[edit] External links

[3] www.doublecrust.com How To Make Up To $38 Per Hour Delivering Pizza - An experienced driver reveals the best kep secret of the restaurant industry.
www.io.com/~sjohn/pizza.htm History of Pizza Delivery
www.tipthepizzaguy.com - The Pizza Driver Homepage
www.xdelivery.org - Pizza drivers using technology to attain higher wages
www.deliverystats.org - Statistical information about pizza delivery coming first hand from the drivers
American Union of Pizza Delivery Drivers

[edit] News articles

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