Pizza delivery

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

"Pizza box" redirects here. For the computer form factor, see Pizza box form factor.

Scooter 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.

1 History
2 The process
3 Hazards
4 As a labor movement
5 In defense affairs
6 Law enforcement
7 See also
8 References
9 External links
- 9.1 News articles

[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 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.

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 prerogative 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 generic pizza box from a small pizza outlet in Australia.

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 food is often stuck to the box itself. Boxes are thus commonly thrown away with household garbage; a more environmentally friendly disposal option that has been proposed is a form of backyard composting for pizza boxes.

[edit] Tipping

In many countries it is common to tip the pizza delivery person upon paying for the order. In the United States, 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] 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. ^[5] Little or no tip may be taken as offensive by your delivery driver who may depend on the additional income that tips bring in.

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 effectively 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

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Please see the discussion on the talk page.

For decades, "free delivery" was a popular slogan for almost all pizza stores. That changed in the United States in 1999 when Pizza Hut began to experiment with a 50-cent delivery charge in ten stores in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.^[6] By the summer of 2001, it was implemented in 95% of company owned restaurants. The reason cited for the change was that intense competition forced pizza-makers to hold down prices while frozen pizza sales jumped in recent years. The big chains wanted to bump up their income. Other pizza delivery companies, like Domino's and Papa John's, shortly followed suit with delivery fees of their own.^[7] Since 2004, most delivery charges, including Pizza Hut's, escalated into the range of $1.25 to $1.50 and in some stores it was more than $2.00.^{[citation needed]}

This compulsory charge for services is part of the employer's gross receipts and does not have to be paid to the driver. As such, the company must pay taxes on these charges and gets to keep them. They belong to the employer, not the employee.^[8]

These charges are often used to offset a restaurant's costs associated with delivery apart from the driver's income, such as the company's non-owned auto insurance policy, or can be used as a means of profit for the business.

Delivery charges should no longer be associated with mileage reimbursement, as they are often set at different rates. Most stores had a mileage rate before they started the delivery charge and the rate changed very little or did not change at all after adding the charge.

Some stores may charge customers less than the amount paid to the delivery driver, while others may charge more than what they reimburse their drivers, and the methods are as varied as pizza itself.

Non-chain pizzeria restaurants vary in their delivery charges, partially depending on geographic location. In New York City, where residential and commercial areas are very close together, free delivery can be found at virtually any pizzeria because of the short distances involved as well as the use of a bicycle (instead of a gas-powered vehicle) to deliver the pizza.. Meanwhile, in a city like Los Angeles, where drivers generally have to travel a much greater distance, it is common for non-chain pizzerias to charge $0.50 to $1.50 to offset driving costs.

For Domino's and Papa John's, and possibly other chains, the primary reason for delivery charges is to cover increases in cost of labor and ingredients, without actually raising the menu prices of the finished product for the customer. This means the customer still gets the prices they are used to hearing or reading on coupons.^[9]^[10]

Like all surcharges for premium services, delivery charges are not likely to go away. If anything they will only get larger as time goes by.

[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."^[11]

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.^[12]^[13]

In Fargo, North Dakota a pizza delivery man was assaulted after he refused to accept marijuana as payment for a pizza.^[14]

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.^[15]

[edit] As a labor movement

In recent history, two labor unions have been formed specifically for pizza 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 defense affairs

Pizza delivery box on the bunker door.

At the Minuteman Missile Historic Site, Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota,^[16] 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.^[17]

Pizza parlors are sometimes among the first to know that a major case is being investigated by law enforcement operatives.^{[citation needed]} 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,^{[citation needed]} because the military police at those installations often order large amounts of pizza as they work extended shifts to investigate a major crime.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] See also

Association of Pizza Delivery Drivers

[edit] References

[edit] External links

[edit] News articles

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