Pizza delivery charge?!

[branv]

Wow, am I out of the loop!

We moved out of the area of any nearby Pizza Huts a few years ago. Or I assumed. The other day I was walking through our neighborhood and saw a Pizza Hut delivery person drive by. "Great!" I thought. I looked online, and sure enough there is one in the area I was unaware of. Very happy to realize I could stop ordering from that so-so pizza place around the corner and start ordering Pizza Hut again!

What a shock to discover they're now charging a $2 delivery fee. Gas prices are up, yadda yadda. I could accept that, if it went to the driver to offset their gas charges. I mean, it is specifically called a "delivery fee." But now I'm reading that the driver's don't get this money...and they're getting less or no tips b/c everyone assumes it does. You're expected to tip them on top of that. Is it just me, or is this HIGHLY misleading? Shouldn't they just be honest and raise the price of the pizza instead of letting the public think it's going to offset the costs of home delivery? And honestly, I am happy to pay $2-$3 for the convenience of a delivery, but add that to $2 delivery fee and it's not worth it. It doesn't even cost me a $1 in gas to go pick it up myself.

I guess I could go ahead and pick up at Pizza Hut since it's fairly close, but I refuse to give them the business with this type of practice. Guess I'll be sticking to the same local so-so pizza spot . (Which is really like cutting off my own nose to spite my face, but still...

Is every other national chain charging this much now?

 

[texasthree]

I think most places charge delivery now. I just ordered papa johns, they charge $1.75 here. I assume its probably higher in different parts of the country.

 

[Plantlady]

The pizza hut that we use to frequent has charged delivery fees for at least the past 10 years.

There is a small chain around here, that advertises "fast and free delivery", HOWEVER, they do offer a "carryout special" which allows you to save some money.

Now we live in a tiny town, with only one pizza place, and they don't deliver.

 

[dzorn]

I think a delivery fee is pretty normal. It takes a lot more employee time to drive to your home and back. I covers the cost of wages for the driver.

Denise in MI

 

[Chris]

A few of the local places around here have started charging 1.50-2.00 delivery, but overall MOST of them are still *free*

 

[paladin]

Every place around here (at least all the ones that we have tried) charge a delivery fee, generally $2.00.

 

[rflorek]

ALl of the pizza places that deliver around here do not charge a fee. It's too easy to go somewhere else for pizza. Some of the Chinese restaurants charge $1 delivery charge for orders under $15.

 

[The Disney Bunch]

It has been $2 by me for awhile. I just calulate it into the charge of the pizza.

 

[ohiominnie]

We live out in the middle of nowhere. We have a Pizza Hut and a Cappy's pizza (local mom and pop place) that will deliver to us. We also have a couple of pizza places in town that don't deliver out this far. I know Cappy's charges a fee for delivery (can't remember what it is right now) No idea about Pizza Hut b/c no one wants to eat their pizza. Cappy's is awesome so we get it and if it's not convenient to pick it up we have it delivered. We do tip a couple of dollars in addition to the fee. I don't even think about the fee anymore, I just consider it "part of the price of the pizza."

 

[branv]

Well actually, my point is not that there is a fee, my point is that they call this a "delivery fee" and therefore it should go to the cost of delivery i.e. to the delivery drivers via increased wages, gas reimbursement, etc. But from what I found in doing some research online, it is largely NOT. Any increases they have managed to get have been marginal compared to their personal costs to deliver - most of that fee is going right into the pizza places pockets.

Guess I just feel bad for the delivery people.

 

[kelleigh1]

My solution: DiGiorno!

Actually, this is what we're having for dinner tonight. We almost never order pizza.

 

[marshallandcartersmo]

We don't have delivery fees here (little town). For those of you that do, do you still tip the driver? We usually tip $2-$3, but I don't think I would if I was paying a $2 delivery fee on top of that---I'd just go pick it up myself.
Does the delivery fee go to the driver?? If it's "for gas", shouldn't it go to the driver?

 

[Squidrific]

I work for Dominos as a delivery driver and the $1.75 "Delivery Fee" is not paid to the driver. We are paid $.75 for each run we take, to account for mileage. However, most of my runs take 2 -3 deliveries so that is $5.25 in fees they collect for which I am given $.75.

They rationalize this as the delivery fee is the cost the consumer pays to Dominos for the service. You can take it or leave it. In their minds if you don't want the delivery fee than come pick-up the pizza. However, in reality we all know that this means that people won't tip.

I think this is going to change, because I can't afford to deliver any more with the gas prices and the distances I have to drive. These places are finding fewer and fewer drivers because we can't afford to do this when we only get $5.50 per hour and have to pay for our own gas, insurance, and mileage because let's face it - $.75 per run doesn't cover it when I average 85 to 100 miles per night and am reimbursed about $4.00 for mileage.

 

[dzorn]

Un-reimbursed gas milage is a deductable on your taxes. Keep records.

Denise in mI

 

[powellrj]

Well actually, my point is not that there is a fee, my point is that they call this a "delivery fee" and therefore it should go to the cost of delivery i.e. to the delivery drivers via increased wages, gas reimbursement, etc. But from what I found in doing some research online, it is largely NOT. Any increases they have managed to get have been marginal compared to their personal costs to deliver - most of that fee is going right into the pizza places pockets.

Guess I just feel bad for the delivery people.

Lets say they have a delivery person who can deliver 2 or 3 orders every 1/2 hour. Not sure how acurate this is, its just a point. Thats one employee to take care of 2 or 3 customers in a 1/2 hour. Lets say you use that same 1/2 hour time frame and have people pick up their pizzas.

That same 1 employee is going to be able to serve many more customers in the 1/2 hour by people picking up their pizzas.

Why should people who pick-up their own pizzas pay the added cost of the extra employees it takes to man a delivery system. Just adding a couple extra dollars to the cost of a pizza isn't fair to the people not using the service.

If I valet park my car I know that the extra money I pay the valet isn't going to him. I know that they only make x amount of dollars and I still need to tip him even though I pay the fee to valet park. It the samething. When I have a pizza delivered I decide to pay the extra to have them deliver it, plus I need to tip the guy who does the delivery.

When you decide to take advantage of a service, you need to decide if the service is worth the extra cost. In my case I will pick up my own pizza to save the extra fee, so I shouldn't have to pay extra for my pizza because someone decided to have it delivered.

I'm not even going to touch on what the driver gets paid. Thats a whole different ballgame. For the safty risks and car costs, I think more places are going to need to pay drivers more to be able to keep them.

 

[branv]

That concept and idea would be sound - if pizza places that I've been using my whole life had always charged a delivery fee. However, it's always been free from the national chains in the 3 major cities I've lived in for 15+ years. It's just in the last 4 or so that they've started charging delivery fees (from what I read it started out at .50 cents) and increasing them steadily. And yet....wages haven't gone up. So what's their justification for now charging extra to have pizza delivered? Increased wages from 4 years ago? Nope. Increased reimbursement for gas mileage? Nope. So this money is paying for an increase in what then?

If they're going to raise prices,then fine. But be honest about it. However, pizza places are claiming it's to offset the rising costs of gasoline i.e. "deliveries". For whom, the people who deliver the supplies to their stores? Because we all know that all businesses in general have seen an increase in their prices b/c of this. Maybe that's what they mean by "Delivery charge"...except if that's the case, then everyone should be paying more.

 

[rgmartin]

I work for a nat'l pizza chain. Our franchise pays "mileage" - calculated as a % of sale. We started a $1 delivery fee last year - drivers were complaining that gas prices were higher, yet tips were lower because of people "cutting costs." When we started our delivery fee, mgmt raised the mileage % so that the drivers benefited from the extra charge.

 

[branv]

Wish you'd tell me which one it is so I can use them.

This is one of the things I read online. Perhaps any of you in the industry can confirm or deny further. (I don't know how this relates to different areas...as noted, our local pizza hut charges a $2 fee, where below it says $1)

If any part of the delivery charge goes to the driver's per-run mileage payment, it is next to nothing. Domino's and Papa John's, charging a new $1 fee, give at most 20 cents to the driver in increased mileage. Most drivers received a mileage raise of 5 or 10 cents per delivery out of the dollar and others received no increase at all. Pizza Hut, which used to pay drivers 50 cents per delivery, raised theirs to 65 cents and enacted a $1 delivery fee. Many franchises and smaller establishments are doing the same and charging even more than a dollar. Very few of it goes to the driver, if any.

The Domino's delivery charge by no means goes entirely to the driver. “The delivery charge helps offset costs associated with increasing drivers' per-run payment, labor costs and insurance," according to Dana Harville, a Domino's spokeswoman in Ann Arbor, Michigan.1 Holly Ryan, another Domino's spokesperson, stated that part of the surcharge pays for increases in food costs.2

Papa John's also began a delivery charge but not all goes to the driver. "Our restaurants have felt the pressures on the food-cost side due to the higher ingredient costs related to fuel," said Chris Sternberg, a spokesman for Papa John's International Inc. in Louisville, Kentucky.1 Higher gas prices have influenced the cost of shipping the ingredients and other supplies to individual stores. Gas prices affect every level of business, trickling down to retail and eventually to the customer.

 

[deltachi8]

I delivered for three years while in college and we recieved a $1 delivery fee for each order we took. We paid our own gas, maintenance, etc on our cars so thats what it was meant for. Occaionally, someone would complain that XYZ company doesnt charge for delivery and I would explain that chargig for delivery is a fairer practice to the customer because it does not penalize those who pick up their food with a higher price.

As for wages, my wages never went up in three years because i was tipped. I had no problem with that. If I hustled and gave good service, i made more money (generally). If i messed up and was late or took the wrong food, i didn't. Always seemed fair to me.

 

[kelleigh1]

Now that gas prices are going down, think we'll see delivery charges go down?