Last week, we discussed what goes on behind the scenes when ordering a pizza. But what steps can you take to ensure that your next delivery experience is a good one? Here’s some delivery Do’s and Don’ts.
Simple Mistakes:
Do: Ensure your house number is visible.
When a number is not visible, the driver must look at numbers on other houses, or in extreme circumstances, call the customer for exact directions. The best place for a house number is on a mailbox near the road. However, when a roadside number is not possible, please ensure that the number is lit, otherwise the driver cannot see it after dark.
Do: Turn on the porch light when ordering after dark.
At some restaurants, drivers are not allowed to go to unlit houses, as a safety precaution. Even if safety were not an issue, it greatly aids the driver in finding your house.
Do: Ensure your telephone is not busy.
If the driver has trouble finding your house, the only contact is the telephone number on the driver slip. If that number is busy, or there is no answer, the driver has no choice but to return the order.
Do: Tell the order taker your apartment number as part of the address.
At an apartment complex, the delivery driver is rarely able to determine the apartment number solely based on the name given. Please, give us the address as it appears on your utility bills.
Do: Control your pets.
As a delivery driver, I’ve been bitten countless times going to or from a door, often as the customer says “he won’t bite”. Sure, the dog might not bite you, but he will bite a stranger with food in his hand.
This only gets the house blacklisted, and in some cases results in a lawsuit against the customer.
Don’t: Order the pizza on your way home.
Chances are, the driver will get there before you, and will have no choice but to return the order to the store.
Payment:
Do: Have the money ready, especially in bad weather.
In general, delivery drivers work on a tight schedule. The longer they have to wait, the fewer deliveries they can make.
Don’t: Pay with a $50 or $100 bill.
As a safety precaution, drivers are only allowed to carry $20 at any given time. If they carry more, they are making themselves a target for thieves and muggers.
Don’t: Pay in bags of change.
This only slows the driver down, and often means that the driver is shortchanged.
Don’t: Send children to pay for the order.
It may seem cute, but you wouldn’t send your kids to the door for any other stranger. Secondly, in my experience, children often will keep part of the money. If the driver complains about that fact, the parents will take sides with the child, and send the driver away with less than the order total.
In this case, the customer is always blacklisted, and must come in to pick up their order.
Don’t: Order the pizza on your way home from work.
Chances are, the driver will get there before you, and will have no choice but to return the order to the store.
Don’t: Try to negotiate the cost of the order.
With few exceptions, the driver has no control over the cost of the order.
Tipping:
Do: Tip appropriately.
As a guideline, it’s a good idea to tip an amount equal to the price of one gallon of has, or 15%, whichever is higher. Depending on the circumstances, it may be appropriate to raise or lower the tip, but three dollars should be the minimum.
Do: Tip more in extreme weather.
If the roads are icy, the driver has to endure higher risks to deliver the pizza. As such, it is often appropriate to show appreciation by increasing the tip by a dollar or so.
Do: Tip more for long distances.
With few exceptions, drivers have to buy their own gasoline, and pay for their own automobile maintenance. As such, it is appropriate to tip more if the delivery driver has to drive an unusually long distance form the store.
Don’t: Tip the leftover change.
Especially on larger orders, most drivers see a coin change tip as an insult, and will often alter their service on future orders to reflect that fact.
Don’t: Tel the driver how much you appreciate the service, but give no monetary tip.
This is referred to as a “verbal tip”, and is considered more insulting than no tip at all.
Don’t: Assume the tip is included in the price, or the delivery charge.
Even at restaurants that do have a delivery charge, the driver does not see one penny of that charge.
Don’t: Assume that because the “now hiring” sign for the local pizza shop advertises fifteen to twenty dollars per hour, that the restaurant pays that amount.
In general, delivery drivers are paid less than minimum wage, and are expected to make up the rest of the wage in tips.
Delivery Drivers:
Almost all delivery drivers do exchange delivery stories, and addresses of both good and bad customers. So even if only one driver is treated badly, chances are all the drivers will decrease their service for that customer in the future. Consequently, when a customer treats a driver well, chances are al the drivers will give that customer faster and better service in the future.
Most drivers do keep a “stiffer list”, that is, a list of customers who either don’t tip, hassle the driver, or for some reason are an undesirable customer. As a rule, customers on the list are purposefully given bad service. Either the driver will remove the pizza from the hotbag, make another delivery first, or in some cases even stop to get gas on the way. Although drivers cannot turn down an order from a rude customer, they almost always alter their service, occasionally to the extent that they try to make the customer stop ordering.
If you already follow these tips, keep up the good work, people like you make the job worth doing. But if you don’t, following these tips will guarantee that you receive your pizza quicker, hotter, and your delivery driver will truly appreciate your business.
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