An experiment at work

[TheRoo]

As delivering pizzas gets amazingly boring, I like to do things that actually exercise my brain a little while I am at work. I have noticed a tendency about the way people tip. Namely, the more difficult the delivery (not answering door, tying up the phone line, not being home, etc.), the smaller the tip. My hypothesis on this is that peopl who tip well are generally more considerate people overall, and this flows over into other areas of their lives, such as being home when the pizza guy gets there.

I therefore propose the following experiment:

Each delivery is rated on a scale of 0(easiest)-5(most difficult).

Each tip is recorded rounded to the nearest dollar from 0-5(anything more than 5 would be recorded as 5 for simplifying the mathematics).

After that, calculate the correlation coefficient between the two data points. In a perfect world, that number would be one, meaning, you got paid based on how hard you work to get them their pizza. Of course, we all know that this will not be the case, but I do wonder how close it is to -1.

I am currently trying to determine some objective criteria to quantify how difficult a delivery is, and any suggestions along those lines would be greatly appreciated. Also, if any other pizza guys want in on this, let me know, and we can combine data, compare cities, etc.

[Boozy]

I am currently trying to determine some objective criteria to quantify how difficult a delivery is, and any suggestions along those lines would be greatly appreciated.

Let's see:
How many pizzas? Heavy?
Is the entranceway clear of ice and debris, and well-lit?
Gated community? Did the driver have to stop or did he get waved through?
Dogs involved?
Correct change, or did they hand you a 50 and expect you to break it?

I've never done deliveries, so these are just some ideas off the top of my head. I'm looking forward to seeing the results of your experiment.
Hypothesis: I expect an inverse relationship between difficulty of delivery and tip size.

[Jpurple]

Just off the top of my head, don't forget to include these in your determination of the difficulty of a delivery:
- does it involve carrying 2L pop bottles as well as the pizza?
- How far away from your pizza place are they?
- Is the house address clearly visible?

[ShortTemperHatesStupidity]

You could also include the number of attempted ways to contact your customer (knocking, ringing doorbell, calling, etc). Not sure how to quantify that, because they are all different methods...

[digilight]

Ease in finding the place. Well marked easy street, or is it one of those places that is hidden off the side of the road down a dirt road in a orchard with no signs.

Once you're at the place how easy is it to get to. Are stairs involved, is it burried deap in a 3 million unit apartment complex or is it a single family home.

Type of delivery are (affluent versus non affluent/Ghetto). Safer area or do you have to walk with a gun drawn at all times, how many people do you see drinking 40's out of paper sacks when you are on you way to deliver.

Complexity of order. A simple 2 pizza order of a pepperoni and a delux versus a half pinapple with no sauce half everything with heavy sauce.

Level of soberness involved in customer(s).

[click--it]

There is no rhyme is reason why people tip what they do. Some people tip better in then others. It does not matter in they live in a trailer or a $3m house, some are better then others.

The only constance are if they say, "WOW that was fast" kiss the tip goodby $2 max

If you take an hour you will get an $2 at least

less then 10% is an insult

[TheRoo]

All of these are good suggestions, and I thank you for them. One thing I was thinking about though, is that the location of the delivery shouldn't make a difference on this. Sure, from my point of view, it is more difficult to get to some places, but because I am interested in customer behavior, I don't think that the average customer knows how far I have to drive to get there.

As for ease of finding the place, for me, working the same delivery area for several years, I never have trouble finding a place, and there are no "bad neighborhoods" that we deliver to. I have never felt my safety threatened. The delivery area is mostly working class people and college kids.

Here is what I am thinking off-hand for the categorizations.

0 - Customer is watching for me or outside. I don't have to ring the doorbell or knock

1 - I have to knock or ring the doorbell, and it is answered promptly

2 - I have to knock and ring the doorbell and it takes more than 30 seconds to answer the door.

3 - I have to call them from the front porch (You'd be amazed how often this happens)

4 - I have to call from front porch, and they left out key information, such as going around to the back

5 - I have to go to a place more than once (i.e. customer refuses to answer door, and phone is busy or unanswered, etc)

If there is a barking dog, or there sidwalk isn't shoveled (I will be doing this over the summer, so I hope that won't be an issue), or any other mitigating circumstance 1 point can be added to the difficulty.

I won't have time to do this for a month or so, but it would be nice to get a little insight into what makes customers tick.

By the way, click-it, I totally agree with everything you said.

[Primer]

Are you familiar with the site http://www.tipthepizzaguy.com
I'm sure you could get a LOT of data from the folks there!

[BlaqueKatt]

The only constance are if they say, "WOW that was fast" kiss the tip goodby $2 max

I tip more for quick delivery-I feel it makes them remember me and I get my food quicker every other time(I've been quoted 45 min to 1 hour and gotten my food within 20 minutes-shaving 30 min off delivery time=$7 instead of the usual $4 or $5)

If you take an hour you will get an $2 at least

if it's longer than an hour and a half-the tip goes down from $5 to $4, the only time I've ever given a $3 tip was when I was quoted an hour and it was closer to two.

the only time I don't cut the tip based on time is if it's bad weather-bad weather tip $6 to $10 depending on how bad(snow, ice, rain)

BlaqueKatt-the drivers love me