How Not to Expidite Your Pizza Delivery

[zigcat]

ME: And we're in the middle of our Friday night dinner rush so our delivery time, right now, is running between about forty to sixty minutes.
SC (obligatory GASP): THAT long?!
ME: Yes. We are extremely busy right now.
SC: So what's it going to be closer to, forty or sixty?
ME: Somewhere in between.
SC: That's not what I asked.
ME: We're getting stuff out as quick as we can.
SC: I don't know if I want to order if it's going to take an hour.
ME: I can completely understand that. If you'd like to cancel...
SC: Is there anyway you can guarantee me the forty minute time?
ME: I don't know about guarantee but I can probably increase your chances.
SC: How?
ME: The sooner I put your order in, the sooner you'll get it.

I've had people who take forever to order and then bitch at me when I quote the delivery time. The longer I'm on the phone with you, especially if I'm running the store by myself and my driver's out on a delivery, the less chances are of you getting your pizza any quicker.

Another few gems

SC: The quicker the driver gets here the better the tip.

How about the better the tip the better the pizza? Seriously it's not like we're sitting on our hands waiting til the very last minute to get to your pizza. I find comments like that to be very manipulative. Don't threaten to penalize the driver by basing his tip on how fast he gets there especially if we're busy.

SC: Couldn't you just speed a little?

Yes, of course. And if in the event our driver gets ticketed for speeding I'm sure you'll pony up the fines.

[reimero]

Morons.

If you want your pizza fast, you don't negotiate with the person taking the order. If you need it right now, opt for pickup. But in my experience, for fastest delivery, you work with the driver directly. If the pizza arrives faster than anticipated, big tip. If it arrives on time, decent tip. If it's late by 10+ minutes, small tip. Now, this doesn't work as a one-time deal, but for repeat customers, if the driver knows getting to you early gets a nice little bonus, you'll get hot, fresh pizza pretty quickly.

[Emrld]

How about if you want your Pizza faster at a known rush time . . .you get your bottom up off the couch and go pick it up yourself.
Sorry, but the way I was raised . . .if they are at a rush time . . .you call in the order and go pick it up yourself . . .or you wait nicely . . .and remember the drivers are doing the best that they can.

[Racket_Man]

Morons.

If you want your pizza fast, you don't negotiate with the person taking the order. If you need it right now, opt for pickup. But in my experience, for fastest delivery, you work with the driver directly. If the pizza arrives faster than anticipated, big tip. If it arrives on time, decent tip. If it's late by 10+ minutes, small tip. Now, this doesn't work as a one-time deal, but for repeat customers, if the driver knows getting to you early gets a nice little bonus, you'll get hot, fresh pizza pretty quickly.

PLEASE PLEASE do not penelize the driver if you pizza is "late". Sorry but the delivery time is an estimate not a firm unbreakable time. 99% of the time it is NOT the drivers fault. YES tipping well does insure you will be routed first on a multi-run delivery but most times things happen inside the restaurant ie sudden rush or outside the store ie slow train, student truck drivers, bad traffic light timing, heavy football traffic. unless you can reasonably "prove" the driver made your pizza "late" do not "negotiate" with the driver they are doing the best they can in most circumstances.

I hate customers that demand "fast" deliveries. I am sorry the 30 minute Domino's delivery went bye bye 15 years ago. these are EW's and act real surprized when delivery times are somewhat high. sorry we are busy but there are other "good customers" who also want our services too.

/sarcasm on
again if you want "fast" get your obese behind off of that couch, use your own gas, risk your own life, pay for the wear and tear on your own car and waddle down to the pizza place and pick it up yourself
/sarcasm off

A couple of weeks ago we got nailed on a customer survey. the SC got their food and liked it but the delivery ETA was quoted at 45 minutes and they got their pizza in 35. they stated to the surveyor that they did not get their order PROMPTLY. ruined our long streak of 100% customer surverys

[Dreamstalker]

I would agree that trying to "work with the driver directly" is a poor practice...you don't know what's going on in or outside of the store that would affect delivery time (also, it seems that practice could encourage unsafe driving/speeding in order to get to someone "first"...is a pizza more important than a person?).

We try to call the local place for delivery during non-peak times, but if I do misjudge and get them during a rush it's no big deal. Yeah there's a bit of a longer wait than normal, but the pizza is worth it and it always arrives hot. I think this address is "known" in the neighborhood for very good tips (mom used to wait tables and knows that servers/drivers don't generally get paid well)

[BaristaTrav]

SC: Couldn't you just speed a little?

Yes, of course. And if in the event our driver gets ticketed for speeding I'm sure you'll pony up the fines.

Sure.. and ask Domino's how many millions they had to dish out in lawsuits from their drivers causing accidents (sometimes fatal ones) when they had their "30 mins or it's free" policy.

[mattm04]

I knew someone who "knew how to beat the system" when calling a large company call center. They would hang up and call back, butting them at the end of the line.

They were about as smart as the first SC.

[Demonoid Phenomenon]

A couple of weeks ago we got nailed on a customer survey. the SC got their food and liked it but the delivery ETA was quoted at 45 minutes and they got their pizza in 35. they stated to the surveyor that they did not get their order PROMPTLY. ruined our long streak of 100% customer surverys

I would say, "You're kidding", but I know you're not. And corporate saw this as a bad thing?

[reimero]

PLEASE PLEASE do not penelize the driver if you pizza is "late". Sorry but the delivery time is an estimate not a firm unbreakable time. 99% of the time it is NOT the drivers fault.

I'm not that much of a SC, honestly. Very rarely will I stiff on a tip (actually, very rarely will I order delivery pizza, but I digress), and if I scale back on a tip, it's because the pizza is late. And by late, I mean unreasonably late. Part of this is that I have a pretty good idea how long things take, and we do take circumstances into account. So if we're told 45-60 minutes and it's been 75-90 and the pizza place says the driver left 20 minutes ago... yeah. There's an issue. (If the pizza place says there was a problem and they had to re-make the pizza or they forgot to do it the first time, then I won't penalize the driver.)

Basically, if the pizza is old by the time I get it, it's on the driver.

[Emrld]

When I order a pizza - I ask them to tell the driver they will hear barking but that the dog is less than 10lbs and hidding.
The day a delivery driver called me from their car to come out to get the pizza because they are scared of dogs . . .I didn't tip as well as normal and I called the shop up.
Some addition info . . .my house has the driveway in front. - next to the front door. The driver could easily have pulled into the driveway. But no he insisted on staying out at the street . . .so I had to find shoes to go out to him.
Also, why did he agree to take a delivery to house with a dog . . .when he knows he is afraid of dogs.
In the future should I not tell them to tell the driver?
I thought it was kind of me to let them know - hey you will hear barking. . . but she isn't coming near the door . . .and well she is a little dog with a big bark.

[Nephy]

Hey, I have a marvelous idea.. maybe I could sell it and make millions.

I can see it now, info-mercials about the best selling e-book that promises to teach you the secrets of getting your pizza at the time you want it!

But wait! Since you fabulous folks here at cs.com are such loyal customers, I'll tell you the secret for free!

*cheesey announcer voice*

You want your pizza at 7:00? You want it to actually be there around 7:00?

ORDER IT AT 6:00!

*insert gasps and wild applause from the studio-audience*

Seriously, is it such a big freaken secret that most people eat dinner around the same time?

You, douchebag SC, are not in fact the only person in the area that gets hungry in the evening.

[Samaliel]

Around here, most pizza joints have a variety of discounts, from free Coke to Buy One, Get One free, if you go and pick up your order. So unless I felt very lazy / tired, I wouldn't bother ordering a delivery. Yes, I order from the places with the BOGO discounts. I mean, free pizza, dude. And some of them make the tastiest pizzas in the world (La Boïte à Pizza rocks).

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

I have ordered many pizzas before and have often been quoted the 40-60 minute timeframe but it's almost always been 40 minutes or quite often less. I can't really recall a time I had to wait a full hour for a pizza.

Of course if you really want a quick turnaround and live near a pizza place you can drive your own ass over there and do the walk in thing.

[Sarlon]

saturday nights at my plae when I was still with my BF at the time often saw us ordering 8 - 10 large one topping pizzas, the domino's we used was literally less then a half mile from our house, and we often ordered at like 4 or 5 (off peak times for that store) for them to be delivered around 7. first time we did this the poor driver could NOT find our house (2 roads with the same name almost 2 miles apart and one's a circle, and ones a road). He finally got to us..appologizing profusely, almost 20 minutes late. We honestly didn't care, we were all laid back with chips, and soda and gaming, and we tipped him nicely (like $10 I think for a $30 order).

After that we ALWAYS got our pizza about the time we ordered it for, and the driver always got anywhere from a $5 tip to a $10 tip depending on how much we could scrounge together and how many pizza's we ordered.

Needless to say, the managers and drivers almost knew me by first name (I was normally the one to order) and they always were good about placing my order and making sure that I got what I ordered correctly.

Morale of the story? Be nice no matter what, tip well, and watch what gets done without being an SC or EW.

[MadMike]

Basically, if the pizza is old by the time I get it, it's on the driver.

Agreed. I don't automatically assume it's the driver's fault if it came later than what I was told, but there were a few times that when it got there, it was barely even warm. Unfortunately, by the time I found that out, I had already tipped the driver, and he'd already left.