Invoking "30 minutes or it's Free" Scam (lengthy)

[prb]

Does any place actually do that 30 minutes or free thing anymore? I haven't heard of any place doing that since I was a kid and I didn't even like pizza when I was a kid.

Pizza Pizza. They may suck, but they do it (40 minutes though).

EDIT: They are only in ON and QC. Thank god they haven't hit BC yet.

[PepperElf]

The "30 minutes or it's free" thing is dangerous, because you don't want delivery guys driving like maniacs to meet the deadline. I'm happy that no one seems to be offering it anymore.

i believe it was actually banned. too many lawsuits over drivers breaking traffic laws and hurting other people on the road just to get the pizza there in 30 minutes.

glad the boss was good tho and gave the driver backup. though, if he'd sent him in without backup and the driver had gotten beaten up, the company could have some liability for the medical costs...

one of my old co-workers once did pizza deliveries and they sent him to a rough neighborhood without warning him how dangerous it was. so after he got jumped and beaten up, the company got in trouble for it, cos the manager knew she was sending him to a dangerous area without a warning

[poofy_puff]

In early '87, they changed it to '30 minutes or 3.00 off'. Then after a couple years of that, they stopped.

Oh yes! I worked there for 7 months starting in July 1987, and I remember fielding that question as a "phone girl".

[SpyOne]

One of their recent slogans was "You've got 30 minutes" With a disclaimer at the bottom more or less saying that 30-min. delivery was not a guarantee. Guess they finally got tired of giving away free pizza.

Actually, it was the lawsuits.

See, a Domino's Pizza pizza is in the oven within 2 minutes of the end of the phone call (typically), and cooks in the oven for 6-8 minutes. So 10 minutes after the order was placed, the pizza should be ready to go.
The delivery radius for a Domino's Pizza is 5 minutes at the speed limit.
This means that if there is a driver waiting in the store and no other orders waiting to go out, your pizza should arrive within 15 minutes.
This gives a full 15 minute window to ensure that the driver can take more than one delivery at a time, and can be out of the store when the pizza comes ready, and he can still get it there on time.
And the occasional free pizza (or pizza for $3 off, which was what they did when I drove for them) is basicly advertising and community relations. And the profit margin is high enough to cover it anyway.

HOWEVER, anybody who has ever been in a traffic accident with a Domino's Pizza driver sees the company as deep pockets that can be sued. And that 30 minute guarantee can be used to make a jury think that the company encourages its drivers to drive unsafely (speeding at the very least), thereby contributing to the accident. So instead of just collecting for their damages from the Driver's insurance, they sue the company and try to recover millions.
And even if they lose, it costs the company thousands of dollars to defend itself.

Domino's Pizza found that offering a discount for missing the target delivery time left the open to liability litigation, despite the fact that their business model was designed to make hitting that window easy while still complying with all laws, and their drivers know they can get fired for tickets, on or off the clock.

[Racket_Man]

i believe it was actually banned. too many lawsuits over drivers breaking traffic laws and hurting other people on the road just to get the pizza there in 30 minutes.

glad the boss was good tho and gave the driver backup. though, if he'd sent him in without backup and the driver had gotten beaten up, the company could have some liability for the medical costs...

one of my old co-workers once did pizza deliveries and they sent him to a rough neighborhood without warning him how dangerous it was. so after he got jumped and beaten up, the company got in trouble for it, cos the manager knew she was sending him to a dangerous area without a warning

as for liabilty if a delivery driver get hurt or beaten up or killed on the job it goes no further than the workmen comp limits. suing the company will just not fly. just like if a driver is in an accident (even if not their fault)the pizza company will NOT cover a new car or injuries or loss of income and under most ordinary auto policies the insurance company will not pay out because you are doing a $$$ making "business" (check with your insurance agent for confirmation as I found out the hard way)

Actually, it was the lawsuits.


HOWEVER, anybody who has ever been in a traffic accident with a Domino's Pizza driver sees the company as deep pockets that can be sued. And that 30 minute guarantee can be used to make a jury think that the company encourages its drivers to drive unsafely (speeding at the very least), thereby contributing to the accident. So instead of just collecting for their damages from the Driver's insurance, they sue the company and try to recover millions.
And even if they lose, it costs the company thousands of dollars to defend itself.

Domino's Pizza found that offering a discount for missing the target delivery time left the open to liability litigation, despite the fact that their business model was designed to make hitting that window easy while still complying with all laws, and their drivers know they can get fired for tickets, on or off the clock.

see here for reference on the 30 minute thing from Wikipedia. it is about half way down
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domino's_Pizza

yes the company is seen as having deep pockets but then again if (and I say IF) the company is implicitly or covertly encouraging "speedy delivery" even if there is no penality for the driver it creates a culture "get it there fast no matter what". if that culture is allowed to grow and management is chastised (no bonus or gets hell from the DM or corp) for free or discounted food even during busy rush time then drivers are "driven" or forced to do what ever it takes (run stop sign or red lights or seriously break speed limits) to make goals however unrealistic or unproductive they might be.

this is most likely a case of a few bad apples spoiling the whole thing but with humans it all boils down to perception

I am going through stuff like this even now in my job. get it there FAST our customers DEMAND FAST service. get that in-store time down and delivery time down and labor down and costs down etc. we get dinged for being 1 minute late or 10 minutes EARLY, having too many drivers or cooks cooks and drivers cost money they want balance but there is no way to do this

[Broomjockey]

Hey all, can we shift this away from the legalities of the corporate side? That's not really the issue, and I think it's been covered well enough for the people unfamiliar with the old strategy.

[Gravekeeper]

Pizza Pizza. They may suck, but they do it (40 minutes though).

EDIT: They are only in ON and QC. Thank god they haven't hit BC yet.

<hisses incoherently at the screen>

[Aethian]

We were having a pizza party at my elementary school (1991) for grade 4. The teachers called in the order the night before to make sure the pizza was on time. Don't want all of grade 4 getting hungry and upset. So lunch time comes around and no pizza has come...we're told it's going to be a little more so go out and play. While we're outside playing for waht seems forever the clock is ticking and the teachers are calling the pizza place. A friend and I were reading a couple books together under the windows and heard some...questionable language from our teacher.

Basically because we had called in early for such a big order we kept getting pushed back, finally two hours later then the aggreed time, some of the pizza comes and the delivery man says he needs ALL of the money now plus his tip before he'll get the rest. Not those us who can't or don't eat meat are stuck with no food while others could eat. He displays some colorful language and the teachers call the pizza place again.

Parents got called and we got to go home early if we could.I never did get pizza that day but I remember someof the more...colorful language I heard that day.

[lordlundar]

Yeah it's no longer 30 minutes and it's free.

Now it's 30 inutes and it's cold.

[XCashier]

Hubby works for Dominoes now and said that they dropped the 30 minute thing due to speeding tickets, car accidents and other driving problems. Yet he still has customers invoking that ancient ad

It also doesn't help the delivery times that the town we're in has the most insane address system on the planet. The streets go here, there, every which way, back on themselves, change names from one block to the next or dead end without warning. Few of the houses have curb numbers, or mailbox numbers, or any identifying numbers at all. God forbid anyone need an ambulance!

[Chromatix]

Aside from the lack of numbers... welcome to Europe.

[PepperElf]

my coworker... i believe he didn't sue, but the boss had to pay his medical bills.

And that 30 minute guarantee can be used to make a jury think that the company encourages its drivers to drive unsafely

as shown from some knock-off companies. it wasn't dominos... but back in the early 90s my first boyfriend was hit by a pizza guy doing 70 in a 25 zone.

[tamezin]

The driver said "hey, this isn't Domino's, we got your order here in the time frame we told you."

Dominos doesn't even do that anymore, at least not were I live. There were too many accidents involving Pizza deliveries.

[blas]

PepperElf, I dated a Dominos boy briefly.

The way he drives puts all the Fast and Furious characters to shame. And I really should have invested in a few boxes of Depends back then.

[Sliceanddice]

according to my bosses, corprate we where sued by one woman who tried to passed a driver and got swiped when they didnt bow to her will. that was what ended all of the thirty minutes for the drivers. not the deaths or other accidnets. One lady who made it her misson to destroy the company.
i laughed during training.
he laughed to when i told him why.