True To Form

Well my research led me to expect that, regardless if tips were good or not, most of my bad nights were due to a small number of deliveries on Mondays & Wednesdays. That proved to be the case tonight. I worked 4.5 hours, took 5 deliveries, drove 28 miles, and made $16 in tips.

Best tip of the night was $6 from an older man in the trailer park whose dog was climbing all over me. I stayed calm and tried to ignore it and I think it may have helped my tip. I was about to kick the stupid thing off the porch though!

One customer didn't have her credit card for me to get an impression of. She did have 2 small kids so I decided to trust her when she said she would have her boyfriend stop by the store to swipe the card. She wrote in a $3 tip.

An older lady complained on the phone that last time the pizzas were all shifted to one side of the box and messed up. I had her open the box when I got there to confirm that the pizzas still looked good, and they did. She paid $26 for her $25.57 order.

2008 Averages By Day Of The Week (Jan-Mar)

Now looking at the 2008 data by day, I find that tips are reversed, with Wednesday my worst day and Friday my best day. Regardless, volume appears to be more important that tip average, as Monday & Wednesday are still my 2 worst days.

January 2008 - March 2008

Monday (7 shifts)
Average miles per delivery: 3.4
Average deliveries per hour: 2.1
Average tips per delivery: $2.25
Average tips per hour: $4.72
Average cash per hour: $7.04 (tips plus mileage)
Total earnings per hour: $13.89 (includes hourly wage)

Wednesday (9 shifts)
Average miles per delivery: 4.0
Average deliveries per hour: 2.1
Average tips per delivery: $2.02
Average tips per hour: $4.28
Average cash per hour: $6.61 (tips plus mileage)
Total earnings per hour: $13.46 (includes hourly wage)

Friday (3 shifts)
Average miles per delivery: 3.5
Average deliveries per hour: 2.1
Average tips per delivery: $2.48
Average tips per hour: $5.20
Average cash per hour: $7.51 (tips plus mileage)
Total earnings per hour: $14.36 (includes hourly wage)

Saturday (3 shifts)
Average miles per delivery: 3.6
Average deliveries per hour: 2.3
Average tips per delivery: $2.45
Average tips per hour: $5.63
Average cash per hour: $8.16 (tips plus mileage)
Total earnings per hour: $15.01 (includes hourly wage)

Sunday (7 shifts)
Average miles per delivery: 3.9
Average deliveries per hour: 2.7
Average tips per delivery: $2.15
Average tips per hour: $5.80
Average cash per hour: $8.76 (tips plus mileage)
Total earnings per hour: $15.61 (includes hourly wage)

2007 Averages By Day Of The Week

I am considering changing my schedule and wanted to know if I made more or less money on certain days of the week. So I made some quick adjustments to my spreadsheet and here is what I found.

Even though Wednesday had the biggest per-tip average of the 5 nights I work, it had the 2nd lowest total earnings per hour, because the number of deliveries per hour is so low. On the other end, tips are lowest on Fridays but the volume makes up for it and Friday is my 2nd best day, per hour.

I think this justifies my decision to take Mondays and Wednesdays off this spring to work as a soccer referee.

February 2007 - December 2007

Monday (36 shifts)
Average miles per delivery: 3.8
Average deliveries per hour: 2.0
Average tips per delivery: $2.34
Average tips per hour: $4.64
Average cash per hour: $6.82 (tips plus mileage)
Total earnings per hour: $13.67 (includes hourly wage)

Wednesday (22 shifts)
Average miles per delivery: 3.9
Average deliveries per hour: 1.9
Average tips per delivery: $2.59
Average tips per hour: $4.95
Average cash per hour: $7.06 (tips plus mileage)
Total earnings per hour: $13.91 (includes hourly wage)

Friday (19 shifts)
Average miles per delivery: 3.9
Average deliveries per hour: 2.3
Average tips per delivery: $2.27
Average tips per hour: $5.11
Average cash per hour: $7.59 (tips plus mileage)
Total earnings per hour: $14.44 (includes hourly wage)

Saturday (22 shifts)
Average miles per delivery: 3.6
Average deliveries per hour: 2.3
Average tips per delivery: $2.42
Average tips per hour: $5.65
Average cash per hour: $8.22 (tips plus mileage)
Total earnings per hour: $15.07 (includes hourly wage)

Sunday (24 shifts)
Average miles per delivery: 3.8
Average deliveries per hour: 2.4
Average tips per delivery: $2.36
Average tips per hour: $5.67
Average cash per hour: $8.31 (tips plus mileage)
Total earnings per hour: $15.16 (includes hourly wage)

Pizza Pick'Em Update

Well the final 4 teams have made it, all #1 seeds for I think the first time ever. North Carolina plays Kansas and Memphis plays UCLA next Saturday, with the championship game on Monday, a week from tonight.

I believe there are 8 possible outcomes. Yahoo! has a new "scenario generator" that I can use to quickly determine who will win in each scenario. Liprippers wins in 3 of the 8 scenarios so he is the favorite for now, but any of 5 teams are still in the running, including my stepson and defending champion, Nathan!

Memphis over (NC or Kansas), Kansas over Memphis - Liprippers

NC over (Memphis or UCLA) - I Like Pizza

Kansas over UCLA - Returning Champion (Nathan)

UCLA over NC - Steel

UCLA over Kansas - Irish

Friday Night's All Right

I haven't worked a Friday night in ages, but since I was home all day with the kids off school for spring break, I scheduled myself for tonight.

And I'm glad. After a slow start, I ended up driving 8 hours, taking 19 deliveries, driving 63 miles, and making $49 in tips.

I had a few wierd things happen tonight. At one house, a cat came out the door and then actually took a swipe at my leg with it's paw as I walked back to my car. "Attack cat!" I exclaimed as I walked away.

Later on another driver called back and asked Nick what the price was on the order he was supposed to be delivering. He was "at the house" he said. I laughed when Nick said this because I had taken that order over the phone, and it wasn't to a house, it was to Taco Bell!

At one house, I rang the doorbell 5 times and called their phone, but still no one came to the door. Eventually I went back to the shop with the food. The customer called shortly after and I went back. There were no new cars, so I think they had been home the entire time. Their excuses were "the dog didn't even bark" and "we have a big addition out back."

Funny

If you've ever burned your mouth on hot pizza, you may enjoy this comic.

Back Under $2

Tips were down again tonight, back under $2 per delivery.

First, a story from Saturday that I forgot. I delivered to an apartment with a big barking dog. I greeted the dog with my usual, "Hey puppy dog." The older teen inside the door remarked "That ain't no puppy dog", as if he was going to be offended. Then as I left I heard him say "I'm gonna call him that now, puppy dog."

I drove 5 hours tonight, took 12 deliveries, made $22 in tips, and drove 43 miles. Of the dozen deliveries, I had 4 stiffs and 3 more $1 and change.

My final delivery was a stiff. It was late because when I started to take it, I noticed it was a new address and I called to confirm it. Well the people who answered the phone didn't order pizza. So we waited for the real customer to call back.

Finally, check out this story on CNN about Old Forge, PA, the Pizza Capital of the World!

Pizza Pick'Em

The battle is on for the pizza, and once again, my kids are at the top of the list.

Out of 21 entrants, Nathan and Luke are tied for 1st with one other team (Mikes Vikes). All 3 of them got 36 of 48 picks correct during the first weekend of college basketball's spring spectacle. The top 7 entrants right now have 5 different teams as champion (Kansas, UCLA, Tennessee, North Carolina, & Texas) so it's certainly anybody's contest to win.

Nathan, last year's champion, has all 4 of his final 4 teams still alive (all 4 #1 seeds). Mike has 3 and Luke has just 2. BillyBalata, seasound, and Darin3 also have all 4 teams alive and are just 1 point back from the lead.

Better Night

I asked off early tonight, as I was up at 4 this AM to take my stepdaughter to church so she could go on the spring break trip.

So I worked 5 hours (from 5 to 10) and took 10 deliveries. I made $32 in tips, with no stiffs, only 2 less than $2, and 3 tips of $5 or more.

I still want a raise.

Disturbing Trend

Tips are way down in 2008.

My average tip in 2007 was $2.28. My average tip this year is $2.17. Seeing as I made almost 2000 deliveries in 2007, that is $220 a year or almost $20 / month decrease in pay. Coupled with the increased cost of fuel, this trend is making it difficult for me to justify keeping this 2nd job.

In 2007, I averaged less than $2 on 17% of my working nights. In 2008 I am getting less than $2 32% of the time!

In 2007 I got $2.50 or more 43% of my working nights. This year the number is down to just 18%.

I think I'm going to ask for a 20 cent / hour raise.

Pizza Prices

Check out this article on CNN about how the price of ingredients such as flour in causing an increase to the price of pizza and other baked goods!

Carbon Copies

Don't forget to join my FREE contest to pick the NCAA basketball tournament winners. The winner will get a free pizza (or a gift certificate). Sign up at Yahoo!, the group id is 41992 and the password is sausage. We only have 8 entrants so far, so don't be shy, give it a chance!


I was informed of a new policy tonight. We have to get a carbon-copy impression of any credit cards we accept or we will be terminated. (I hope he meant our employment would be terminated.) The first problem with this is that we seem to only have 2 carbon-copy machines (pictured on the left) but we have more than 2 drivers. What if all the machines are out and in use?

Our solution is to use a CRAYON!

The 2nd problem is that often a customer will want to pay by check (which we don't accept) and then switch to credit card at the door. Again, what if the driver doesn't have the form or the machine, or a crayon?

The 3rd problem is that when drivers don't dispatch themselves, they may not be aware that the order is being paid by credit card. This happened to me tonight. Luckily it was less than a mile from the store. Still, who paid for the gas to come back and get the machine? ME!

Between that, the continued high price of gas, and the recent extended pattern of lower tips, I'm really having 2nd thoughts about this job.

Anyhow, I drove 4 1/2 hours, took 11 orders, made $21 in tips, and drove just 37 miles.

Auction Relisted

Update - eBay removed the listing overnight. They thought we were trying to get around their fees by listing the high shipping cost. We have relisted the auction with an opening price of $75 and free shipping. I edited the link in the original post.

Unfortunately, although we have now spelled Calvary correct (I hope) we lost all of the humorous questions and answers.

The new url is http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270221152240

Basketball, eBay, Dogs, and St. Patrick's Day

What do those 4 things have in common? Probably nothing except that I'm writing about them today.

First, a reminder. I am hosting a FREE contest to pick the NCAA basketball tournament winners. The winner will get a free pizza (or a gift certificate). Sign up at Yahoo!, the group id is 41992 and the password is sausage. We only have 8 entrants so far, so don't be shy, give it a chance!

Next, some family news. My wife's ebay auction is getting some publicity. She was interviewed yesterday and there is an article in the local newspaper!

Finally, to last night's delivery shift. I'm posting late because Nick and I went out to Rack 'N' Roll after work to celebrate St. Patrick's Day and shot a few games of pool. I won the first game but Nick prevailed in the last 2. He's played more than me recently, he even keeps his own cue stick at the bar! Bartender Heather was frustrated as all of their kegs had gone dry except for Miller Lite.

To start the shift, I was late. RTA service was out of whack due to the large number of people leaving Cleveland after the St. Patrick's Day Parade. I observed 2 fights between drunken high school kids on the train on the way home.

When I finally got to work, I drove 4 hours, took 8 deliveries, drove 34 miles, and made $15 in tips. My best tip was $5 on a $20 order at the Super 8 Motel. After that I got 3 stiffs out of my last 4 deliveries.

On my final delivery, when I knocked on the door, a little yelping dog came out from under the couch on the porch. The dog was on a long chain and I quickly retreated down the steps. The people in the house seemed amused that I was "afraid of their little dog". I asked if they were afraid of being sued.

The dog may not bite, but that's not a chance I need to take for any size dog. The customer has the responsibility to control their dog or they can come off their porch and meet me.

Ebay Sale Means Retirement From Delivery?

My wife found 3 sets of fish sticks this week that were each frozen into the shape of a cross and has listed them on ebay. She's confident they will sell and make us rich.

Crazier things have happened. In 2004, someone sold a partially eaten grilled cheese with the image of the virgin Mary for $28,000.

Low Tips, Wrong House, Dishes Galore!

Those are the 3 subjects I need to write about tonight.

I took 10 deliveries (counting 1 rerun) drove 35 miles in 4 1/2 hours, and made just $13 in tips. This includes being stiffed 4 times and getting $1 and change twice more. That's pretty awful.

The rerun was because I got sent to the wrong house. I called the customer and apparently whoever answered the phone for us and took their order didn't confirm the address, they just assumed that the address in the system for that phone number was correct. This is a big no-no. People move. People visit friends and family and order food from another house. It may be correct 99.9% of the time, but that one time it isn't, it costs me time and gas, and at $3.45 / gallon, I don't want to drive any further than necessary.

Finally, apparently the buffet was busy and we were busy before I arrived, because we had a huge stack of dishes. I worked on dishes pretty much straight through from 9 PM until midnight (an hour after closing) with the exception of taking 1 delivery.

Tourney Pick'Em '08

Pizza Delivery Stories will once again sponsor a free tournament based on the 2008 Mens NCAA Basketball Tournament. The tournament will be hosted by Yahoo!

The group id is 41992 and the password is sausage. First prize will be a gift certificate for a free pizza. There may or may not be multiple prizes, depending on the number of entries.

My stepson Nathan won the contest last year. A new rule this year will be that the prizes will not be awarded to members of my immediate household.

Note that the brackets are not up yet so you cannot fill out the bracket, but you can create your entry and join the group.

Routing & Inside Jobs

Tonight was a frustrating night for me.

I drove for a little over 4 hours, took 9 deliveries, drove 29 miles, and made $23 in tips. Of the 9 deliveries, 8 of them were doubles. The high percentage of doubles was what kept my mileage low as most of them were far away.

We had a manager not so familiar with the map doing the routing tonight. It was frustrating to me as I had to un-dispatch several runs that were routed as doubles that were in opposite directions, and then combine them as doubles with runs in the right direction.

Also, around 7 the managers asked if it was ok to send the day-driver home. I commented that none of the prep work was done and there were alot of dishes. The day driver then stayed "to help" but he brought in one box from the freezer and then left on a delivery.

Once upon a time, after drivers were taken "off the road", they had to work for 20 to 30 miinutes doing inside work (prep or dishes) before clocking out. This never happens anymore and it leaves alot of work for the late drivers.

Luckily Steve pitched in tonight to help with dishes. He can run alot of dishes through in a short amount of time!

Finally, best of luck to Brianne as she becomes the GM at another shop in our franchise.

ADDENDUM: I want to clarify that the routing issues are not the manager's fault. The manager was quick to listen to my suggestions and implement them. The problem is we not using the system in the way it was designed and it forces managers to guess what driver may be back next, as well as guess from what sector the next phone call may come from. This is pretty much impossible.

Back In The Saddle

I haven't worked in over a week due to having my kids, soccer meetings, and a failed date. We had intended to go to the KRock of the 90's concert (Ten (Pearl Jam tribute)/Hungerstrike (Temple of the Dog tribute)/Nevermind (Nirvana tribute)/Truage (Tool)/American Idiots (Green Day)) on Saturday at the House Of Blues but it was cancelled.

So tonight I went in early (3 PM) and got a solid 8 hours of driving in. I took 17 deliveries, drove 75 miles, and made $35 in tips. Not an awful night but you hope for a higher tip average in the bad weather.

I got stiffed 4 times and got $1 and change another 4 times.

At one house I had to trudge through knee deep snow, and at another, they lived in an upstairs apartment with outside steps. The steps were heaped with snow. I tried to go up but decided it was unsafe and called to have him come down to meet me. The guy came down barefoot and didn't tip.

I did deliver to the brother of the first driver (Rob) I worked with, 4 years ago. He doesn't drive anymore, hasn't for years, but I told his brother to say hi.