Snowy Monday

Tonight was one of those snowy icy nights where nobody wanted to be out.  I initially expected a slow night due to people being off work for Presidents Day, but once the weather turned nasty I knew there would be some deliveries.

Slow was the name of the game, my first 2 trips I took 4 orders each, and each trip took about 45 minutes or more to complete and get back.  No major trouble, but I don't drive into snowy driveways, I will simply put my flashers on and leave the car on the road.  Driver Joel said he got stuck in a driveway for a few minutes tonight.

Highest tip was $3.76, lowest was $1.01.  I worked 3.97 hours, drove 30 miles, took 11 deliveries, and made $27 in tips.

Valentines Monday

I usually like to work on Valentine's Day but since this year it was a Monday, I have had a feeling it wouldn't be as great a night as usual.  Many people celebrated already on Friday, Saturday, or even Sunday.

We were busier than a normal Monday but not by a whole lot.  And my deliveries seemed to be far-away, I think the other 2 drivers made out way better than me.  I worked 3.02 hours, took 7 deliveries, made $14 in tips, and drove 24 miles.

The only interesting thing was when I told a customer about the survey on the back of the receipt for a chance to win $1000, he remarked, "I could buy alot of pizza with that."  I chuckled.  Usually it's me with the funny lines.

Since I don't have much else to say, here are some interesting pizza-related links I have gotten recently:

• Cavit Wines is searching for the best original gourmet pizza recipe in its 6th Annual Cavit Gourmet Pizza Classic. Finalists receive a trip to NYC to compete for the grand prize—a trip for two to Italy and the title of “America’s Best Gourmet Pizza Chef”. For more information and to see last year’s finalist recipes visit: www.facebook.com/cavitwines
• Get Delivery Driver Jobs, a community for Delivery Driver professionals, included my site as a resource.  I wish them well!

Catching Up

A few things about New Years Eve:

• My ending mileage was 105,612 (for tax purposes)
• Biggest tip was $5 (twice) and $4 (3 times)
• Stiffed 4 times

• 5 deliveries were to apartment buildings, including 2 to the low-income county building on Chestnut

I bought 3 packs of mardi gras beads at the Dollar Store on Friday morning, figuring I would wear them to be festive and maybe give them out to any young kids that came to the door.  Well I didn't give any out all night, other than a few to some of my co-workers (who also wanted to look festive).  I did get a few remarks but I'm not sure if they increased my tips (like the Santa hat).

Now for tonight:

• We were pretty slow, I did a whole lot of dishes
• I worked 2.35 hours and took only 4 deliveries
• I drove 23 miles and made $6.50 in tips

Christmas:

• I got a magazine for Christmas, Popular Plates Pizza - Across The Country With Roadfood's Jane & Michael Stern.  It has some interesting articles about the origin of pizza, and a list of 100+ pizzerias throughout the US.
• George got a WebKinz and today I played a game online with him, it was pretty fun.  You are running a pizza place and you take orders, make dough, add toppings, put the pizza in the oven, and serve it ... you have to do all of these things quickly before the customer gets upset and leave.  Meanwhile more customers (we got up to 6 at one time) are coming in and waiting to be served.

New Years Eve 2010 - Brief Report

This is a quick summary as I am running a marathon in about 5 1/2 hours.

Tonight was an ok night.  NYE seems to never be what I hope for, even on a Friday where we were open past 12.  I worked 8.65 hours, took 24 deliveries, drove 89 miles, and made $57 in tips.

Virtual Friday

Tonight was like a Friday, since many offices and businesses are closed (or at least close early) for Christmas Eve.  (Not retail businesses of course!)

I have several anecdotes which I could tell but it is late already and I need to be up and in Hudson in about 5 hours for a run so I'll go straight to the nightly stats.

In 7.66 hours on the clock, I drove 75 miles, took 24 deliveries, and made $54 in tips.

My family Christmas party is Monday so I will not drive again until New Years' Eve!

First Snow

Today was the first snow of the year.  Also the first day I wore my Santa hat, which usually puts customers in a cheerful mood and might get me an extra buck now and then..

If this is any sign as to what winter will be like, I can't wait for spring.

First off there was a horrible back-up on my way home from my other job.  It took me about 45 minutes to get the final 6 miles to my house to change.  I finally got to the pizzeria about 15 minutes late.

In the next 3.45 hours, I took 9 deliveries (not bad).  My tips are listed below:

$0 - twice
$1 - twice
$2 - three times
$3 - once
$4 - once

The $3 and $4 were on my last 2 deliveries.  For my first 7 runs I had only made $8.  On the night I only made $15 in tips, while driving 31 miles.

Manager Krystle sent me home a little early, there was still quite a stack of dishes to wash, but I didn't question her.

'Twas The Night Before Thanksgiving ...

... and Mama didn't want to cook anymore. So she ordered a pizza!

I usually don't work on Wednesdays but I chose to work tonight because it it one of our busiest nights. I think we had 5 drivers at one point. It wasn't super-busy but it was certainly a good night.

In 5.03 hours, I took 11 deliveries, made $29 in tips, and drove 61 miles. We even had a guy assigned to wash dishes tonight. I was on the road alot, but when I wasn't, mostly I helped answer phones.

The beginning of the night was really good, as I made $20 on my first 5 runs. Tips fell off after that.

Tonight's incidents (3) all involved the order-takers:

My 6th delivery, was for $15.98. The customer was certain they were quoted $14.99. The paid the $16 but didn't tip. I'm positive they weren't going to tip anyways.

The 9th delivery was to 9xxx Brewser. I had never heard of that street, so I checked the map. Not there. Manager Mike was sure it was in the Pioneer Ridge development. I went to the car and checked my GPS. Not there either. I called the customer for directions. She seemed a little put out but gave me directions. To 9xxx Berkshire.  Doh!

The 11th delivery was a new order so I was to call and confirm.  But the phone # didn't print on the ticket.  Mike looked it up in the computer and it was entered as 440-10-025.  Doh again!  It was a safe neighborhood so I drove there and knocked on the door, but clearly the house was dark and nobody was home.  Waste of my time and gas.

I did get $1.05 for the run but it's a 9-mile round trip ... Even if my car got 30 mpg (which it doesn't) this would be 1/3 of a gallon at $2.85.

Pizza For Your Valentine

Well tonight was Valentine's Day and as expected we were busy. I worked 6 hours, drove 61 miles, and took 21 deliveries, 6 more than Super Bowl Sunday when I worked the same shift!

Although my night started great with a $7 tip on a $43 order to the staff at a retirement home, it was only a so-so night. I had another $7 tip (on a $14 order) and a $5 tip on a $12 order to a bar, but I also had 6 stiffs and 4 $1 "tips". All in all I ended up with $43 in tips.

Definitely worth going to work for, but definitely not what I would expect for 21 deliveries.

Special thanks to co-workers Tyler (a girl!) and Alison for passing out some valentine candy!

Bad news of the night is that there is a "mandatory" meeting next Sunday morning at 9 AM. I plan to be in church. We'll see how "mandatory" it really is.

New Years Eve 2009 - Summary

It is late and I have plans in the morning, so I will make this brief. I may add a blow-by-blow recap later on.

I was scheduled from 5 to ? tonight. I ended up making deliveries until 11:30 (we closed - stopped taking calls - at 11).

I drove 82 miles, took 25 deliveries, and made $67 in tips. I made another $20 when one of the closing drivers paid me to stay until closing (which I was hoping to do anyways).

Highlight of the night was my 2nd-to-last delivery, 4 large pepperoni pizzas and 4 double-orders of cheesesticks to the apartments near my house. Total was $66 and I got a $14 tip!

Santa Hat

I did remember to wear my Santa hat today, and also a green long-sleeve t-shirt under my black uniform shirt. I almost never wear a coat when driving, I'm in and out of the car so fast ... my car stays warm from running (and also from the pizza) and putting a bulky coat on and off is just not worth it.

Anyhow, I drove 4.5 hours tonight (stayed until almost 10:30) and took just 6 deliveries (including a double right before 10). I drove 22 miles and made $14 in tips. Of the 6 deliveries, 3 were cash (for $7 in tips) and 3 were credit (also $7 in tips).

Best tip was on a $30.42 cash delivery, the customer counted out $35 and said, "Merry Christmas!"

Jeannie had delivered a gift from the managers, a Christmas mug and some chocolate. Today I also got a card, a pen, and several homemade cookies and treats from waitress Catherine!

Only One Delivering Night Left Before Christmas

... and I forgot to wear my Santa hat! I better remember it next week!

Tonight was a pretty boring night. I got stiffed by the same guy as last week, who was talkative about driving around and smelling pizza. Tonight he didn't have much to say.

On the night I worked 4 hours, took 7 deliveries, drove 21 miles, and made $13 in tips.

Unique was the fact that everybody paid cash, nobody paid by credit card!

Turkey Night - Sent Home Early

As I've said many times, the night before Thanksgiving is a busy night - moms busy cooking for Thursday that don't want to cook dinner, plus college kids home and getting together.

And we were busy, but we had 7 drivers in the shop. I was scheduled to work from 6 to 10 but got sent home at 7:30. Apparently I've lost all my seniority.

I took 3 deliveries (2 runs), all 3 were credit card payments. Made $3, $7, and $2 for a total of $12 in tips and drove 14 miles. No complaints!

Happy Thanksgiving all!

Night Before Night Before July 4

Worked tonight, expecting the Thursday to be more like a Friday as many people are off tomorrow for the Independence Day holiday (since July 4th is a Saturday). We weren't too busy early but then at night we got busy and stayed busy. Then 9PM driver was kept over until 11, and I took a triple after 11 PM.

Got stiffed 3 times tonight which was frustrating, along with 5 other $1 tips. Big tip of the night was $7 in an area where I sure didn't expect it.

Totals for the night were 5.5 hours of driving, 14 runs, 58 miles, and $29 in tips.

On Call Memorial Day

The schedule has me "on call" tonight which is just fine with me. I stopped by around 4:30 and we had only had 29 tickets all day. This is horribly slow. Memorial day is a day for cooking out (here in Ohio at least) and definitely not a day to order pizza.

If You Order Pizza, Be There When The Pizza Arrives!

I took a delivery tonight, got to the apartment and nobody was home. Dogs were barking, tv was on, but no people. Called back to the shop and Nick said the guy was "leaving the bar" 15 minutes ago.

I waited over 15 minutes for the guy to finally arrive. He went in his apartment and left his truck running. He couldn't read his own coupon to figure out which one to give me. He tipped $4 and acted like it was a fantastic tip. Well buddy I could have delivered 2 orders while I was waiting, so it was actually a little under average, considering the time wasted.

In fact, Todd worked an hour longer than me and took 10 more deliveries, so you know he was lapping me all night long. I drove 38 miles in 5 hours, made $21 on 11 deliveries.

Next Monday is Memorial Day and I'm "on call" so perhaps I won't work.

New Years Eve 2008

I thought it was a pretty good night but it was actually 2 deliveries and $1 short of last year.

I drove for 6 hours (5:30 - 11:30) and then stayed another 1 1/2 hours to close, mainly washing dishes, sweeping, mopping, and taking out the trasy. I took 21 deliveries, made $57 in tips, and amazingly drove only 49 miles.

My first trip was a double and my first tip was $5.73 so I hoped that was a sign of good things to come. Next was another double, the first order was free and they did not tip. This was one of 7 stiffs I would get tonight.

After that another double, both tipping between $2-4. My 4th trip was, guess what, another double. The first one was a credit card order and the card owner was not present so I got no tip there either.

After that I took yet another double ... got a $5 tip at the first house but at the 2nd house nobody came to the door or answered the phone. I got back to the store and Nick had got ahold of them but, as was the story all night long, there was another order to go with it.

After that I took my first single of the night but it was a $54 order to a party and they tipped $9, my best tip of the night.

Next came a series of 4 orders (2 singles and a double) where I only got $1 tip and 3 stiffs. I almost wished I had gone home after the $9 tip. We were down to 2 drivers by this time. But my next trip (a double) included another $5 tip. Another double (my last doulbe of the night) yielded 2 $2 tips.

My final order of the night was to my 2nd party, I delivered the pizza minutes before midnight, I got a $4 tip and was offered a beer, which I declined of course.

Eating With The Enemy

It was the night before Thanksgiving and I had hoped to make alot of money. But unfortunately it was about the same as last year, but without the extra hour from 11-12. In 5.5 hours (same as last year) I took 10 deliveries (2 less), made $23 ($1 less), and drove 36 miles (4 less).

My first delivery was to a customer who ordered a couple nights ago and asked if we were hiring. I took them an application. They still tipped just $1.

My final delivery of the night was to a guy still wearing his Marco's uniform. I can't blame him, I buy from different pizza places too when I'm not working, but I don't answer the door in uniform.

While waiting for Mike to finish his managerial accounting duties, we caught the end of the Hooters Swimsuit Pageant on TV. I never even knew there was such a competition. Now I realize this was actually a rerun of the 2007 competition, won by Breanne Ashley (pictured). The 2008 winner's name is actually Sara Hoots! For more info check this link.


Anyhow, Happy Thanksgiving to all of my readers!

Lucky Thirteen

I drove 4.5 hours tonight and took thirteen deliveries. The biggest reason was that Thomas got sent way far out on Lake Ave. and while he was gone, I took 4 other deliveries.

I had 3 credit-card orders tonight and each one tipped $5. (One actually tipped $5.75). The average for my cash orders was $3.

I did get stiffed twice, once on a free (customer satisfaction) order. The other stiff was an order for $17.28. The woman paid with $20 and said "Just give me back $2." I should have asked her what she wanted me to do with the extra 72 cents.

Total tips for the night was $36 and total miles was 40. I'm expecting an even better night on Wednesday, Thanksgiving eve!

Monday Pizza Delivery

I worked 4.5 hours tonight, took 9 runs, drove 29 miles, and made $27 in tips. Since the price of gas has gone down ($1.81 tonight) our per-run reimbursement is down to $0.95.

Of my 9 deliveries, 3 were to apartment buildings.

I delivered to a street tonight that has 100's on one side of the street and 500's on the opposite side. It took me a couple passes to figure it out. I've been on this street before, not sure how I didn't notice it before, I just always found the houses.

My last customer of the night had her Christmas tree up already. I pointed out that it was pretty early and she replied, "I was bored."

Labor Day

I drove for 3 1/2 hours tonight and took 4 uneventful deliveries. I drove 20 miles and made $15 in tips. My first run was a double that I was lucky to get, as I pulled into the parking lot just a few seconds ahead of driver Chris. And it was fortunate, as I made $6 on the first delivery and $5 on the second.

The other amusing thing that happened tonight was that we had a local radio personality and his family come in and dine-in. Catherine, our waitress, asked me which radio station he worked for and I let her know it was 95.5 The Fish.

This sparked a discussion about Christian radio and I remarked that I used to listen to 103.3 but not as much any more as the shows I listened to are either not on or have been moved to a different time.

"I listen to 103.3", Catherine said, just as the radio guy's wife stepped to the counter to pay the check.

"You lost your tip there, huh" I joked. Catherine looked at the woman and said "I listen to the fish too" and the woman smiled.