Does Home Value Affect The Tip Amount?

I had a small sample today, 8 deliveries, but ironically my first delivery (to Arrowhead Drive in the Flint Ridge neighborhood) was to a house that was probably worth more than all of my other 7 deliveries combined.  (Colonial Oaks trailer park, West, 7th, Furnace, Jackson, 2nd, and East).

The "nice" house tipped $2.  The other 7 tipped a range of $1 to $5 with an average of almost $3.  Can't say that there was a big difference, but anybody expecting a bigger tip from a bigger house will most likely be disappointed.

I did have 2 credit card orders where the manager has to give me the tip.  Tonight was Manager Mike, same as Friday when I had my string of $5 tips.  It was pretty funny when both credit card tips tonight were $5!

Finally, I've got a new favorite Sunday night radio show - AlternaFISH!  "Positive rock and hip hop music.   ON-AIR every Saturday and Sunday night from 9pm to midnight on 95.5 the FISH, Cleveland"

WEOL Radio Interview

I was interviewed on WEOL this morning about the robbery attempt I prevented on Saturday night. Other interviews this morning are David Frankel, the director of the upcoming dog movie Marley And Me starring Jennifer Aniston (pictured on right) and Owen Wilson, and Richard Cohen, author of the book Coming Out Straight. This book is about understanding and healing homosexuality.

My interview was really pretty boring, but if you want to hear it you can listen to the mp3 online.

My interview was unpaid, in contrast to my wife who earned a $200 shoe gift certificate when she was interviewed about her ebay auction for Good Friday Miracle Fish Sticks back in March.

And if you didn't catch it, here is a link to the Chronicle article about my incident.

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.

$13.58

Five of my first seven deliveries were for $13.58, including 4 in a row. $13.58 means a pizza for $11.99 plus the $1.59 delivery charge. One of them tipped $2.42, 2 tipped $1.42, and 2 left me with just the $0.42 jingle change.

The number reminded me of the Sugar Ray album 14:59, so named because their 15 minutes of fame was almost up.

My best tip of the night was $4.92 from a guy who had been waiting well over an hour for his pizza. Unfortunately there was a mix-up as he had called a different store in our chain.

Surprise tip of the night was $1.80 on a $18.20 order to the low-income government housing apartment.

Interesting tip of the night was to a different young adult brother at the home of a regular customer. The check was $19.58 and the first guy came to me with $10, saying "Here's 10." The next guy said "You're gonna hate us" and handed me a huge handful of coins. I said "You guys are regulars so I'm not even gonna count it."

I went back to the store and turned it in and there was $13.30 in quarters, nickels, and dimes, leaving me with a tip of $3.72. Not bad at all.

I drove for 6 1/2 hours, took just 13 deliveries, drove 60 miles, and made $23 in tips. Not very good at all for a Friday, although we were busy.

Dynamic Soundstage Organizer

I thought about posting "just the facts" tonight but I know my readers expect more.

So I do have a few anecdotes to relay. But first, the facts. I worked 5 hours, took 9 deliveries, made $17 in tips, and drove 30 miles.

One delivery was to an apartment building across the street. I knocked on the door and the woman answered, saying "Oh I canceled that." Well she didn't, she told our manager she would have to go to the bank for money and would see us when she got back.

She's ordered at least 27 times so I'm sure we will keep delivering to her :(

I was trying to listen to the Cavs game on my radio but it was coming in horrible. I started playing with some buttons. I hit a button labeled "DSO" and it came in much clearer after that. A quick review of the manual shows that DSO stands for Dynamic Soundstage Organizer and it has to do with where the speakers are located, or something like that. I'll read more about it tomorrow.

Nick was excited because he got to spray bug spray on an ant colony tonight.

Radio Photo

Last week's post about the radio now has a picture, check it out!

Thanks Nick!

New Headlights

The highlight of my night tonight was going to Advance Auto Parts and getting a new headlight bulb, turn-signal bulb, and a new (screw-on) antenna. When I bought the car the antenna was broken off. I hadn't listened to many of my CD's in a long time so I was happy to have a radio with a CD player, but now that baseball season is underway I wanted to get the radio working. Total cost was around $18.

Now I don't carry my own money with me to work, but at the time I stopped and got the headlight I had taken 4 deliveries and had $7 in tips. So I was confident I would earn enough $ to pay back the $ I spent from my bank.

Well on my next 3 deliveries I earned a grand total of $0.08 in tips!

Around 9:30 I needed to make another $4 and I was getting concerned.

Desiree went home early so I got the next run and made $1.42 plus my $1.05 for mileage. I did the exact math and I still needed another $1.32.

For about an hour the phone didn't ring. Then finally about 10 minutes before close, I answered the phone, and it was indeed a delivery. I never was happier to earn a $1.42 tip!

Totals for the day were 5 hours, 9 deliveries, 37 miles, and $10.20.

HD Radio?

I was trying to listen to the mash-up show on the radio tonight but somebody broke the antenna off Wardo's radio. I leaned a 2-foot wire whisk against it and it actually came in pretty good for a while! Nick took a picture and I will post it when I get it.

We were pretty slow tonight, typical for a the first few nice-weather Saturdays. People tend to stay outside later and eat later, and maybe even cook out on the grill.

I worked 8 hours, took just 14 deliveries, but did make almost a $3 average ($41 total) while driving 56 miles.

One interesting delivery was to a guy who gave me a $20 for his $11.58 order and asked for a $5 back. I didn't have a $5 so I told him hopefully 5 $1's would be ok. "Stripper money" he replied.

One that was not so good was to an apartment complex right behind the store. I got there in about 15 minutes after they ordered and the woman claimed to have forgotten that she ordered pizza. A guy walked up silently and stopped on the sidewalk several steps away. The woman was digging through her purse to find the money and eventually she borrowed $2 from this guy, who then went in her house. It was a weird situation. She paid exact change, one of 2 stiffs on the night.

Everybody else tipped at least $2 which was cool.

Oh and the last guy of the night gave me his card and offered to sell me a car. I'd never had that happen before!

Car Stereo

One thing that any pizza delivery driver will soon learn to love is his car stereo. I'm a big sports fan so I love to listen to baseball, football, and basketball games on the radio. My old Ford Escort had a tape stuck in the cassette player so all I had was the radio, but that was fine with me.

If there wasn't a game on, I might listen to talk radio on WTAM, alternative rock on KRock, country on WGAR, or even "hits" on Kiss FM.

My favorite weekly shows were on KRock when Lunchbox played That Damn Punk Show, which was canceled a few months back, and now Verlane's Flip Side (on Saturdays at 11PM, check it out!)

I know alot of drivers prefer satellite radio, either Sirius or XM, but I'm driving to make money, not to spend it, and I can't justify paying for radio.

My new $600 Hyundai has a broken antenna and gets horrible reception. It does however have a CD player. The faceplate is removable and my kids love that it changes colors at the touch of a button. I've been going through my old CD collection, which has been fun.

I recently discovered that it is a Sony CDX-FW570 which retails for $141.95. Pretty expensive radio for such a car. So I have a couple tasks to do in the next month or so.

1) Download the manual for the FW570 and figure out what it does that makes it so valuable.

2) Get the antenna fixed in time for Opening Day!