I decided to take a survey as I drove around tonight, at each house I asked 2 questions: Which team were they rooting for, and what was their favorite commercial.
I had 15 deliveries during the game and forgot to ask once, so here are my 14 answers to the football question:
Green Bay - 8 orders, $23.50 (average $3 tip, only 1 stiff)
Pittsburgh - 2 orders, $5 (average $2.50, 1 stiff)
Split house (people cheering for each team) - 2 orders, $7.50 (average $3.75, no stiffs)
Philadelphia - 1 order, 1 stiff
Not sure - 1 order, 1 stiff
The moral of the story is, football fans tipped way better than non-football-fans.
I only got 3 people to answer the favorite commercial question, one said the commercial with the test baby, one said he wasn't sure but it had to involve beer, and one said Doritos (they always seem to have some good ones).
So I just got home and watched the test baby commercial - I have to say, not impressed. Not only I wasn't amused, I'm not sure I really even understand the product. An alternative to hotels I guess.
I watched the Doritos commercials and I found 2, they both were pretty good. The one with the pug was pretty predictable, but the house sitting one was both funny and surprising. I guess now I found another, the one with the finger-licking was pretty wierd.
Work-wise, tonight was pretty typical for a Super Bowl. Busy, lots of drivers, decent money but not great. As usual, no "parties", I never delivered more than 2 pizzas and some sides to one house all night long. Totals were 6.51 hours worked, 58 miles driven, 19 deliveries, and $49 in tips.
Showing posts with label Super Bowl. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Super Bowl. Show all posts
Monday, February 7, 2011
Monday, February 8, 2010
Super Bowl Sunday 2010
Lately I haven't been working on Sundays but of course I made sure I was available to drive tonight. I worked from 5-11 and we started off slow, I think I only took 1 delivery in the first hour. Things started picking up around 7 and from 7 until 9 we were slammed! From 9 on I was pretty much the only driver, so I stayed busy, taking 15 deliveries in all.
I drove 57 miles and made $35 in tips. More than I made in 2008 and the same as 2007 (when I started an hour earlier). I didn't work last year as I had a broken arm.
Most surprising tip was from a woman who ordered a Personal Panormous and thought she had ordered a Panormous. These are nowhere near the same size but still she tipped almost $6. Other than that I had 1 $5 tip, 5 $3 tips, 4 $2 tips, 1 $1 tip, and 3 stiffs.
I started saying to people, "Enjoy the game," and several said "Thanks, you too" before realizing that was a pretty stupid thing to say.
Final delivery of the night was a wierd one, it was one order but was paid separately, one person paid $14.98 by credit card (and tipped $1.02) and the other person paid $18.42 cash (and tipped $2.58).
I drove 57 miles and made $35 in tips. More than I made in 2008 and the same as 2007 (when I started an hour earlier). I didn't work last year as I had a broken arm.
Most surprising tip was from a woman who ordered a Personal Panormous and thought she had ordered a Panormous. These are nowhere near the same size but still she tipped almost $6. Other than that I had 1 $5 tip, 5 $3 tips, 4 $2 tips, 1 $1 tip, and 3 stiffs.
I started saying to people, "Enjoy the game," and several said "Thanks, you too" before realizing that was a pretty stupid thing to say.
Final delivery of the night was a wierd one, it was one order but was paid separately, one person paid $14.98 by credit card (and tipped $1.02) and the other person paid $18.42 cash (and tipped $2.58).
Monday, February 4, 2008
Super Bowl Sunday
Super Bowl Sunday isn't really that busy of a day for us. It's not even as busy as an average Friday night. I drove 6.5 hours, took 13 deliveries, made $32 in tips, and drove ? miles.
Tips were decent, with only 1 stiff, and 2 others of $1 and the change. I did deliver to 2 of my most regular customers, both single old ladies. One lives in a trailer park, loves to talk sports, usually orders a meat lover and a 20 ounce pepsi, pays by credit card, and tips $4 or $5 every time.
The other lives in an apartment, orders pasta, wings, or a personal pizza, prefers Sierra Mist, and pays cash (exact change) and then adds $2 more saying "And here's your tip."
We were so overstaffed that dishes stayed caught up all night long and we did more prep (oiling pans) than necessary. We would have been out about 15 minutes after closing time, but we had some extra pre-made pizzas to toss at the end of the night, and some extra dishes to wash due to this.
I did get into a heated discussion with manager Nick about how he runs the dispatch computer, which (along with not making much money) spoiled my mood for most of the night. Then to top off the night, after we closed, I drove over a curb and blew a tire.
Tips were decent, with only 1 stiff, and 2 others of $1 and the change. I did deliver to 2 of my most regular customers, both single old ladies. One lives in a trailer park, loves to talk sports, usually orders a meat lover and a 20 ounce pepsi, pays by credit card, and tips $4 or $5 every time.
The other lives in an apartment, orders pasta, wings, or a personal pizza, prefers Sierra Mist, and pays cash (exact change) and then adds $2 more saying "And here's your tip."
We were so overstaffed that dishes stayed caught up all night long and we did more prep (oiling pans) than necessary. We would have been out about 15 minutes after closing time, but we had some extra pre-made pizzas to toss at the end of the night, and some extra dishes to wash due to this.
I did get into a heated discussion with manager Nick about how he runs the dispatch computer, which (along with not making much money) spoiled my mood for most of the night. Then to top off the night, after we closed, I drove over a curb and blew a tire.
Monday, January 7, 2008
Super Bowl Sunday?
Fellow driver Steve asked tonight if it was Super Bowl Sunday. This was because when I arrived for work at 5:30 we had 5 drivers working, John, Ted, and Cliff, besides Steve and myself. John was anxious to leave anyways as he goes to college a couple hours away and just works on the weekends.
So Steve, John, and I got the "pre-close" or frozen dough preparation done in record time and by 7 PM all the other drivers were gone except for Steve and I.
I didn't have any remarkable deliveries tonight but I did have a total of 16 runs in 5 1/2 hours of driving. I drove 54 miles and made $34 in tips, helped greatly by a $6.94 tip (on a $25.06 order).
So Steve, John, and I got the "pre-close" or frozen dough preparation done in record time and by 7 PM all the other drivers were gone except for Steve and I.
I didn't have any remarkable deliveries tonight but I did have a total of 16 runs in 5 1/2 hours of driving. I drove 54 miles and made $34 in tips, helped greatly by a $6.94 tip (on a $25.06 order).
Monday, February 5, 2007
Not So Super Bowl
I worked last night from 4-close. That is 7 hours on the road. I took 17 deliveries and made $35. Now that is slightly more than I would make on a typical Sunday, but not much. We were busier than usual but we were WAY overstaffed. Every driver I spoke with was disappointed in how much they earned.
In our area at least, I believe the thinking that the Super Bowl is a bonanza for pizza delivery drivers is a sad myth. Affluent customers that may have a big party and tip very well are more likely to prepare their own food these days. People eat pizza so often that I think it just isn't 'special' anymore.
Of my 17 deliveries, I only took 2 that were $25 or more, and each of those was just 2 pizzas and some sides and 2-liters. I didn't take 3 pizzas to one house all night. I did make 2 nice $5 tips but about half (8) of my tips were $1.40 or less.
I almost didn't write about the Super Bowl at all, I thought about titling my post "It pays to answer the phone."
Now I believe that phone-answerring is important. Most people, as many as 80-90%, have decided how much they will tip before they answer the door. The drivers actual service and job performance seems to have little effect on the size of the tip, in most cases.
Almost the only chance we have to affect the tip is during the phone transaction. So I try to answer as many phones as I can, and to be friendly and cheerful while taking the order. I believe this helps increase my tips.
But last night I actually made money just by answerring the phone. I started off with my normal greeting. "Thanks for calling (name of pizza place), this is Kevin, will this be for delivery or pick-up."
"Actually I already placed a pick-up order and it should be ready. I'm outside with 2 sleeping kids in the van, can someone possibly bring it out to me?", the lady asked.
"Absolutely," I replied, "we will be right out."
I found the order, grabbed the 2-liter of Pepsi, checked the amount ($15.00), and took the food out the front door. The woman opened the door to her van, thanked me, and handed me $20. "If you have $3 that would be great" she said.
I quickly handed her her change (out of my drivers bank that I keep in my pocket), went back in and paid the $15 check, and I made a nice $2 tip for about 1 minute of work.
This was before the game started, and it at least put me in a good mood for a few minutes.
Oh and I should say "Thank you" to my co-workers Nick and Ward, for helping me get home last night. If you were following along from last week's blog, I was driving a PT Cruiser rented from Enterprise that I had to return at the end of my shift last night. Nick picked me up from Enterprise after my last delivery and Ward took me home after we closed. Thanks guys!
In our area at least, I believe the thinking that the Super Bowl is a bonanza for pizza delivery drivers is a sad myth. Affluent customers that may have a big party and tip very well are more likely to prepare their own food these days. People eat pizza so often that I think it just isn't 'special' anymore.
Of my 17 deliveries, I only took 2 that were $25 or more, and each of those was just 2 pizzas and some sides and 2-liters. I didn't take 3 pizzas to one house all night. I did make 2 nice $5 tips but about half (8) of my tips were $1.40 or less.
I almost didn't write about the Super Bowl at all, I thought about titling my post "It pays to answer the phone."
Now I believe that phone-answerring is important. Most people, as many as 80-90%, have decided how much they will tip before they answer the door. The drivers actual service and job performance seems to have little effect on the size of the tip, in most cases.
Almost the only chance we have to affect the tip is during the phone transaction. So I try to answer as many phones as I can, and to be friendly and cheerful while taking the order. I believe this helps increase my tips.
But last night I actually made money just by answerring the phone. I started off with my normal greeting. "Thanks for calling (name of pizza place), this is Kevin, will this be for delivery or pick-up."
"Actually I already placed a pick-up order and it should be ready. I'm outside with 2 sleeping kids in the van, can someone possibly bring it out to me?", the lady asked.
"Absolutely," I replied, "we will be right out."
I found the order, grabbed the 2-liter of Pepsi, checked the amount ($15.00), and took the food out the front door. The woman opened the door to her van, thanked me, and handed me $20. "If you have $3 that would be great" she said.
I quickly handed her her change (out of my drivers bank that I keep in my pocket), went back in and paid the $15 check, and I made a nice $2 tip for about 1 minute of work.
This was before the game started, and it at least put me in a good mood for a few minutes.
Oh and I should say "Thank you" to my co-workers Nick and Ward, for helping me get home last night. If you were following along from last week's blog, I was driving a PT Cruiser rented from Enterprise that I had to return at the end of my shift last night. Nick picked me up from Enterprise after my last delivery and Ward took me home after we closed. Thanks guys!
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