# On the subject of when the pizza guys don't deliver **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 30, 2015, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-subject-of-when-the-pizza-guys-dont-deliver/716327 "2015-03-30T05:47:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2015, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-subject-of-when-the-pizza-guys-dont-deliver/716327/41 "2015-03-31T14:50:35Z")
> [@epbrown01](#): > > As a former pizza driver, I can say it’s not that simple. If the address is a residence, I’m going up to the door despite you being propped out front. Why? Drivers get “hijacked” all the time - someone sees you approaching and decides “Huh, a pizza _would_ be nice.” and says “Yo, here I am” and pays for the pizza. You get back and discover that wasn’t the customer, who’s wondering why their order didn’t arrive. You learn pretty quickly not to hand off the pie to anyone with some cash. > > So I go to the door and the folks that live there didn’t order and don’t know you. I’m returning with the pie, because management doesn’t want to encourage such antics. > > Okay, you know of an abandoned house in our delivery area and you plan to lurk there. Yeah, I’m not even getting out of the car, seeing someone who looks out of place in front of a neglected house with a for sale sign on the lawn. And that’s assuming I don’t already know that address is an abandoned house because, driving the neighborhood 40 hours a week, I likely no it better than someone trying to scam a pie from outside the delivery zone. > > A safe bet is that the store has already seen every scam and dodge you think you just came up with, and is wondering the same old question: why all this effort to scam a delivery when you can just pop a DiGiornos in the oven? This is bizarre, I lived in a house where the front door had a security gate in front of it and the lock broke so I couldn’t exit through the front door and the pizza guys couldn’t reach it to knock or ring the bell. So when I’d hear the car I’d go out the back and around the side alley and meet them in front, NEVER had an issue or complaint. Now you’re saying you’d have refused to give me the pizza? How does your business make money? ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2015, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-subject-of-when-the-pizza-guys-dont-deliver/716327/42 "2015-03-31T17:13:22Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > Not only reasonable chance, but probable chance he’d lose _more_ money by requiring cards only rather than not delivering to certain addresses in those neighborhoods. That’s a fairly simplistic and short-sighted accounting of costs. You’re not accounting for all the drivers that get injured in the process of learning which neighborhoods are dangerous. It’s not like there’s a known list of places that are dangerous and it never changes. The criminals are going to keep thinking of new things and trying to lure pizza guys into traps because they’re carrying money. Every time the criminals change their tactics, you get more people injured and add to the list of places you can’t deliver to. > [@](#): > > Do you demand the card be run when the order is placed or when you deliver? What if the driver discovers the card is expired, or the names don’t match. Could be Mom’s card, or the BF, or it could be a freshly stolen one. What happens when the card is declined. Does the driver bring the pizza back? Does the order taker stay on the line while they try to find another one? How much time is wasted on the phone when people aren’t expecting this & don’t have their wallet by them when they order? Is this a serious objection? Businesses have been accepting credit cards for payment over the phone for decades. None of these are major issues. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2015, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-subject-of-when-the-pizza-guys-dont-deliver/716327/43 "2015-03-31T17:23:00Z")
> [@grude](#): > > Now you’re saying you’d have refused to give me the pizza? How does your business make money? By not delivering to your address ever again. ---
**Author:** ![LibrarySpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f9ae1b/32.png) [@LibrarySpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LibrarySpy)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2015, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-subject-of-when-the-pizza-guys-dont-deliver/716327/44 "2015-03-31T19:09:59Z")
> [@Shakes](#): > > Seriously though, these days I think the standard should be credit card only, paid for over the phone or online, and not allow the drivers to carry any cash with them at all. When I was delivering, 2/3 of the payments were credit cards already. That time is coming. The destitute poor may be SOL, but plenty of rich and middle and working class people buy pizza AND have bank accounts. We had people try to pay with a credit card and it got declined, we always assumed the card was stolen. No banned areas in our area, though, very ritzy. And we’d definitely meet people at the 7-Eleven or the Holiday Inn or something. And look, if you’re a prostitute in a trailer park at the end of a dark street full of drug dealers, and you always pay, and you always tip, your trailer park isn’t getting banned for shadiness. We are more than happy to show up at your trailer with pizza. (And some of us are happy that you answer the door practically naked) We had to do callbacks, and we had to look out for our safety at all costs. A robbery was very, very, very bad for business. Because drivers would quit (their parents would make them), which would hurt business, and it might make the news, which hurt business, the neighborhood might be banned, and the franchise would be out money. > [@epbrown01](#): > > As a former pizza driver, I can say it’s not that simple. If the address is a residence, I’m going up to the door despite you being propped out front. Why? Drivers get “hijacked” all the time - someone sees you approaching and decides “Huh, a pizza would be nice.” and says “Yo, here I am” and pays for the pizza. You get back and discover that wasn’t the customer, who’s wondering why their order didn’t arrive. You learn pretty quickly not to hand off the pie to anyone with some cash. Yup, this happens. And now the pizza shop is down an order and has an angry customer who may never order again. > [@grude](#): > > Now you’re saying you’d have refused to give me the pizza? How does your business make money? Pretty easy to confirm 1) your name 2) your address 3) your phone number or 4) what you ordered, but you popping out of a side door is quite different than running into people on the street our an apartment stoop. It’s a judgement call. GPS is changing this too. A lot harder to set someone up and rob them at fake/wrong addresses. The percentage of returned customers is high. One or two new/potential customers who get shafted isn’t going to have an effect on the margins. I got lucky. Only two apartment complexes. Some regions have 50-100. Fucking nightmares. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2015, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-subject-of-when-the-pizza-guys-dont-deliver/716327/45 "2015-03-31T19:51:21Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > No it isn’t. Dude, you’ve been around here for 4-1/2 years. By now, you should know that it sure as shit _is_ what we do around here. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2015, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-subject-of-when-the-pizza-guys-dont-deliver/716327/46 "2015-03-31T20:45:06Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > The excuse about making less money is stupid. You can add a fee for credit card transactions now. No you can’t. Unless credit card companies have changed their policies recently. It was always a standard clause in the merchant agreement that they could not charge credit card customers more than cash customers. Some businesses got around that by charging the same price, but offering a discount for cash. But nowadays, credit card customers will object to that – arguing that the card was not declined so they already have the money, there’s no risk of counterfeit bills, robbery, etc. and demanding that same discount. So that pisses off credit card customers, who make up more than half the customers for many businesses. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2015, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-subject-of-when-the-pizza-guys-dont-deliver/716327/47 "2015-03-31T20:54:02Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > I have a cousin who is an RN. She’s by now a nurse practitioner, highly skilled at all aspects of health care. > > Many years ago. earlier in her career, she took a job in California, working as a contract supply nurse for hospitals in LA… She went where she was sent. Cousin ended up breaking the contract and coming home in less than a year. She got sent to ER’s where she’d end up getting threatened with guns and knives, because the friends and relatives didn’t think their person was getting taken care of fast enough. So it was “Screw this! I’m better than that, so bye!” Back when I was job-hunting (see footnote), I stopped by a hospital in the St. Louis area to apply for a job, and the place seemed to be on lockdown. Usually, when you walk into a hospital lobby, you see open windows, people walking around, etc. and that wasn’t the case. There were metal windows pulled down, very few people around (which included HR), etc., so I left. I don’t remember what the hospital was called, but it was in a bad neighborhood which interestingly was right on the opposite side of the Interstate from the St. Louis Zoo, which was accessed from a very ritzy neighborhood. Footnote: I used the “job store” reply more than once when people asked me why I hadn’t found a new job yet. :rolleyes: It’s really disheartening to be told “You’re overqualified” by someone with green hair, stretched-out earlobes, full-sleeve tattoos, etc. for the 20th time. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2015, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-subject-of-when-the-pizza-guys-dont-deliver/716327/48 "2015-03-31T21:01:06Z")
> [@LibrarySpy](#): > > We are more than happy to show up at your trailer with pizza. (And some of us are happy that you answer the door practically naked) My brother delivered pizzas for a while when he was a 20-something. He kept hearing all these stories about women answering the door naked, or nearly so, and wondered why that never happened to him. 😛 😃 :o The closest he ever got to that was a few years earlier when he was selling something for a school fundraiser, and a woman answered the door wearing nothing but a sweatshirt. How did he know that? There was a big mirror on the other side of the room. :eek: 😛 :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2015, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-subject-of-when-the-pizza-guys-dont-deliver/716327/49 "2015-03-31T21:02:07Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > No you can’t. > > Unless credit card companies have changed their policies recently. It was always a standard clause in the merchant agreement that they could not charge credit card customers more than cash customers. Some businesses got around that by charging the same price, but offering a discount for cash. But nowadays, credit card customers will object to that – arguing that the card was not declined so they already have the money, there’s no risk of counterfeit bills, robbery, etc. and demanding that same discount. So that pisses off credit card customers, who make up more than half the customers for many businesses. This changed two years ago. ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2015, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-subject-of-when-the-pizza-guys-dont-deliver/716327/50 "2015-03-31T22:03:31Z")
> [@grude](#): > > This is bizarre, I lived in a house where the front door had a security gate in front of it and the lock broke so I couldn’t exit through the front door and the pizza guys couldn’t reach it to knock or ring the bell. So when I’d hear the car I’d go out the back and around the side alley and meet them in front, NEVER had an issue or complaint. > > Now you’re saying you’d have refused to give me the pizza? How does your business make money? Did I say we were robots programmed to only deliver to the front door? Would _you_ be flummoxed at this? Why should the pizza guy be? Basically, we looked for someone that looked like they lived there rather than just hanging about - something most home dwellers manage, and few people hanging about can. You, coming around the side of the house saying “Sorry, the security door is broke but I heard you coming up the drive” would have no problem. At most, I’d ask you to verify your order (“Okay, and you ordered a…?”) and be on my way. And drivers talk to each other. If I wasn’t the first guy to go to your address, someone would likely have said “123 Maple - yeah, their front door doesn’t work, so the guy will come around the side.” Hell, if anything, legit customers tend to _over-explain_ the quirks to delivering their order (“The doorbell doesn’t work but you can knock and tell him to watch that third step because it’s kinda creaky. It’s the pseudo-Victorian on the left in muted blue, but you can tell from the pitch of our roof it’s not a real Victorian because…”). ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2015, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-subject-of-when-the-pizza-guys-dont-deliver/716327/51 "2015-03-31T23:56:05Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > Dude, you’ve been around here for 4-1/2 years. By now, you should know that it sure as shit _is_ what we do around here. 🙂 [no it isn’t.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQFKtI6gn9Y) ---
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2015, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-subject-of-when-the-pizza-guys-dont-deliver/716327/52 "2015-04-01T00:10:28Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > No it isn’t. I know you are just being a succulent copulator, but if I wasn’t so lazy I’d quote you about nine million examples. Or maybe you are trying to knock Big T off of his pedestal. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2015, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-subject-of-when-the-pizza-guys-dont-deliver/716327/53 "2015-04-04T02:55:32Z")
You know I totally agree with and defend pizza places right not to deliver to certain addresses, especially like going into a tightly packed maze like apartment complex where there have been previous robberies. I haven’t cried racism and no one in this thread has. BUT I don’t see why it would be a problem to deliver to a public place in a area you do deliver, if a person is willing to meet the delivery man there. In the pre GPS era I would often have to meet the pizza guy at the nearest intersection just because they had trouble finding my address, so they would call back and I’d say intersection of X and X I’ll be there waving. I just think you should give someone who lives in such a area a chance to purchase, if they are willing to come outside of it. Oh and it is very easy to confirm you have the actual customer, just ask them what last name is on the order. Every time I have ordered pizza they ask for a last name for the order, issue solved. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2015, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-subject-of-when-the-pizza-guys-dont-deliver/716327/54 "2015-04-04T04:27:20Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > No it isn’t. Why can’t I ever find the 'blowing the trumpets, scattering rose petals, and sacrificing virgin maidens to honor j **z78817**" smilie when I need it? ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2015, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-subject-of-when-the-pizza-guys-dont-deliver/716327/55 "2015-04-04T04:58:37Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > Dude, you’ve been around here for 4-1/2 years. By now, you should know that it sure as shit _is_ what we do around here. 🙂 Dude, you’re a '99er. You really shouldn’t be able to be whooshed. > [@FairyChatMom](#): > > I prefer to tip in cash. I felt **bed** for the guy the other night, tho - I had to give him a handful of quarters since I just had a $20 in cash. It all spends the same! bolding mine [Bow-chicka-bow-bow…] “Are you the lady who ordered the ‘large Italian sausage’?” [Bow-chicka-bow-bow…] ---
**Author:** ![adhemar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@adhemar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adhemar)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2015, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-subject-of-when-the-pizza-guys-dont-deliver/716327/56 "2015-04-06T02:12:09Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > My brother delivered pizzas for a while when he was a 20-something. He kept hearing all these stories about women answering the door naked, or nearly so, and wondered why that never happened to him. > > 😛 😃 :o > > The closest he ever got to that was a few years earlier when he was selling something for a school fundraiser, and a woman answered the door wearing nothing but a sweatshirt. How did he know that? There was a big mirror on the other side of the room. :eek: 😛 :smack: I delivered to a woman in a skimpy towel and fairly often to a guy in threadbare tightie whities. Both were not happy I am female. The guy ordered every week and every week told me he wasn’t expecting the delivery driver to be a woman. :rolleyes: my restaurant treated me well, they would send one of the guys if they thought it was a sketchy area. I never was robbed or threatened, I had a couple of scares, once when I went into an apartment with several men and they locked the door behind me. those all ended up fine, the worst that happed while on a delivery was getting stung by a yellow jacket and the guy didn’t even tip me. ---
**Author:** ![Time\_Like\_Tears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/df705f/32.png) [@Time\_Like\_Tears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Time_Like_Tears)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2015, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-subject-of-when-the-pizza-guys-dont-deliver/716327/57 "2015-04-07T17:38:44Z")
(Former Papa John’s manager here) ATPG isn’t saying this is universal, or even how every area conducts its business. All the big 3 pizza delivery places have both corporate and franchise stores, and even within those each district will have a slightly different policy. It’s made up on the fly based on experience in that area. It has to be, because no business makes money by refusing service. They’ll do all they reasonably can to satisfy their customers. Most employees behind the counter and over the phone don’t even understand why certain policies are in place - it’s really routine to collect a name and phone number. Papa John’s uses caller ID, and I’ve personally asked customers to unblock their number and call me back, or they’d have to come in to order. It’s safety, accountability, and creates a trail. One of my drivers got mugged three times in one year - in an area that’s considered ‘high class’. The doors are locked at 10pm (or whenever) and the only people allowed in and out are drivers with a delivery. No one is alone in the store with unlocked doors, ever. If you live in a (VERY RARE) spot where there’s no delivery, then feel free to come by before close for a carry-out. No private business owes anyone anything, except their own bottom line. They certainly don’t owe the grumpy public the lives of their staff. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2015, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-subject-of-when-the-pizza-guys-dont-deliver/716327/58 "2015-04-07T19:46:38Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > Dude, you’ve been around here for 4-1/2 years. By now, you should know that it sure as shit _is_ what we do around here. 🙂 But I don’t want to argue about this! ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2015, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-subject-of-when-the-pizza-guys-dont-deliver/716327/59 "2015-04-10T23:53:48Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Are you serious? You answered the question yourself. > > Pizza delivery guys are afraid of getting shot or stabbed. > EMS responders can’t go into some neighbourhoods without a police escort. > Mail delivery isn’t possible in some neighbourhoods. > And now you need to pass through metal detectors to access the emergency ward at hospitals. > > WTF? This is not in any way normal for a free society. These are very specific areas. Get a few miles away from that hospital in Detroit and you’re like in a whole 'nother world with nothing at all like that going on. The problem isn’t society, it’s the criminals congregating in inner cities and people with attitudes like “fuck the police”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-the-subject-of-when-the-pizza-guys-dont-deliver/716327.md?page=2)