What ever happened to, 30 minutes and less, or it’s a free pizza!
Has anybody actually gotten a free pizza before, for getting one later than 30 mins?
I’ve heard why don’t do this anymore, is because of many reasons, I’m just trying to figure out which is the real reason behind it…
The reason I always heard is that this policy encouraged drivers to take unneccessary risks, and the marketing boost wasn’t worth the danger to life and limb. Which makes sense.
I got free pizza during college in the '80s.
Then there were a bunch of car accidents and Dominos dropped the policy and every other pizza place followed suit.
Or rather, the companies got tired of dealing with lawsuits from people who got into accidents with pizza delivery drivers who were speeding to get to someone’s house. Wikipedia says Domino’s ended its policy in 1993 for that reason.
[Modding] I’ve moved this to Cafe Society from Great Debates. I don’t think it’s a GD topic. [/Modding]
This is correct.
It was actually discontinued on a region-by-region and franchisee-by-franchisee basis first, before the sweeping general policy change. The store where I worked dropped the practice as far back as 1984 - After two drivers died and another was seriously injured in single-car accidents.
IIRC, it caused too may accidents or near accidents (i.e there were safety issues with people racing to beat the clock).
And yes…I’ve gotten free pizza before when Domino’s failed to get me my pizza on time. It’s been a long time (hell, it’s been a long time since I ordered a Domino’s pizza for that matter…since college I think).
-XT
I was eligible for a free pizza once in the late 1980s. I got the impression that the driver was somehow getting screwed.
:: Ding-dong ::
Me: "Oh, hi. Let me—’
Delivery Guy: “I’amsorryyourpizzaislateyougettohaveitforfree.” 
Me: “Uh… It’s like $12.50, right?”
The guy was probably only five minutes late. Like, no biggie. If we were starving we wouldn’t have ordered something we’d have to wait for. The guy looked miserable. I figure he was either going to get docked for the pizza, or was going to get fired. I paid for the pizza in any case. It seemed kind of dumb to make the driver crazy for five minutes.
The driver wasn’t directly being screwed, but a ‘free’ pizza did count indirectly against his nightly commission. It worked like this: The driver’s commission was to pay for fuel and depreciation, rather than giving them a higher wage and a milage reembursement. Comission was (at my store) 6% of sales - That is, the pies delivered by that driver. Coupons counted against sales, and a free pizza came in under the heading of ‘coupon.’ So, essentially, the driver would lose six percent of the value of the pizza from his shift commission.
Not a huge bite, but you could also count on getting an ass-chewing for failing to make the delivery on time. That was often much more of an incentive to drive fast than the actual monetary hit.
I had a teacher in high school who used to deliver pizzas when he was a teen, and he echoed pretty much what others have said here - there were too many accidents.
And, yes, he said a lot of customers took the pledge pretty seriously. He even knew of a few people who started a stopwatch as soon as they hung up the phone.
Yup. And you very quickly learned who they were. If the phone counter called out “Blackwood!” or “215 Warren!*” the guys on the makeline would move that pie to the head of the queue, and the manager would start looking for a driver to hold in-store until the pie came out and was boxed. In Balckwood’s case, we also immediately knew the order and address. That guy would call up, and say “This is Blackwood” then hang up. His order was always the same**, on the same days, at the same time - Most of the time, we’d have a skin already loaded for him and ready to be sauced. But he tipped well, too. 
** Large extra-thin, light sauce, light cheese, well-done. 
Why is this so funny to me? Hilarious.
'Cause it sounds like something from a bad spy novel…?
Ha ha, maybe. Plus I can’t imagine ordering so much pizza that all I have to say is my last name, and then hang up.
I find it hilarious too. I think it’s because it’s simultaneously ridiculous and logical.
But if a guy calls up and says ‘This is Torchwood’, do you know what the order is? Is he particularly serious about getting the pie in thirty minutes? 
It was the customer, not the frequency. He ordered on Thursdays and Saturdays, which made him a regular, but there were plenty of regulars I can no longer recall.
Nooo… In Blackwood’s case, it was the man, and his order, that made it work like that. First, his order - Extra thin, light sauce, light cheese, well-done, is actually pretty tricky to make right.* He did inspect the pie before paying - every time - and was quite happy to reject it if it didn’t live up to his standards. He was fussy and precise. His timing was precise, too - 6:45pm, every time. Then, finally, it was the consistency - I don’t think he missed an order in three years.
The guy at Torchwood gets a dirty gym sock on his pie.
During the late 1970s, my brother was listed in the Kansas City White Pages as “M. Python” (they charged for an unlisted number, but you could specify how you wished to be listed for free). He had a standing order at the local Minsky’s and call in “Pizza for Python!” with confidence.
Why did you have to take off your pants to cut the pizza?
Former, recovering, single male here. A typical day ending in “Y” conversation with the pizza place was this:
Pizza Place: “Thank you for calling Bottom’s Up, will this be carry-out or delivery?”
Me: Delivery. Spit residence.
Pizza Place: [Hand over phone]Spit residence[/Hand over phone] Anything extra?
Me: Nah. Oh wait…There’s a chick here. Bring napkins.
Pizza Place: It will be about 30 minutes.
I tipped well.
NOT tellin’.