23 Things Your Pizza Guy Won’t Tell You
Updated: Mar. 05, 2024
Love pizza? Get smarter about service with our list of things pizza delivery people wish you knew before dialing in your order.
It’s a pizza, not a lifetime commitment
Pizza places tend to be busy, especially on the weekends, so be sure to choose your toppings before you call.
Need some inspiration? Check out these surprising ways to top pizza.
We know when kids are prank-calling us
They can’t mask their voices very well. The smart ones block the phone number, but most don’t.
Accidents happen
If a delivery person drops your pizza on the way, sometimes they’ll shake the box to get the cheese to slide back on right, if the damage isn’t great.
That’s not even our worst offense; listen to these secrets fast food crews won’t tell you.
Patience, please
It takes about 20 minutes to go from raw dough to fully baked pizza. And then it takes time to drive to your house.
Why don’t we deliver to some neighborhoods?
Nearly all places have a certain radius that they’ll deliver pizzas. If you fall outside of that radius, we won’t deliver to your place because it will take too long to drive to, resulting in a cold pizza.
By the way, here’s how to reheat pizza so it’ll taste just as good the next day.
Before you open the door,
We’d prefer that you have a shirt on (and definitely some pants!).
You ordered the pizza
You know how much it costs. Please have your money (and tip) ready when you answer the door. Here is how much to tip for pizza delivery.
We don’t have the authority to give you a discount
Really, we don’t. We’re just the delivery guy. Next, check out the things your restaurant server isn’t telling you.
Use your manners
When you open the door, please hang up your cell phone or put it down. It makes the exchange go more slowly, which can end up delaying other deliveries.
This city has the best pizza in America—and it isn’t New York.
We’re human beings
When you see us drenched and shivering in the rain, it’s not nice to close the door in our face while you search for some quarters in the sofa cushions.
Tips should be 10 to 15 percent of your order
If you order a lot of pizza—say, hundreds of dollars’ worth, for a party or something—but give a $1 tip, that’s not cool. Most likely that was the only order for the trip, meaning it is more time-consuming.
The more gated the community, the more guarded the wallet
The best tips actually come from middle- and lower-class people who know what we go through. In fact, a recent study revealed this is how Americans really tip.
I remember customers who don’t tip
If you’re a repeat customer who doesn’t tip, just know that delivery people remember who you are. While we’d never do anything to jeopardize our job, holding back on a tip might result in a longer delivery time.
I can’t wait forever
We’ll knock on your door three times and call you on the phone twice. If you don’t answer, we’ll continue on with our delivery schedule.
Some people want more than just pizza
A guy once ordered pizza from me just so he’d have some help moving his sofa up a flight of stairs. I agreed to help him and he gave me a few extra bucks. It was definitely cheaper for him than hiring someone to move it.
We can’t afford to be choosy
We have some fantastic customers and some who are just terrible. But we’ll deliver to them all—this is what we do. Here are the secrets restaurant owners wish they could tell you.
We’re usually just kids
If the weather outside is really terrible, a lot of pizza places will not accept any delivery orders and instead suggest a pickup order. This is to keep the delivery people safe since many of them are younger, less experienced drivers.
There are always special customers
Like the little old lady who wants to pay her bill with a $5 check. We’ll probably take it because none of us want to be mean to a grandmother.
Keep it short and sweet
We act like we want to have a conversation with you at your door, but we don’t unless we know you well. We will still be nice, but keep in mind we have more deliveries to get to.
The majority of our employees work 12-14 hours a day
At the end of the day, we just want to go home. So, please don’t call for a delivery at closing time and then be upset when we can’t accommodate you. Here are some savvy ways to save money when eating out.
We use our own cars to deliver pizza
Which can add a lot of wear-and-tear to them. Last week, one of our guys smashed his car into a pole on an icy road. Now he has to use a rental car for work.
If you live across the street, please don’t call for a delivery
Though it might seem convenient for us to drop something off so close, it can actually jam-up our delivery schedule since someone will have to walk it over. It would be much preferred to order for pick-up. Plus, it will be cheaper for you!
Most of us are over pizza
Restaurants give staff free or discounted food, which means we often end up eating a lot of the same things. Once we get sick of them, we won’t be ordering a pie for ourselves even if it has the most irresistible pizza toppings.
