How's The Weather?

Crappy!

Four of 5 customers specifically mentioned the roads or the weather tonight. The one that did not, the husband said, "CHILLY" as the wife held the door open a little too long.

Two of 5 customers still didn't tip!

Worked 2.5 hours, drove 18 miles, took 5 deliveries, made $10 in tips.

Bad Weather Driving Tips

The weather has been nasty this week. I'm sure the money was good but I'm actually glad I didn't have to be out in it as much.

Here are some winter driving tips from our local newspaper.

The biggest thing I can add as a pizza driver is, be prepared. Keep your car running well and gassed up. Have an ice scraper and maybe even toss a shovel in the back seat.

And take doubles & triples when it makes sense. If 2 orders are 6 minutes apart to the same part of town, in the summer they might go out as singles but in the winter they are definitely doubles. Customers will be more understanding about on-times in bad weather, and we really need to work together as drivers to minimize our miles (and time) on the road.

A Tale Of Two Tippers

It was the best of tippers, it was the worst of tippers.

I worked 5 hours tonight (4 on the road and 1 doing dishes), drove 42 miles, took 13 deliveries, and made $28 in tips.

I had 3 different tip amounts tonight. At 5 houses, the customer showed their realization of the bitter cold weather and nasty roads, and tipped $4-5. These were the best of tippers.

At 3 houses, I got the standard $2 tip. One was on a free delivery (the customer had a credit, we had messed up so their order was free). This type of customer usually doesn't tip so the $2 there was actually a nice surprise.

At 5 houses, I got zero, zip, nada. Two stand out as especially bad.

One was out of our delivery area. The order taker said to me, "It was in the computer, we went there before, we have to go back." No, we don't. Just because we made a mistake in the past, doesn't mean we have to keep repeating it.

The other was to an apartment complex that is blacklisted due to it being a dangerous place. Lately we have been taking deliveries to the front security office to meet the customer. Well this kid didn't bring the credit card. I had already waited 5 minutes, and didn't feel like waiting while he walked back to the apartment then back up front, so I went ahead and gave him a ride back to the apartment. Still no tip.

People Are Lazy

It snowed several inches Sunday night and throughout the day on Monday. So of course today we were super-busy on deliveries. A little snow, a little cold weather, and people suddenly want their food brought to their doorstep!

In my 6 nights working since I started back, I took a total of 26 deliveries, or an average of 4.3 per night. My most in a night was 7. Tonight I took 15 deliveries.

I was driving from 5:40 to 10:40, then I stayed around another 1.5 hours to do dishes. There were 2 other closing drivers and they were both on the road until almost 12.

None of the deliveries were really remarkable. I did start the night with a 4-bagger where the 4th delivery was to a drive-through (beverage store). I also delivered to a Convenient Food Mart right behind our shop.

The majority of my deliveries were not in neighborhoods where you would expect big tips, so I ended up so-so on the per-run average but with 15 deliveries I did make decent money. I delivered to 3 apartments (Abbe, Chestnut Ridge & Oberlin-Elyria), West, Middle (x2), Wood, Gateway, Grafton Rd (x2), Arrowhead, Illinois, and Caroline.

I drove 62 miles and made $31 in tips. Bummer was that Monday was my wedding anniversary and I was hoping to get home earlier, but with 7 kids, Christmas puts a serious dent in our budget and the $ will certainly help!

Weather & Traffic

I'm glad I didn't have to work tonight, it's freezing cold out! I did take the kids to (indoor) soccer practice. I gassed up the car on my way home and then took my wife's van out and filled her tank also.

Meanwhile, my city is changing some lanes and traffic lights, it's in the news! I can't imagine it will affect me much.