Pizza delivery is the act of bringing a pizza, or similar meal, to a customer's home in the most efficient manner possible. Five variables that factor into this are; the quality of the vehicle, map knowledge, driving skills, route planning, and customer management.

Because pizzas can be made quickly and are easily transported, most pizza restaurants in the United States offer call-in pizza delivery services, and the pizza business is now dominated by companies that specialize in home delivery (or serve it that way exclusively), including Domino's Pizza, Little Caesar's, and Papa John's Pizza. Even Pizza Hut has shifted away from its historical emphasis on pizza parlors and toward home delivery. These national pizza chains often coexist with locally owned and operated pizza chains and independent restaurants.

The pizza delivery process

The pizza delivery process begins when a customer calls the pizzeria and specifies the number of pizzas, their sizes, toppings, and any other items desired. The customer must provide an address, to which the delivery person must bring the pizza. Most pizzerias also require the customer to provide a telephone number, in order to prevent fraudulent orders.

If the address is too far from the restaurant for delivery to be practical, the customer may be told that he or she is outside of the delivery range of that particular establishment, although chain restaurant outlets may recommend another location that serves the region where that customer lives. Some pizzarias have been accused of falsely claiming that nearby low-income neighborhoods are outside of their delivery range, in order to avoid having to make deliveries to areas perceived to be unsafe.

Many pizzerias promise delivery within a certain set period of time, perhaps specifying that late deliveries will be free of charge. For example, Domino's Pizza had a commercial campaign in the early 1990s promising, "30 minutes or it's free." The pizzas are generally transported in pizza boxes - square cardboard boxes that are large enough to hold a pizza, but flat enough to have several stacked upon one another, often prominently displaying the logo of the pizzeria. These boxes are carried in specially designed square bags designed to retain heat.

Pizza delivery persons typically use their own personal vehicle for deliveries. In the U.S., it is customary to tip the delivery person, who may receive little or no other remuneration from the pizzeria.

Pizza delivery in popular culture

The basic concept of a stranger being called upon to bring food to a customer's home has become part of popular culture to the extent that it is an occasional subject of pranks or parodies. For example, several episodes of Aqua Teen Hunger Force feature a continuing opening sequence in which one set of aliens (the Plutonians ) engages in the classic pizza delivery prank when they have one million pizzas sent to their rival aliens (the Mooninites), as a joke on the Mooninites. The scheme backfires, however, because the pizzas arrive hundredths of a second late, meaning that the Mooninites get them for free. (Because the target simply refuses the pizza, typically all that the prank accomplishes is costing the pizzeria time and money, and a misdemeanor charge if the perpetrator is caught.)

Also, an episode of Spongebob Squarepants features the title character having to overcome obstacles to deliver pizzas. [1] The video game Grand Theft Auto:Vice City has a "Pizza Delivery" mission in which the player rides around the city on a "pizza bike" (motor scooter) delivering pizzas to pedestrians.

The lack of such delivery services at the time in England was the focus of an extended passage in the Douglas Adams novel The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul.

Neal Stephenson's cyberpunk novel Snow Crash gives a futuristic spin on pizza delivery: pizza drivers (including the protagonist) now work for the Mafia, and drivers have state-of-the-art training and technology, ensuring that everyone gets pizza delivered in thirty minutes or less... or else.

Beginning in the 1970s, pizza delivery was a convenient plot vehicle in pornographic films, used to introduce men (or women) for random sexual encounters. Titles in this genre include Pizza Girls, We Deliver (1978); The Pizza Boy: He Delivers (1986); California Pizza Girls (1992); Pizza Sluts (1995); Big Sausage Pizza (2003); Big Sausage Pizza 2 (2004); Fresh Hot Pizza Boy (2004); DD Pizza Girls (2004).

Pizza delivery in military culture

At the outset of the first Gulf War in 1991, the local pizzeria was one of the first to know something was happening, as the event was marked by a flurry of pizza deliveries to The Pentagon.

U.S. National Park Service, Minuteman Missile Historic Site, Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota:[2] The entrance to the underground LCC capsule is sealed by an eight-ton, blast-proof, steel-and-concrete door. Artwork on the door serves as a darkly humorous reminder of the LCC's ultimate purpose. Emblazoned on the door's outer face is a painted depiction of a red, white, and blue pizza delivery box labeled "Minuteman II." A hand-lettered legend reads: "World-wide delivery in 30 minutes or less... or your next one is free."

Hazards of pizza delivery

Pizza delivery, by its nature, can pose risks for those engaged in it, because they are required to go to the homes of strangers in unfamiliar neighborhoods. Pizza delivery persons have been robbed, car-jacked, and occasionally even killed.

In one particularly bizarre incident, on August 28, 2003, a 46-year-old pizza delivery person named Brian Wells robbed a bank with a timed bomb strapped to his neck. When police intervened, Wells claimed that the bomb was placed there by unnamed persons who had instructed Wells to commit the robbery. Unfortunately for Wells, the police were unable or unwilling to disarm the device, and it exploded, killing the hapless victim minutes before the bomb squad arrived. Although the crime has never been solved, some suspect that a would-be robber had taken advantage of Wells' occupation to lure an innocent deliveryman into a deadly scheme. Prior to his appearance at the bank, Wells had last been seen when he set off to deliver a pizza to what turned out to be the address of an unmanned radio tower at the end of a dirt road. [3]

As pizza deliverymen's income usually depends critically, either explicitly or implicitly, on the number of deliveries they perform, they have a strong incentive to complete deliveries as fast as possible, potentially jeopardizing their own and others' safety. This is particularly true in large congested cities where they usually drive scooters or light motorbikes, which provide little safety for their rider. In Paris, for example, pizza deliverymen are notorious for their reckless driving habits and are often involved in traffic accidents.

External links

• www.tipthepizzaguy.com - The Pizza Driver Homepage

News articles

• Two Teens Charged With Robbing Pizza Delivery Driver in Chesapeake
• Pizza Delivery Driver Robbed At Gunpoint
• Pizza delivery man murdered by customer
• Another pizza delivery man killed
• Motorcycle pizza delivery driver accident injures toddler
• 17-Year-Old Pizza Delivery Driver Killed in a Motor Vehicle Accident
• Pizza delivery man arrested for trafficking in marijuana
• Missouri tracks scofflaws via pizza-delivery databases
• Domino's aims to double its slice of industry pie - Ann Arbor-based pizza chain pins hopes on faster delivery and expansion overseas