Domino's car

[Alternatepriorities]

https://www.yahoo.com/autos/dominos-delivers-a-slice-of-auto-history-with-new-191828495.html

Was this really a problem that required solving?

Pros:
30 mpg is a lot better than many vehicles I've seen delivering pizza.
Pizza warmer is a nice touch.
It probably will be a good advertising tool.

Cons:
Still driving around in a couple thousand pounds of vehicle to deliver a couple pounds of pizza...
This is a 25k dollar single purpose vehicle with a life of 3.3 years!
Drivers miss out on the chance to pay for/write off their personal car delivering pizzas.
Delivery times will probably increase with an oven to keep the pizzas warm.

Questions:
Does one still tip the delivery driver if it's a company car? How much? Surely not the same as if they drove their own vehicle...

[MgoSam]

You're assuming that pizza delivery people are 16 year-olds that are trying to pay off their car. That may be the case in some areas, but the last times I've gone to pick a pizza (i dislike paying extra for delivery when it's not that far away), all the delivery drivers that I've seen have been 30+. This may go into the popular belief that fast food workers are bored teenagers, whereas they are a minority of fast food workers.

[Alternatepriorities]

You're assuming that pizza delivery people are 16 year-olds that are trying to pay off their car. That may be the case in some areas, but the last times I've gone to pick a pizza (i dislike paying extra for delivery when it's not that far away), all the delivery drivers that I've seen have been 30+. This may go into the popular belief that fast food workers are bored teenagers, whereas they are a minority of fast food workers.

Granted both the people I know personally who paid for their cars delivering pizza were in their 20s at the time and have since moved on to better things. But, I don't see how age relates to the ability to generate income with a personal vehicle. A 30 something person can buy an affordable/efficient car and write off the 57.5 cents/mile the IRS allows while spending half that? I agree that whether it's tips or delivery fees the customer is going to pay for the cost of delivery. If Dominos can afford to "retire" these specialty cars every three years that implies a private driver could buy a stock spark and have it paid off in less than 3 years/100k miles. Now they'll just earn a wage and Dominos gets the tax break...

[zephyr911]

Thoughts:
- 30mpg is dogshit in this day and age
- Why the F would they only run them for 3 years?

[jinga nation]

Thoughts:
- 30mpg is dogshit in this day and age
- Why the F would they only run them for 3 years?

Yeah, I don't get that.  Under MACRS, cars are classified as 5-year property, even if you use straight-line. Probably fleet lease of 36-39 mo.

30mpg is awesome if current is <30mpg. It's all relative. Also, to Mustachians, it may be dogpile but not to the masses. Heck, I have co-workers crowing their new mid-size truck gives 25mpg (on the highway), but they drive in traffic so best case 18-19mpg.

[zephyr911]

30mpg is awesome if current is <30mpg. It's all relative. Also, to Mustachians, it may be dogpile but not to the masses. Heck, I have co-workers crowing their new mid-size truck gives 25mpg (on the highway), but they drive in traffic so best case 18-19mpg.

Relative to new production cars of that size, anything under 40 is pretty disappointing. Only idiots are delivering pizza in 18-25mpg trucks.

Relative to slightly more expensive hybrids (45-55mpg) and plug-ins (90-110mpge), which would rapidly pay back in operating costs on a high-mileage duty cycle, it's downright pathetic.

[MgoSam]

You're assuming that pizza delivery people are 16 year-olds that are trying to pay off their car. That may be the case in some areas, but the last times I've gone to pick a pizza (i dislike paying extra for delivery when it's not that far away), all the delivery drivers that I've seen have been 30+. This may go into the popular belief that fast food workers are bored teenagers, whereas they are a minority of fast food workers.

Granted both the people I know personally who paid for their cars delivering pizza were in their 20s at the time and have since moved on to better things. But, I don't see how age relates to the ability

Oh, I completely agree with your view in how it's likely better for someone to buy a car and deliver pizzas to pay it off. My response to you wasn't really fair, but I wanted to highlight that most fast food workers are not teenagers, which is something I feel like most people assume, and point out that many of them are much older and are working fast food for a living. This perception makes it harder for people to argue for increasing minimum wage, which I would support.

[Jack]

Thoughts:
- 30mpg is dogshit in this day and age
- Why the F would they only run them for 3 years?

Yeah, I don't get that.  Under MACRS, cars are classified as 5-year property, even if you use straight-line. Probably fleet lease of 36-39 mo.

30mpg is awesome if current is <30mpg. It's all relative. Also, to Mustachians, it may be dogpile but not to the masses. Heck, I have co-workers crowing their new mid-size truck gives 25mpg (on the highway), but they drive in traffic so best case 18-19mpg.

The vehicles are expected to average more than 30,000 miles a year and will likely be taken out of service once they reach 100,000 miles – the same number of miles as Chevrolet’s powertrain warranty, Domino’s executives said.

Apparently, the answer is that Dominos doesn't want to get stuck paying for repairs on shitty Daewoo drivetrains.

[zolotiyeruki]

I imagine that most pizza delivery is done around town, with lots of start/stop, so 30MPG doesn't sound all that bad.  Yes, a hybrid would be more efficient, but would it actually pay off?  Let's assume you get 40MPG with the hybrid.

100k miles/30MPG = 3333 gallons
100k miles/40MPG = 2500 gallons

cost of gas: $3/gallon (to give the hybrid an advantage)
Total savings: $2500 over 3 years.  That's not enough to cover the premium for a hybrid.  Plus, if the drivers really *do* carry that many (80!) pizzas at a time, that means fewer stops back at the franchise, so fewer miles.  Of course, except for the odd giant party, you'll never be carrying that many pizzas...

[Alternatepriorities]

Oh, I completely agree with your view in how it's likely better for someone to buy a car and deliver pizzas to pay it off. My response to you wasn't really fair, but I wanted to highlight that most fast food workers are not teenagers, which is something I feel like most people assume, and point out that many of them are much older and are working fast food for a living. This perception makes it harder for people to argue for increasing minimum wage, which I would support.

No worries. That increasing the minimum wage would also increase the price of fast food seems like all the more reason to do so. Currently one part of the government is effectively subsidizing the mass production and distribution of low quality food while another part spends money on trying to convince people to eat more fruits and vegetables. I suspect that if minimum wage were raised enough to drive the price of fast food up 50% more people in the middle class would opt to work fewer hours and cook more.

[MgoSam]

Oh, I completely agree with your view in how it's likely better for someone to buy a car and deliver pizzas to pay it off. My response to you wasn't really fair, but I wanted to highlight that most fast food workers are not teenagers, which is something I feel like most people assume, and point out that many of them are much older and are working fast food for a living. This perception makes it harder for people to argue for increasing minimum wage, which I would support.

No worries. That increasing the minimum wage would also increase the price of fast food seems like all the more reason to do so. Currently one part of the government is effectively subsidizing the mass production and distribution of low quality food while another part spends money on trying to convince people to eat more fruits and vegetables. I suspect that if minimum wage were raised enough to drive the price of fast food up 50% more people in the middle class would opt to work fewer hours and cook more.

Thanks, I'll try to find the article I read but I recall reading somewhere that all things equal, raising minimum wage for all McDonalds workers would raise the cost of a dollar menu item from $1 to something like $1.08. The point the article was trying to make is that it wouldn't really hurt McDonalds as much as they are saying, and by raising minimum wage it can lead to more stable employees that would increase productivity.

[TheGrimSqueaker]

Oh, I completely agree with your view in how it's likely better for someone to buy a car and deliver pizzas to pay it off. My response to you wasn't really fair, but I wanted to highlight that most fast food workers are not teenagers, which is something I feel like most people assume, and point out that many of them are much older and are working fast food for a living. This perception makes it harder for people to argue for increasing minimum wage, which I would support.

No worries. That increasing the minimum wage would also increase the price of fast food seems like all the more reason to do so. Currently one part of the government is effectively subsidizing the mass production and distribution of low quality food while another part spends money on trying to convince people to eat more fruits and vegetables. I suspect that if minimum wage were raised enough to drive the price of fast food up 50% more people in the middle class would opt to work fewer hours and cook more.

Thanks, I'll try to find the article I read but I recall reading somewhere that all things equal, raising minimum wage for all McDonalds workers would raise the cost of a dollar menu item from $1 to something like $1.08. The point the article was trying to make is that it wouldn't really hurt McDonalds as much as they are saying, and by raising minimum wage it can lead to more stable employees that would increase productivity.

Fast food service, like paper delivery and babysitting, is something that used to be an entry-level job for older children and young adults who were doing it for pocket money or to put themselves through school. Eventually they were expected to take "real" jobs in manufacturing, clerical work, or something that required advanced education. There was an underclass of people who tended to get stuck in low-paid work (janitorial, certain kinds of driving, etc.) but for the most part there was something to move to. This is no longer the case, however, because most of those jobs have been automated or outsourced away. So you've got large numbers of unemployable adults who would have been capable of earning an independent living back in the earlier 1900's who started becoming unemployable in the 1980's. These are the people who are now gravitating to the burger-flipping and mall retail jobs. It's not just that their skills are obsolete (although that's a contributing factor). It's that the sectors that used to employ them no longer exist in the industrial world. (This is not a problem unique to the USA).

The only reliable sources of work are in high-end professions that for whatever reasons can't be outsourced (medicine comes to mind), entrepreneurial activity, skilled trades that involve ongoing service to an existing community, and the various service industries. If all you have is a high school diploma (or if you don't even have that), you might be able to make a good living as an entrepreneur, but if you don't have the skills or resources to run the business, you're pretty much screwed in today's economy, and working at Jamba Juice or the grocery store for life, for barely more than minimum wage, is a very real risk.

[Le Poisson]

Sorry to disparage the Ninja Turtles fav. Pizza joint, but that is a Chevy Sonic with a pizza oven in the back.

What's custom about it is the pizza oven.

Everything else in that car matches the one in my driveway. And 30 MPG may be optimistic. Mine gets a heartwrenching 7.8 l/100km (stickshift, non-turbo) which I am too lazy to convert to mpg. All I know is that the majority of Sonic owners wonder how Chev calculated the MPG numbers on these cars. Its a good car, just doesn't live up to mileage expectations.

[Alternatepriorities]

Sorry to disparage the Ninja Turtles fav. Pizza joint, but that is a Chevy Sonic with a pizza oven in the back.

Mine gets a heartwrenching 7.8 l/100km (stickshift, non-turbo) which I am too lazy to convert to mpg.

It does seem kind of crazy that adding a pizza warmer nearly doubles the price compared with the MSP of the base model... Maybe they are starting with a fancier model?

The good news is that 7.8 l/100km is just over 30mph (30.16). The bad news is that's still not great for a tiny car...

[Le Poisson]

Sorry to disparage the Ninja Turtles fav. Pizza joint, but that is a Chevy Sonic with a pizza oven in the back.

Mine gets a heartwrenching 7.8 l/100km (stickshift, non-turbo) which I am too lazy to convert to mpg.

It does seem kind of crazy that adding a pizza warmer nearly doubles the price compared with the MSP of the base model... Maybe they are starting with a fancier model?

The good news is that 7.8 l/100km is just over 30mph (30.16). The bad news is that's still not great for a tiny car...

Wait... I made a mistake - its a Spark, the sonic's little brother. You can tell because the headlights are different.

[rob in cal]

    From a delivery driver's perspective here is my two cents.  At our restaurant drivers use their own cars and handle all expenses related to it.  They are reimbursed two dollars per delivery (no matter how far way it is) and so tips make up the bulk of one's income, plus California minimum wage of 9, soon to be 10, dollars an hour.  I believe the two dollars per stop comes fairly close to covering driving costs, probably a little more actually. If I was driving a company car, I wouldn't mind not getting a delivery fee compensation.  In the case of this dominoes car though, I'd imagine the management there still attaches a delivery fee for any deliveries taken by that car, but it would likely go, theoretically, toward gas and maintenance and original capital outlay.
   The Dominoes near us has several drivers most nights and I'd doubt whether any Dominoes store would want to have an entire fleet of these cars out there.  Also, so many deliveries are fairly close, that having a built in pizza warmer probably won't make a difference in quality.  For the really far away deliveries maybe. 

[JR]

Thoughts:
- 30mpg is dogshit in this day and age
- Why the F would they only run them for 3 years?

Yeah, I don't get that.  Under MACRS, cars are classified as 5-year property, even if you use straight-line. Probably fleet lease of 36-39 mo.

30mpg is awesome if current is <30mpg. It's all relative. Also, to Mustachians, it may be dogpile but not to the masses. Heck, I have co-workers crowing their new mid-size truck gives 25mpg (on the highway), but they drive in traffic so best case 18-19mpg.

The vehicles are expected to average more than 30,000 miles a year and will likely be taken out of service once they reach 100,000 miles – the same number of miles as Chevrolet’s powertrain warranty, Domino’s executives said.

Apparently, the answer is that Dominos doesn't want to get stuck paying for repairs on shitty Daewoo drivetrains.

I hope the Daewoo based Chevys have improved over the last decade. My wife had a 2005 Chevy Aveo that has plastic (plastic body around a metal bearing assy) timing pulleys that failed at 40k miles.

[OneDollarAtATime]

Oh, I completely agree with your view in how it's likely better for someone to buy a car and deliver pizzas to pay it off. My response to you wasn't really fair, but I wanted to highlight that most fast food workers are not teenagers, which is something I feel like most people assume, and point out that many of them are much older and are working fast food for a living. This perception makes it harder for people to argue for increasing minimum wage, which I would support.

No worries. That increasing the minimum wage would also increase the price of fast food seems like all the more reason to do so. Currently one part of the government is effectively subsidizing the mass production and distribution of low quality food while another part spends money on trying to convince people to eat more fruits and vegetables. I suspect that if minimum wage were raised enough to drive the price of fast food up 50% more people in the middle class would opt to work fewer hours and cook more.

Thanks, I'll try to find the article I read but I recall reading somewhere that all things equal, raising minimum wage for all McDonalds workers would raise the cost of a dollar menu item from $1 to something like $1.08. The point the article was trying to make is that it wouldn't really hurt McDonalds as much as they are saying, and by raising minimum wage it can lead to more stable employees that would increase productivity.

Sure, it's 'only' $0.08...but that's still an increase of 8%.  They'll still be able to turn a handsome profit, yes, but 8% is probably close to the rate of inflation over the last 5 years, combined, I would imagine.  I'm not defending McDonald's (nor do I eat there) and this thread isn't about that topic in the first place, I'm just saying that an 8% increase in pricing for a place with margins in the 20% range might not be so easy for the other businesses else to do.  Also, how would raising prices by $0.08 increase productivity?

[Le Poisson]

Thoughts:
- 30mpg is dogshit in this day and age
- Why the F would they only run them for 3 years?

Yeah, I don't get that.  Under MACRS, cars are classified as 5-year property, even if you use straight-line. Probably fleet lease of 36-39 mo.

30mpg is awesome if current is <30mpg. It's all relative. Also, to Mustachians, it may be dogpile but not to the masses. Heck, I have co-workers crowing their new mid-size truck gives 25mpg (on the highway), but they drive in traffic so best case 18-19mpg.

The vehicles are expected to average more than 30,000 miles a year and will likely be taken out of service once they reach 100,000 miles – the same number of miles as Chevrolet’s powertrain warranty, Domino’s executives said.

Apparently, the answer is that Dominos doesn't want to get stuck paying for repairs on shitty Daewoo drivetrains.

I hope the Daewoo based Chevys have improved over the last decade. My wife had a 2005 Chevy Aveo that has plastic (plastic body around a metal bearing assy) timing pulleys that failed at 40k miles.

The Sonic (that replaced the Aveo) is built in Flint MI. So far in my tinkering I have come upon parts made in mexico, Canada and the USA - nothing offshore yet. I'm actually a little surprised. I also have little attachment to country of origin as a measure of performance. I prefer to use performance as a measure of performance ;)  I wonder if the North American parts are a condition of the bailouts GM got here and in the US.

[GuitarStv]

Pizza related question, and one that has bothered me for some time . . .

I wouldn't eat out at a restaurant and think of tipping less than 15% for the waitress.  He/she usually comes out to take the order, brings the food, and refills my glass maybe once.  Maybe 50 ft worth of walking.

I don't think twice about tipping the pizza guy only a couple dollars . . . and he drives half way around town in record time to get a warm pizza to me.


Weird.

[Le Poisson]

When I was driving fast food (Chinese, Pizza, Indian food, Greek) as my side gig, I kept a careful tally of tips and deliveries. My car didn't have a working odometer, so I couldn't factor fuel and mileage into the equation, and I know that I was robbing Peter to pay Paul. A few nights I gassed up at teh start/end of the night to see how much fuel I burned. I figure normal night was $15.

Average tip was around $3.00 IIRC.
Max deliveries per hour worked out to just over 3.5. Average was just over 2.5. By the time you fart around in the restaurant getting the food, and dink around at the door with the debit machine/making change, you are around 20 minutes per delivery.

A normal 8 hour night would see $3.00X2.5X8=$60, I could hit $80 with some regularity. I also hit $40 more often than I care to admit. Usually Mon-Weds.

A really good night would be 10 hours with multiple pickups at the restaurant for each trip, cutting the restaurant time down. In that scenario I could clear $120 in a night, but you had to have a lot of cards fall just right, and you were guaranteed to be delivering some cold food to some angry people.

I spent a lot of time hanging out in pizza place parking lots waiting for a call. Honestly, it was fun and social, and let me see a side of people I rarely see. I have no regrets even though as a moneymaker, it wasn't fantastic.

[Jack]

Apparently, the answer is that Dominos doesn't want to get stuck paying for repairs on shitty Daewoo drivetrains.

I hope the Daewoo based Chevys have improved over the last decade. My wife had a 2005 Chevy Aveo that has plastic (plastic body around a metal bearing assy) timing pulleys that failed at 40k miles.

The Sonic (that replaced the Aveo) is built in Flint MI. So far in my tinkering I have come upon parts made in mexico, Canada and the USA - nothing offshore yet. I'm actually a little surprised. I also have little attachment to country of origin as a measure of performance. I prefer to use performance as a measure of performance ;)  I wonder if the North American parts are a condition of the bailouts GM got here and in the US.

I think you're reading more into my comment than was there. Daewoos didn't suck because they were Korean; they sucked because they were Daewoos. Other Korean brands (namely, Hyundai and Kia) are great (equal or better than Honda or Toyota, in my opinion).

Not to mention, I see no reason to believe that being bought out by GM and built in America would do anything whatsoever to improve the quality...

[ShoulderThingThatGoesUp]

The minimum wage is $0 and always will be.

[Le Poisson]

Apparently, the answer is that Dominos doesn't want to get stuck paying for repairs on shitty Daewoo drivetrains.

I hope the Daewoo based Chevys have improved over the last decade. My wife had a 2005 Chevy Aveo that has plastic (plastic body around a metal bearing assy) timing pulleys that failed at 40k miles.

The Sonic (that replaced the Aveo) is built in Flint MI. So far in my tinkering I have come upon parts made in mexico, Canada and the USA - nothing offshore yet. I'm actually a little surprised. I also have little attachment to country of origin as a measure of performance. I prefer to use performance as a measure of performance ;)  I wonder if the North American parts are a condition of the bailouts GM got here and in the US.

I think you're reading more into my comment than was there. Daewoos didn't suck because they were Korean; they sucked because they were Daewoos. Other Korean brands (namely, Hyundai and Kia) are great (equal or better than Honda or Toyota, in my opinion).

Not to mention, I see no reason to believe that being bought out by GM and built in America would do anything whatsoever to improve the quality...

...and I see no reason to think we can't work to the same caliber as any other place in the world over here. We are all people after all.

[Le Poisson]

The minimum wage is $0 and always will be.

Yeah, but I put $10K in my TFSA in the three months with me delivering pizza and Momma cleaning offices at night... I got to know a bunch of pretty cool college kids and Iranians and she got to know some Filipino families.

[rob in cal]

  Prospector, when you were delivering, what was your hourly pay, and did you get a delivery fee per stop in addition to tips?

[Le Poisson]

  Prospector, when you were delivering, what was your hourly pay, and did you get a delivery fee per stop in addition to tips?

No hourly, but you're right I forgot the delivery fee in that math - it was between $2 - $3 depending how far we travelled. Rarely we'd see a $4 fee.

[Goldielocks]

I have been wondering if a cargo bike, with pizza warmer / heater box on the back, and ebike motor would work for pizza delivery....

kinda like a moped delivery...   thoughts?

[vern]

http://livingstingy.blogspot.com/2011/02/pizza-delivery-real-job-or-just-selling.html