The Economics of Delivering Pizzas
Earlier this summer, I did a cost analysis of delivering pizzas as my part-time job. This week, it’s time to re-evaluate the situation, as the pay has changed and I am not sure it’s for the better.
The big thing that changed was federal minimum wage went up this week to $6.55 per hour. That’s a jump of 70 cents from $5.85 per hour, and I knew my boss was dreading it.
He warned us a few weeks ago that when minimum wage went up, he would have to lower the per-delivery gas offset pay … but I didn’t realize he would lower it this much. We have gone down from $1.28 per delivery order to only 75 cents per delivery order!
We have an employee meeting this morning, and at least one other driver intends to mention to the boss man that this is not enough to keep our vehicles on the road. In fact, this other driver told me last night he will be putting in applications to other jobs. My comment was I am surprised it took him this long (this is the one who drives a truck for delivery).
As for myself, I will let the boss man know I will continue to work (for now) but I only want to pull three long shifts, with a minimum of 7 hours per shift. The store is eight miles from my house, and I drive an average of 100 miles per shift. Working only three days will bring back down to only one tankful of gas per week while still pulling the same amount of hours.
I have to wonder if this kind of thing is happening at other stores. I’m also wondering if the gas prices may be the end of pizza delivery as we know it, especially with tips continuing to dwindle.
This should be an interesting employee meeting.