Pizza delivery jobs are on the rise due to the power of the electronic connectivity of businesses. A portion of the country’s employment percentage is now being fed by the new delivery jobs that are emerging these days.
Getting hired in the food industry is a good bargain. If you are looking for a part-time job that doesn’t require you to pore over papers and chart sheets all day in an office, then you might consider taking up the duty of delivering fresh pizza right to people’s doorsteps.
In this article, we will tell you all you need to know about the job in order to decide if this is for you. We will be giving you a brief idea of the working hours, the pay rate, and all the other minor details that go into it. So, let’s begin!
Eligibility Criteria
This is an entry-level job that doesn’t require any specific requirement. You can become a pizza delivery driver even if you never had formal schooling. The only thing that you will be needing is a valid driving license.
Other than that, some basic knowledge of math will do you well here. You will be able to handle the calculations while receiving payments more efficiently.
Another thing of help will be to have good people skills. You might face some difficult customers, some difficult situations that will test your patience.
However, while on duty, you have to maintain politeness and courtesy regardless of the customer’s attitude. Therefore, being calm-headed will definitely give you an upper hand here.
Responsibility
In the pizzeria, customers order via the telephone or the restaurant website. Chefs start preparing the food, and only after they are done making and packaging the food will you be summoned to carry out the rest of the operation.
To boil it down to the basics, your duty is to safely transfer the pizza from point A to point B, while maintaining zero damage and maximum speed.
Deliver Only Within A Specified Area
You don’t have to travel over crazy distances just to get one order delivered. Deliveries are always done within a specific perimeter, so you will not have to travel an extensive area at all. You will only deliver to set points around the pizzeria.
Protect The Pizza
While on the road, your job is to make sure nothing happens to the pizza. Protect the pizza like it’s the tiniest kitten you’ve ever laid hands on.
Make sure to not drive rashly even if you’re under a time constraint. A squashed pizza puts a greater dent on your records than late delivery.
Collect The Payment
Ensuring successful payment is also a part of your job. After you have reached the right place and delivered the pizza, hand the bill to the customer and collect the cash.
If the customer has paid online then take their signature as proof that they have received the pizza and you have done your job properly.
Handle Difficult Situations
If the customer has a complaint, you have to try to sort it out to the best of your abilities.
In case you can’t, ask them to call the restaurant directly. Wait patiently while this happens. Never lose your cool with the customers.
When everything is resolved, collect the cash and get the customer’s signature to mark the safe delivery of the order.
See Also: How Much Do Pizza Delivery Drivers Make?
Lend A Helping Hand
Sometimes, if you don’t have deliveries pending, you might be asked to help out with small tasks like restocking supplies, cleaning, taking orders over the telephone and so on.
This is not a declared part of your responsibilities. However, we would recommend you to be as involved as possible, as it will help you to develop a good relationship with your colleagues and employers.
Delivery Vehicle
Most restaurants provide bikes to their delivery drivers. However, in some restaurants, you might be required to use your own vehicle. This detail will always be mentioned in any job listing given out by the company, and so you don’t have to worry about it.
If you don’t have a vehicle of your own then only apply to those restaurants that will provide you a vehicle.
Don’t even think about getting a new vehicle just to get hired in this line of work. Plenty of restaurants facilitate their delivery drivers with vehicles to be used on duty. If you don’t find one right away, just keep looking.
Working Hours
The more you work, the more money you will make. Deliver as many pizzas as quickly as you can and get an instant boost on your base salary.
Your remuneration will come in as hourly wages as well as customer tips!
Working hours are more flexible than in most jobs. Fortunately, not many people are obsessed enough to order pizza in the morning. Your work starts when their cravings kick up.
This usually happens after the morning hours pass by. So you will need to show up at work starting noon and then stay back as per your convenience. The good thing about this job is that if you miss a shift, there will probably be someone else to take care of the orders for you.
So you can ask for leave if you have an emergency. This is one of the reasons for which this job is so popular among students.
One drawback of this job is that there are no weekend breaks. On the contrary, weekends are rather good business days, which means that there will be more deliveries for you to take care of than on weekdays.
Is This A Hectic Job?
This depends on the size of the restaurant, the frequency of the orders and the total number of delivery drivers they have in employment. The busier the restaurant, the more hectic your job will be. But that’s a good thing because you will get paid more if you work more hours.
Pizza Delivery Driver Salary
Much of the salary of the pizza delivery drivers depend on the tips they receive from customers. This is why it is recommended for you to always be on your best behavior with them by maintaining professionalism.
You will be paid at an hourly rate. Every hour of work will give you about $8 to $10 dollars. It was recorded, in 2016, that the average salary for delivery drivers was about $19,500 approximately.
These food and delivery businesses are doing massively well in the market. Owing to that, your median salary will be more than $20,000 excluding tips! We’d say that’s a pretty good deal for such a flexible job.
Risks Involved
Although you will be working within the food and catering industry, as a pizza delivery driver, most of your duties will require you to stay outdoors. This, of course, will expose you to some risks that the other workers in the food industry do not have to face.
As this job offers an expandable salary limit, it often happens that delivery drivers rush through the roads trying to be fast with their deliveries, and often end up having accidents.
So if you decide to start working as a driver, you will have to keep this in mind.
One minor accident is enough to get you kicked out of your job even if there is no great damage. You will have to stay calm and be very careful while driving.
Another risk involved in delivering pizzas is the probability of drivers to get mugged. The vehicles they use are a giveaway to snatchers and robbers who know that these drivers have cash on them. Unfortunately, there is no trick to avoid this.
The chances of you getting mugged will depend on the kind of neighborhood that you will be working in. So before taking up the job, research the area if you don’t want to compromise yourself to some unfortunate events like this.
Due to these risks involved, drivers are allowed to refuse to deliver packages if they feel unsafe. If you have a brave heart and the “street smarts”, then you will have a benefit here, provided that you always maintain caution and stay on your guard.
Benefits Of Experience
These delivery drivers usually start working at the base salary, but as they gain more experience, they start getting dedicated customers who increase the weight of the tip they hand out at each delivery.
With time, they also start becoming more accustomed to the road routes, the people at work, the customers and so on. This leads them to perform their duties better and thus earn higher salaries in the future.
Conclusion
Nowadays, no one has time to prepare food anymore, which is why the restaurant businesses are doing so well.
If you have some free time and like riding around the town on your own, then this job is the perfect opportunity for you to enjoy yourself while also getting paid for it.
This, according to us, is honestly the best job deal out there. So if this describes you, consider applying to your favorite pizzeria to get hired. Pizzerias normally give out free pizzas often. So, that’s a bonus!
Well, that marks the end of our article. We hope it was able to answer all your queries about the job. Good luck!