Sunday, October 4

An interview with a pizza-dude

This week I bring you a special blog, an interview with one of my Twitter friends who also delivers pizza and tweets about his tips. I hope you enjoy and check him out on Twitter under username DeliverAwayDebt.

Name: Jeff Kosola
Age: 33
City: Livonia, MI
Where you work: GM and Fat Kats Pizza (an independant pizza shop)

1. How did you settle on pizza delivery as a second job?
I'd been listening to Dave Ramsey (Financial Dude) for a little while and he suggested that delivering pizzas was a great part-time job. I was looking for a way to pay off some debt and it sounded fun. I had never worked in the service industry before so I figured I'd give it a try. Plus I could work my day job, deliver pizzas, and still have a little time to be with my family.
2. Do you find that stereotypes are applied to you as a delivery driver? Do any actually apply to you?
The biggest stereotype I run into is that all drivers smoke pot. I've had multiple people try to pay for their food in pot. I don't smoke pot and never really had any interest in it. Now drinking on the other had...Scotch, Scotch, Scotch, I love Scotch :-)

3. Does your store have any female delivery drivers?
When my store first opened, all the drivers were women. We currently have one female driver right now. When I first started at Fat Kats I used to get people saying "can you send the cute girl next time." My reply was always the same. "I'll put on my skirt and wig for you next time."

4. What's your favorite type of pizza or pizza toppings?
I love to make a Philly steak pizza. Thin crust, no sauce, garlic butter all over the stretched dough. A light coating of cheese and topped with steak and green peppers. The crust is rimmed with Cajan/Butter/Garlic. OMG is it freakin' good.

5. Your twitter name is DeliverAwayDebt, what else are you doing towards that goal? Has it been hard so far to resist spending the money on other things?
I'm looking into other means of making money. I think blood plasma may be next. Twitter name @bloodmoney, I like the sound of that. Paying down my debt with blood money :-) It use to be hard not to spend the money on cool things, but I have a ton of debt to get rid of so my wife and I are very determined. Once I'm paid off, then we can get some cool things.

6. What do you think of tipping as a whole? Would you rather have a potentially lower total pay that's guaranteed than the inconsistency that comes with relying on tips?
I deliver to alot of the same people every weekend. Getting to know them has proved to help the tip totals. I would not rather have a guaranteed rate. Half the fun of delivering is the unknown of the tip amount. I'd have nothing to tweet about if I always received the same pay.

7. What is the pay scheme where you work (base hourly, gas reimbursement, etc)?
We get $6 per hour and a $1.50 per delivery. We charge $3 for delivery so I make a portion of it. I use to work at a major chain that gave us $1 per delivery. That sucked because our delivery area was HUGE. I was rolling in a H3 hummer at the time and boy did that thing suck the gas.

8. What have you found to be a normal tip amount for your area? What do you consider to be an acceptable tip amount?
The tips around here depend on the season. $2 to $3 is normal in the spring and summer. $3-$6 is normal in the winter. I think $3-$5 is a good tip amount. Even before I started delivering I would tip at least $5.

9. What's the craziest delivery you've ever taken, good or bad?
I delivered to a hotel where 3 hookers answered the door with the money stuck to their boobs. I kindly took the money, washed my hands and laughed the whole way back to the store.

10. Will you continue delivering once your debt has been paid off?
Hell no. I do plan to franshise with my current employer and get into the Pizza business. I work in the automotive business now and there is no future here. I really like the pizza world and I've always wanted have a small business.


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