This story makes me so happy. One of the worst damn jobs I’ve ever had.
Domino’s Pizza delivery driver Jim Pohle could have quit when he saw a competitor offering an extra 25 cents an hour in wages and his bosses wouldn’t match it.
Instead, he decided to stand up and form the nation’s only pizza drivers union to successfully organize workers.
Now he represents 11 drivers as president of the American Union of Pizza Delivery Drivers Inc. at the franchise where he has worked off and on for more than a dozen years. Experts say he has created a model for fast food workers wanting to organize in other locations.
“When they declared us tipped employees and refused to pay us the Florida minimum wage of $6.40, I was kind of angry. I came home that night and I told my buddy, I said 'We are forming a union,”’ he said.
Slackers of the world, unite!
Pohle said his friend, a fellow ex-Marine, “thought I was venting steam.” But the 37-year-old, who delivers pizzas because he likes to sleep late, smoke on the job and listen to the radio, got on the Internet and found St. Louis labor attorney Mark Potashnick.
Why was it one of the worst jobs you ever had? I thought it was great, and I made more than I did at Dell after working there for 3 years. On a good day, I made 30 or 40 dollars and hour.
Right, except people aren’t really lining up to be pizza deliverers. “Dude, I used to love pretending to deliver pizzas when I was younger. It’s all I’ve ever wanted to do!”
I did it during grad school in Dayton, Ohio, and made about $20/hour on weekend nights. Hours were flexible and I couldn’t find a part-time job making that much, so I stuck with it for 3 hours until I finished college.
For a short time I drove for Dominos (same franchise) in a small town 20 minutes north of my usual haunt. I remember making 49 deliveries in an 8-hour shift and having $5 in tips. The difference between those nearby communities was just amazing, but that was about the last time I went up to help that store.
Mind if I ask what pizzeria? I used to live in Nashville back in the day, a block off West End near Centennial Park (lived there back when the tornado hit downtown).
I went to Vanderbilt from 96-99 and 01-02, so I was there then, also. I was actually working at that Blockbuster on West End during that tornado.
But yeah, during that time I variously delivered for Papa Johns (pizza, obviously), Jimmy Johns (sandwiches), and Off the Grill (steaks and upscale hamburgers). Of those three, I made the least money delivering pizza and the most at Off the Grill. Lunch shift was always the most lucrative, so being close to downtown was more important than being close to the university – all those catered business meetings is where the money is.
I delivered pizza through most of college and made about $15 an hour on weeknights and $20 an hour or so on Fri/Sat nights. Best (and last) part-time job I ever had. Was hell on your car, though.
well, compared to other no-skill jobs, experience can make a lot of difference in pizza delivery. when it is busy, the experienced drivers know the most efficient way to drop off a run of pizzas, they know the good tippers and they never get lost. and because customers get to know them (good drivers will chat up the customers) they get better tips.
i’d say the difference between an experienced driver and a so-so driver is probably an extra 50% to 100% in tips.
