We have for the past 15 years had a box and hap hazardly encouraged drivers to use it. It was wooden and has seen it’s last day.
The PH driver in our town was robbed the other night.
Our driver was set up on a delivery to a vacant house a couple of months ago and all they took was the food.
May never ever ever happen again but I know that the small town we are in is well aware of our drivers carrying hundreds of dollars because someone knows someone who knows someone who has worked for us over the past 15 years. We tried on tuesday to ring as we go but it was truly difficult during our rush. Last night was even worse. Trust me I realize 30 seconds to ring out but it just didn’t work when you have deliveries waiting, dine in customers trying to cash out, phone ringing, and etc…Friday would not be a possibility to make it smooth so a drop box seems like a logical solution. Our second location is not as busy and cashing out drivers was not a big deal.
I would like to start putting on our coupons etc like dominoes does that our drivers carry less than 20 bucks.
I also wouldn’t put it past a driver to “claim” a robbery …don’t get me wrong, I like and trust our employees but you never know.
We already have some safeguard in place since our pizza theft…if a customer’s number is blocked we explain we must have a verifiable number and will call them back with their total this seems to be a great idea since we would always have a number associated with the order but then again someone could steal a phone. This in fact is what happened during the pizza theft…the number was blocked and they gave us a bogus number.
I just really don’t think it would be a problem doing money drops…the box will be located right in front of one of our cameras.
We shall see…thanks for input and what an interesting thread to hear others thoughts.
I drop my money after EVERY delivery. In my opinion, other drivers carrying large amounts of money puts ME at risk.
if they are robbed and the thieves get a big ‘take’, they are tempted to try again.
if someone becomes aware that a driver carries a large amount of money, they may assume that all drivers do.
I would prefer that drivers not carry cash at all and only accept checks, debit and credit cards. On a few occasions I had zero cash collected as a driver except a few cash tips. All the orders were paid with CC’s or checks.
This sort of thing may cut down on pre-planned set up type robberies, but I think you’re assigning too much forethought to the types of people who rob drivers. It’s also one of those situations where the two inputs might be weighted differently, while a driver getting held up for a lot might inspire a few copy-cats, I’m not convinced that most drivers that are robbed giving up small amounts of money will do much to discourage robbery.
Notice that I’m not saying that drop boxes are some sort of scam perpetrated by owners on drivers or something, I’m simply stating that I personally don’t like them. I don’t feel that they do much to protect my safety, and I feel that they insert a new cause for possible drama that I don’t need in my life.
I don’t know your personal policies, but several stores that I worked at over the years, the employment agreement even forbid such common sense driver protection as carrying pepper spray, something that costs an employer nothing and has almost zero downside. Many of these same shops not only did not follow safety protocols, but actively discouraged them during rushes as “wasting time” and often would not let me use a register to do a cash drop when busy for the same reasons. The only possible conclusion that I could draw is that at least to that store’s management, all I was to them was a dollar symbol on the books. Again, this is my personal experience, mostly with a guy that was just an all around bad dude to work for, and not meant to be accusatory in any way.
I might suggest getting a large label maker if you don’t already have one, and mark each driver’s personal box in huge bold font letters, maybe even color code them in some way. What I’d be concerned about would be mix ups during a rush, if someone put money in the wrong box, it could be very hard (and emotional) to sort out, since tips and CCs mean that their is no way to verify the exact amount that should be in any given box. Getting some colored key-covers and matching them by painting the doors of the boxes might help eliminate mistakes in a rush. Also, as someone who can in fact pick locks (middle school, don’t ask…), I’d advise putting the box somewhere that it is plainly visible from the counter, this should both help keep everyone honest, and make everyone more likely to trust the system.
Actually, depending upon the pay rate it would violate the FLSA to make an employee pay back money lost to a robbery, even if it was the fault of the employee. You can fire the employee, but you can’t make them pay. As a practical matter, shooting a robber would get me fired anyway, so I’m not worried.
I’ll take these two together, since they are so similar.
Good luck with the no cash thing, I’ve yet to see that done successfully. Given those thin margins I keep hearing about, I imagine that the customers lost to going no cash could probably sink a start up. As to putting other drivers at risk, I’ll cover that in responding to Gregster, who should know me well enough to know what I’m going to say.
You know my feelings on this one Gregster, I think that the majority of drivers are setting a worse precedent by not fighting back than I’m setting by carrying cash. You know that I can argue fairly well that drivers like myself provide a benefit to other, “free rider” drivers who don’t fight back, by acting as a deterrent, so I won’t repeat myself here. Like we’ve discussed, if proper safety protocol is adhered to, the set-up type robbery is much more difficult to successfully perpetrate, leaving the impulse robbery. I remain unconvinced that impulse robbers really think about what sort of drop policy that particular shop might have, since to them easy money is easy money. A high probability of death or serious injury to the robber prevents many more subsequent robberies than any number of weak scores off of cashless drivers. I know, I know, OSHA and all are going to disagree with me here, but when it comes to my personal safety out there I prefer to take responsibility myself. Especially since many shops don’t give the drivers much discretion on not taking a sketchy order or blacklisting dangerous areas, I feel that I’m fully justified in defying policy on this one.
I took a gig once in a 'hood that had a rash of robberies previous to my employment. The first thing I did was have the owner buy three $10 sheet metal drop boxes and install them under the front counter.
All of the little ghetto people hanging out in the carryout area saw us constantly opening our drop boxes and putting the money away.
We stopped making change for large bills.
We started doing till drops from the register drawers.
No robberies at all for the next two and a half years.
A pistol is only one weapon of many in your arsenal. Carry a brain first.
If it does ANYTHING . . . ANYTHING . . . to discourage an armed or unarmed assault on my employee, it is worth my time and investment. You, Dox47, don’t have to be convinced. It is a numbers game in the world of crime suppression, and anything that is done to have an impact on liklihood of perpetration will add up in the end. It’s like marketing . . . security is a plan and a process that has a progressive and additive effect. I am not an expert, but did learn some valid information in my tenure as local Police Commissioner. Even impulse criminals do a rudimentary cost/benefit analysis, or they’d knock over anyone and everyone they see, no?
. . . . <> . . . Again, this is my personal experience, mostly with a guy that was just an all around bad dude to work for, and not meant to be accusatory in any way.
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I can empathize with the exeperience you had at the place where management did not appear too concerned with the overall safety. That mindset would be poor in terms of professional relationships as well as liability exposure. Weapons carried employees DO add a cost to employers, and that is liability exposure. If someone is accidentally or wrongfully injured with that weapon, whatever it is, will spawn a trip to court for the employer, and insurance cost escalation. Every owner has to make the call for himself, but do not imagine there is zero cost.
Do keep that memory. Just remember not to over generalize it. Just because you have a hammer, everything in the world isn’t a nail.
There is no perceived or potential cost to the employer that outweighs the very real threat to the life or the rights of the employee.
Drivers get robbed all the time. When was the last time a customer or innocent bystander was harmed by a delivery driver defending himself?
Zero.
I wear no uniform. Use no topper. Don’t carry any kind of delivery person gear such as hotbags. I do carry a gun, which is the absolute last item I’ll use only if my life is in danger.
My system works every time for the last 22 years, 9 robbery/assault incidents, and numerous attempted carjackings.
While I generally agree with that assertion you made . . . your last paragraph is one that is too much cost. No uniform, topper, hotbag . . .and carrying a gun to boot. That is more cost to my business and branding model than I could really withstand, so would suggest we terminate the employment amicably. Safety of our staff is huge priority to us . . . but cannot carve into the visual branding/identity we have worked so long and hard to establish.
Our town is different than some, and a car topper is not quite the robbery magnet that is suggested by some. Given the thousands upon thousands of delivery miles driven each year, and number of house delivered to, the number of crimes perpetrated on pizza drivers doesn’t seem astronomical.
ONE is too many, but the ratio does seem to suggest that some rational and considered safeguards would drop the risk to something rather tiny.
Too much cost? Higher cost than the safety of your employees?
I don’t let people like you weigh that decision with my life in the balance. You can justify your position all you like, but it doesn’t change the fact that your investment in your business isn’t worth my life.
I wouldn’t work for someone with values such as yours.
Since you’re so certain that the ratios make it an acceptable risk, how about a little bet?
If you ever, God forbid, have a driver injured by a robber on the job, how about you just stand there and let him fire one round into your body afterwards for being wrong about your acceptable risks.
I hear you loud and clear. You’re a right-winger. A conservative. Believe in the constitution. But you’re willing to sell out my rights and safety for your own profit.
You value your visual branding/identity that you’ve worked so long and hard to establish over my rights, your conservative beliefs, and the principles our country was founded upon.
In the final wash of all our values at the shop and your values, the job is ours to offer or retract. If a member of my staff is not satisfied with the lengths I takes to assure their safety, then they are always encouraged to ask for more. If what we are able to offer is not enough for their needs, then we need to part ways professionally.
I haven’t trod upon the ‘rights’ of anyone in our employ . . . nor on yours.
I’m not selling out, and that appears to offend you. My wife and I have established a business, a culture among our personnel, and an identity within our extended community. We are part fo some problems and part of some solutions. We find it is more solutions than problems.
I’d say the same thing about my services. No matter what steps you take, when it comes down to defeating a robbery or an assault, the driver is the one who is going to pay the price…or not.
I fully understand where you’re coming from. I also understand I could work in your shop for years and you would never even realize I was armed.
Since I’ve seen bad things happen in nice neighborhoods in small towns, I personally wouldn’t care what your policy was, and you would never reach in my pocket to find out I had been violating it all along.
I haven’t trod upon the ‘rights’ of anyone in our employ . . . nor on yours.
Nope. But your position attempts to. Your position is largely adopted by the restaurant community. I take issue with that.
I’m not selling out, and that appears to offend you. My wife and I have established a business, a culture among our personnel, and an identity within our extended community. We are part fo some problems and part of some solutions. We find it is more solutions than problems.
Believe it or not I respect that. But none of it matters to me anywhere near as much as a person’s right to defend themselves, and to have the means at hand to do so, when engaged in a hazardous occupation on your behalf.
I understand your liability issues and agree wholeheartedly on many of the things you are representing concerning your business. But when I balance those things against my personal safety, they come up short every time.
You wouldn’t think of banning the use of safety belts while driving. I see it as the same thing. I want that airbag and seatbelt if I’m ever in an accident, and I want that pistol if any boogiemen jump out of the shadows.