Another driver down = 3 left to go

[wa_dave]

Last night my best driver who works Friday and Saturdays nights gave me a months notice of departure.

Shame as he is a really nice young guy and bloody good worker.

This now leaves me with 3 drivers, with only 1 for Friday and Saturday, none on Tuesday or Thursday and over the coming weeks leading to Christmas (yes it is just around the corner) a couple of Friday nights with no drivers at all.

After about 7 weeks we have not one reply for drivers from adverts, box toppers, window posters etc. I am beginning to think that delivery is doomed for my store (and many others in our area).

Luckily we are not dependent on delivery, eg Friday night we did 29 deliveries from 135 orders taken = 21.5%, and knowing that many of these customers will come and pick up if they want their pizzas.

Daddio. That offer to drive for me still open ? :lol:

Dave

 

[royster13]

Dave did Daddio tell you it is freaking cold in his neck of the woods over the winter?..Our area is not going though a boom like Northern Alberta or Australia but there are jobs for anyone who wants them…Good luck…

 

[wa_dave]

royster13:

Dave did Daddio tell you it is freaking cold in his neck of the woods over the winter?..Our area is not going though a boom like Northern Alberta or Australia but there are jobs for anyone who wants them…Good luck…

Royce, Daddio to drive for me in Australia where our winter temperature is like your summer and our summer is HOT - but we are only 1km from the ocean and get the afternoon sea breeze

There are heaps of jobs here for anyone that wants them but with 3.3% unemployment the only ones left are the unemployables or those who don’t want to be employed. :x

Mate to have my delivery side survive I need more than Good Luck, but thanks for the thoughts.

Read an article today about your sand oil boom around Fort McMurray in Alberta and the big $$ they are paying workers. Shame about the high cost of a roof over the head though (if you can find any). I thought momentarily about coming over and earning some big bucks until I read about the shortage and price of accommodation and the -30 degrees in winter.

Nah, I’ll stay with my driverless pizza shop and 40 degree celsius summers.

Dave

 

[pizzabarntn]

my teenage son said he would go down under and work for you next summer he will be sixteen and looking for adventure probally cound not drive for you but will work!!! would be good life experince for him.

 

[Daddio]

What is the cost of housing there? I have a couple of young guys that may be interested in spending some time down under.

 

[wa_dave]

Daddio:

What is the cost of housing there? I have a couple of young guys that may be interested in spending some time down under.

Average house price is now around $550,000, and $830,000 in the suburb I live (across the road from the shop). In Western Australia we have gone from one of the cheapest states for housing affordability to the dearest, now higher than our main state New South Wales and our major city Sydney.

Rentals are now just about non existent due the high price to buy a house and rents if you are lucky enough to get one are $350 upwards and rising every quarter.

There is a major discrepency now between wages and housing afforability since the high wage earners in the resources boom industry buy investment properties and put them on the rental market for other high income earners from interstate who move here for the wages - a viscious circle.

For any young guys coming here to work seasonally the best they will get for accommodation at a reasonable price will be a caravan (you call them trailer homes) or back packer hostels.

Dave

 

[Daddio]

Looks like a reflection of here. Way too much money for doing unskilled work and gouging the heck out of anyone that wants to come and make an honest effort to get ahead.

 

[wa_dave]

Daddio:

Looks like a reflection of here. Way too much money for doing unskilled work and gouging the heck out of anyone that wants to come and make an honest effort to get ahead.

It’s not going to be a pretty sight when the ar$e falls out of the market in the coming years.

We will have all these people used to high wages looking for jobs and nobody will be able or willing to pay them what they are used to. Plus the cost of everything will be so high that everyone will be on struggle street.

But maybe then they will be willing to do any work and I will have too many drivers. Oopps, sorry I was dreaming of Utopia :lol:

Heck I’ll either be retired or in the loony bin by then anyway so it won’t matter.

Dave

 

[NicksPizza]

wa dave:

Heck I’ll either be retired or in the loony bin by then anyway so it won’t matter. Dave

You must mean the STATE looney bin, ‘cause I understand you’ve got head of looney thing goin’ on there already.

MAN! I would hate having the labor issues you have. Sure, our extremely limited labor pool hurts us in our shop, but we keep enough staff to meet needs, and they are pretty impressive right now. Illness or injury to one person hits hard, but at least they recuperate and return to us.

 

[wa_dave]

NicksPizza:

wa dave:

Heck I’ll either be retired or in the loony bin by then anyway so it won’t matter. Dave

You must mean the STATE looney bin, ‘cause I understand you’ve got head of looney thing goin’ on there already.

MAN! I would hate having the labor issues you have. Sure, our extremely limited labor pool hurts us in our shop, but we keep enough staff to meet needs, and they are pretty impressive right now. Illness or injury to one person hits hard, but at least they recuperate and return to us.

Just add another tale of woe (where’s the violin gone?).

My MIT who works with me tonight has phoned in sick. My manager is rostered off and has arrangements made for the night and all our other staff are unavailable - customer service are school kids and can’t work tonight, drivers that are left are unavailable. So guess who is doing a loner?

That’s right just me and my shadow doing the phones, prep, customer service, cooking and cutting and we will probably do about $800.

Just shove a broom up my rear and I will do the cleaning as I go

Dave

 

[NicksPizza]

Power to ya’ Dave. It’s not every man who would gut it up and run the solo shift. I would be tempted to close for the night and find a solution for tomorrow . . . I like to think I’d overcome that temptation now that I hear you fighting the good fight and serving the customer the best you know how.

For the love of the Game . . . . .

 

[up23]

well Dave dont feel bad been doing a loner for 4 days now both my pizza men are gone & its killin me prepping dough making pizza and not able to deliver had a few customers get mad but what can i do?

 

[wa_dave]

Well not so bad after all. One of my drivers helped out for 3 hours answering the phone and making pizzas. Did a good job at it especially as he hasn’t really been fully crossed trained on the make line. I’ll slip him a couple of movie tickets as a ‘thank you’.

Had to drop deliveries as it would have been out of control if he left the shop. Unfortunately we lost about 6 or 7 orders from people who wanted delivery no matter what, probably worth about $200. One a#hole gave a serve to the young guy about not being able to deliver. Oh well there are people about who just want their lights punched out. :evil: (is that me the really saying that ??? :? )

None the less we did a tad over $800 in the 4 hours we were open (closed at 9pm as it got very slow and most were asking for delivery) so I’m pretty happy with that and the clean up was quick and easy (I’m not a messy worker).

It was good to get the hands around the dough for the roll up. Couldn’t believe how quick I did it. Must have been in the groove. Funny thing is I quite enjoyed it.

Hopefully my MIT is back on deck tomorrow as the driver who came in tonight has his High School graduation and won’t be in. MIT can deliver and I will cook. We have a customer service girl on so we should be OK.

Stay tuned for the next installment of Pizza Woes Down Under. I’ll tune the violin ready for it.

Dave