This could be a silly question with a simple answer, but I was curious, how do food delivery people find my house?
I suppose these days they could be getting Mapquest directions or something from the restaurant before they depart, but I'm not so sure they even do that. Even if they did, though, what did they do before you could get driving directions online (i.e., 5, 10, or 15 years ago)? Do restaurants try to hire drivers that have a good sense of direction and/or know the layout of the delivery area? Do the drivers just figure out the roads after awhile?
Originally posted by StingArmyThis could be a silly question with a simple answer, but I was curious, how do food delivery people find my house?
I suppose these days they could be getting Mapquest directions or something from the restaurant before they depart, but I'm not so sure they even do that. Even if they did, though, what did they do before you could get driving directions online (i.e., 5, 10, or 15 years ago)? Do restaurants try to hire drivers that have a good sense of direction and/or know the layout of the delivery area? Do the drivers just figure out the roads after awhile?
- StingArmy
Although I don't deliver pizzas, I do drive a delivery truck, and it's a combination of both, most of the area I deliver to I know fairly well, and what I don't know, we either get directions from the customer, or use MapQuest to get an idea of where we're going. If I was to break it down, I'd prolly say 75% memory, 20% MapQuest, and 5% customer input.
You figure though, out of a 50 hour week (which is what I work, and going to many different places, it really becomes an afterthought. It does help to have a good sense of direction however. I'm more dependable than my coworker, who's memory & direction suck like ass, and I end up doing 90% of the driving.
You can look up a specific address with a Thomas guide, and those things have been around forever.
First you get the destination address (duh), then you look up the destination city/zip code in the glossary, then you find the street & street number you're looking for listed with all of the orher streets & street numbers listed under that city/zip code. The book will tell you what page of the book that city/street/zip code is on, and in what *quadrant of the page the street number you are looking for is on.
Then you go to that page and you find the street number by using the *columns & rows that each page is divided into, kinda like a big multiplication table. The rows on each map page are labeled A-G, and the columns are labeled 1-8, or maybe the other way around.
So the glossary listing for your house address might say "Page 314, G7". So you go to page 314, row G, column 7, and there you are!
Yeah, I have one of those Thomas guide things (although I don't know if that's what mine is called), and it was quite useful when I first moved. But I get the feeling that using that to find addresses of every delivery to be made would get tedious and time-consuming. And if it's a long route, that could get complicated, tracking all the turns and whatnot over the course of several pages in the guide.
I could see drivers using such a guide to get a general idea of where a particular address is but still needing to know the general layout of the delivery area. Something like, "Oh, I see in this guide that Maple Ave. is near the intersection of Main & 5th. I know how to get to that intersection already, so here we go."
CRZ is correct. I used to manage a Domino's. Somewhere inside most pizza joints they have a huge blown up map on a wall. The map is divided into sectors. When you call most places have a caller ID w/ your address (if you have called before). It then shows what sector you are in. They look at the map then plot the best way to get there.
In addition most drivers have a map in their car just in case they get lost. Only cabby's have cool stuff like GPS. No pizza joint is gonna fork over the cash to buy and install them unless THEY own the car, which most pizza places do not. Now there are some drivers that have their own GPS but they are in the minority.
Plugging in an address on mapquest or whatever for EVERY delivery would take for ever. Also, pizza places have a limited delivery area so getting to know the area doesn't take too long. Especially if the the driver is from or has been there before.
Pretty simple, I used to actually deliver for a Little Caesars and we had a map on the wall. I would look up the street on the map and plot my best way there.
If I was taking multiple deliverys, I would plot the shortest path in order to do them all.
I know now when we call somewhere that we have not ordered from, they will ask us what major street intersection we are near. That made the look-up on the map simpler when I was delivering....
Where the wild are strong, and the strong are the darkest ones, you're the Darkest One.
I used to deliver pizza, and it was as simple as a map I kept in my glove compartment. After a while, you get to know the streets well enough that the map usually isn't necessary (though my place delivered to a lot of farm communities, so I still needed it for the longer runs). Of course, it led to a couple of embarrassing instances in the first few weeks of work --- "Hmm, where's so-and-so street? Oh geez, it's two blocks from my house."
"Oh, gosh, you know, I'm not much on speeches, but it's so gratifying to leave you wallowing in the mess you've made. You're screwed, thank you, bye."
Don't be ridiculous. It has nothing to do with free speech. The stupid bastard embarrassed the network and he was fired for it. Thats that. This is a common misconception of people who don't work in radio/TV.