Domino's - Delivery Surcharge

Huh?

At Your Door? A Dollar More

By Caroline E. Mayer
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, April 7, 2005; Page E01

Free pizza delivery may soon amount to pie in the sky.

Next week, local Domino's Pizza stores will begin charging a $1 delivery fee for any order. There's no other way to slice the rising costs the chain has to pay for fuel, rent, insurance and food, especially cheese, the prices of which are "at record highs," said David Carraway, president of Team Washington Inc., which owns 59 Domino's stores in the Washington area.

Um... Domino's Pizza's entire business is delivery. Obviously, if Domino's feels it has to raise prices to compensate for higher costs, then they should do what they have to do. But, it seems silly to call it a "fee" for the service that is at the core of the company's business model. That would be like your barber charging you a $1 dollar fee above the price of the haircut... for cutting your hair.

Lousy P.R. move, Domino's. It would have made much more sense to quietly raise prices across the board and then publicize a special $1 discount for in-store pickup. Not that anybody asked.