Advertise What follows is a public service announcement ad that can be mailed to raise awareness that drivers are tipped employees. It should be sent to stiffers, primarily. All you need is the person's snail-mail address. It simply educates or reminds one. Hopefully, the person will start tipping. You're free to use the following documents and make as many copies as you see fit, assuming you adhere to the guidelines. Guidelines Don't put a return address on it. (You can if you have an anonymous PO box and actually want feedback.) Instead, on the envelope's top left corner, print "Do you know how to tip the pizza guy?" or "Please tip the pizza guy" or "tipthepizzaguy.com" or just "Pizza." The message "Pizza" is most effective. You don't want to use the individual's first or last name, which is hard to get. On the envelope, simply refer to the person as "Resident." Don't use your handwriting on the envelope. Print the address by hand or use your printer, since handwriting is easy to trace. Keep it anonymous. Don't sign or write anything on the document. The envelope must only contain the person's address and the message in place of the return address. Mail it from a large post office. Don't send any more than one copy to the same address. Otherwise, it might be considered unsolicited junk mail. Don't send it to a stiffer who appears to know about tipping. It should be sent to an apparently clueless person. For example, if they apologize for the tip, they already know. Don't send to abusive people who mention the tip. The idea is to educate. This is an advertisement for the drivers. Send only to repeat stiffers. Do not send to a one-time stiffer or a customer who goes back and forth. It's best to send no more than 25 or 30 to the same delivery area in the same week. Typically, one in 30 complains or mentions it to the store. What effect does it have on a store's business? The results come from seven unrelated stores across the United States. It has consistently maintained a 60% or greater success rate. The remaining 40% of the stiffers did not take their business elsewhere. They ordered pick-up (carry-out.) There was a noticeable increase in the amount of pick-up orders. After a large mailing, each store experienced a small temporary dip in delivery business for a few days followed by a huge, permanent surge in overall business two weeks later that was higher than ever experienced. It had an unexpected side-effect of attracting business because it does advertise. It's important not to let anyone know you're mailing this. It might depend on your manager. Some are pretty good about it and won't have a problem. Some agree, but only if sent from another city or state. Most managers will discipline or fire you. Don't take the risk of letting others (including co-workers) know you're doing this or it might leak. Although this is your private time, you could still be reprimanded. You should wait a week or two after getting stiffed before sending it. The stiffer will be far less likely to remember a specific driver. Some people have asked if they can send one to every house on the block. You can do that as long as you retain the line inside the bottom disclaimer that reads: "This is intended as a one-time only message." Make sure you send one and only one copy per address. By scrolling past this line, it means you agree with the aforementioned terms and conditions regarding the use of the "advertisement." You agree to take responsibility for your actions and you understand a violation of the guidelines does not make the authors of this site liable. Here is a printable version If you have MS Word, you can download it here The Adobe Acrobat version is slightly different. We offer a color version and a black and white version. Last updated: March 18, 2002 return to top