If the Domino’s Noid from the 80s were a Domino’s driver from today, he’d likely make $15.91 an hour, according to research from ZipRecruiter. Customers usually help out by giving drivers a gratuity. The company is now encouraging this by reimbursing online tips.
The pizza chain recently launched its “You Tip, We Tip” promotion. When customers tip a courier $3 or more online, they will receive a $3 coupon, along with a “You’ve been tipped” message. The coupon will be valid for a week after each order. Domino’s claims it is the first quick-service restaurant to tip customers for tipping their delivery drivers.
“Domino’s drivers have been hustling to deliver pizzas since 1960, and we love that customers have been tipping them since day one,” said Kate Trumbull, Domino’s senior vice president – chief brand officer, in a statement. “But these days, everywhere you go, there’s a tip screen. The pressure to tip is real, even when no extra service is provided. So we decided to flip the script and show our appreciation by tipping customers back.”
We’ve seen something similar from Domino’s. It rolled out “Carryout Tips” in January 2022. In that promotion, carryout customers who ordered online were able to claim a $3 tip to use on their next online carryout order. The promotion was active from January through May of that year, during which time the company said 17 million tips were claimed. The company brought it back later that year for a few more months.
What is new is Domino’s taking a cheeky stance on social tipping. For corporate America, that’s edgy stuff. But it also might be safe ground. A March survey from WalletHub revealed that close to three-fourths of Americans do believe tipping has gotten a bit cuckoo.
When it comes to coupons and promotions, Domino’s has shown that it can raise earnings like it raises pies. Its first-quarter earnings results, which were released this morning, showed that it grew quarterly net income by 20 percent from a year ago. It attributes this in part to its promotions and marketing. It says that a revamped loyalty program and advertising with Uber Eats helped it improve revenues, with delivery and pickup orders both increasing.
In other words, unlike the Noid, this is a campaign that customers likely won’t avoid.
