I ordered my daughter a pizza, something I don't usually do. I got Domino's smallest size with two toppings. I got her cheese sticks and two sauces and tipped the driver 20%. $31.07.

Flying Squid@lemmy.world to Mildly Infuriating@lemmy.world – 401 points –

Note I did not buy any food for myself.

To head off questions:

  1. No, I couldn't cook for her. I'm suffering from a long-term illness where I can't eat solid foods and am extremely smell sensitive. My wife is at a funeral, so I had to order food.

  2. She's extremely picky and refused to let me order anything but pizza.

  3. We live outside of town, in a not very big town, with very few pizza delivery options, and they're all at least this expensive.

  4. No, I didn't also have to buy her the cheesy bread or the second topping or the sauces, but it's nice to get my daughter a treat and that is no excuse for the order being that expensive.

  5. We're in Indiana, so this should be ludicrous in terms of pricing. This used to be the pricing I would expect when we lived in L.A. and ordered from a good local place rather than a chain.

Edit: Turns out what I should have been infuriated about is people repeatedly telling me to get takeout and having to repeatedly explain why that wasn't an option, having people not believe I'm sick, and being repeatedly berated for not magically knowing food coupons exist on the internet when I never order food on the internet. Oh right, and also being a bad parent for not forcing food my daughter doesn't like down her throat or starving her if she won't eat it.

By the way, I have another thing to be infuriated about. A huge storm came in and this happened to our trees. I assume I will start being berated for not cutting them down before that happened, but because I have no power or internet at home and have to go to the library to post, your further posts telling me what an idiot I am and how I'm an awful parent and how I'm not really sick will take me a while to read. Sorry to ruin your day. Maybe you'll find someone else to treat like shit.

Anyway, have fun telling me I'm the worst person on Lemmy, just don't expect a quick reply.

Oh, and do tell me how stupid I am for not knowing that people who clear up and fix such damage have coupons on their website.

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I felt bad reading this. Fast food is way too expensive here in 2024. And then you had to write an essay justifying yourself because of all the pedantic jerks who love to pounce on the smallest of things.

The thing about inflation is the food is not expensive, its the value of money that's gone down. Its salaries that are way too low to afford the new prices. The food isn't too expensive - employees are being underpaid.

Yeah but that's an academic, maybe even a pedantic, difference.

people love acting like they're perfect and always make perfect decisions in these posts. like, you can easily advise the OP and sympathize but people love to be smug instead

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Yea, pizza places have gotten out of hand in recent years.

Adding a delivery fee (which doesn't go to the driver) from locations that only do delivery.

How about fuck you and your delivery fee. Which is why I refuse to have pizza delivered any more. Plus they invariably get lost, though we're a few hundred yards from their store.

Little Seizures sells the same pizza for half the price, or less, than Papa John's, before those fees are tacked on.

The only LC here is inside a gas station, but I used to love their crazy bread years ago.

I've always been too much of a cheapskate curmudgeon to pay for food delivery and I've been increasingly baffled by people who pay hundreds of dollars a month to have cold, soggy fast food delivered at an eye watering premium.

I get laziness, I really do. For me, personally, going to pick up food is the lazy option.

Completely agree here. If I do order delivery and it’s a third party delivering I always tip a fortune because I know otherwise they won’t care — and yet it still comes back nasty and cold.

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Why would you need to defend yourself for ordering a pizza and being shocked by the high price? Sometimes I think I've gotten too old for the internet. People should be allowed to order a pizza every once in a while and not have to formulate a 5 point list of the reasons why it's okay for them to order pizza.

A whole bunch of people have come in to tell me why I should have done things that I already said I wouldn't be able to do based on those five points, so I suppose you could argue that it wasn't worth giving them, although I have a feeling even more people would have said "just get takeout" or whatever. Someone even now is telling me to get takeout just put the pizza in a Ziplock.

???

Pizza is takeout... If they mean picking it up instead of delivery, well yes, you should have.

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If you want to get a fair price at Dominos, you have to play their game. At least look through the website for special offers on pizza, because the "menu prices" are 2.5x higher than the average price a person pays. After that, if you still want a lower price, search the Internet for coupons (although that doesn't work as well nowadays since they use account-locked rewards systems instead of coupons).

Even if you play the game, it will still be more expensive than you remember, due to massive inflation.

I don't go to Dominos any more due to repeated bad customer service, their website malfunctioning in a lot of ways, and the last time I visited the store it smelled strongly like ammonia.

Wow. That's some bullshit, but I'll remember that if I have to do this again.

Usually, there's a coupon that lets you get a medium 1 topping pizza and a stuffed cheese bread (+1 free dip), for $7 each item. That said, I absolutely recommend making your own pizza dough if you have the time for it. Way better tasting pizza.

I wouldn't even be able to get near pizza dough. I can imagine the smell in my head right now and that's enough of the thought of a food smell to disgust me.

Honest question, not a real suggestion, would the smell get through one of those double filter strap face masks for painting? I just don't know about your situation.

I haven't tried it, but I also don't really want to take the chance.

I replicated the order using their coupons. It saved $2, almost $3. But it’s for a medium pizza.

That's definitely better, but still significantly more expensive than it was 5 years ago. Do websites have coupons you can just use before you order? I didn't bother to look. I didn't even know that was a thing.

Yeah, as a person who’s ordered dominoes more than I like you have to start a coupon before you order and it makes it significantly cheaper (specifically the $7 per item coupon previously mentioned).

Also, I highly recommend switching the pizza crust from hand tossed to pan. It’s always been a free change when I’ve done it and the pizza always comes out significantly better. If you’re optimizing it’s also more calories/dollar.

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Large one-topping pizzas are only $7.99 if you order on the Domino's website with their coupon, which is usually located on the home page. Make sure you click "see all coupons" if prompted, because they bury some of them.

I once had a problem picking up an order I'd made online that never went through. They tried to resubmit the order themselves in-store so they could make the pizza on the spot, but the total was almost twice as much without the online coupons. I had to place my online order in the store since they couldn't access those deals themselves.

Bonus, though, is that you can get the extra large "Brooklyn style" for only $10 (instead of $15+ regular price) by up-sizing that $7.99 large pizza for $2 more when you check out.

Source: am kinda poor in a rural area where Domino's is about the best you can get, and buying in bulk is the cheapest way to go.

Speaking of buying in bulk, Dominos pasta is pretty good and filling and refrigerates/reheats much better than the pizza. If you're ever doing dominos, add a pasta on for tomorrow's lunch.

Their “deal” pizza went from $5.99 in ~2010 to $6.99 and now $7.99. I do not remember when the changes happened exactly, but I do remember back around 2010 ordering the pizza at that price when our friend group would get together to watch Doctor Who.

The $6.99 to $7.99 increase happened in the last yearish (I checked an order email from May 2023 and it was $6.99). I only get delivery when I am at work and my wife is unable to bring dinner, but I know the delivery fee has been increasing too.

ETA: went and looked back further at order emails, in June 2022 it was $5.99. My earliest order email is from 2012, and they were $5.99 then as well. So at least 10 years at $5.99.

Edit2: the $7.99 is because of the extra toppings. Medium pizzas are still $6.99 with coupon. I was up way past my bedtime last night, thus the mistake.

Tangent, but please stop using ETA. That acronym is already taken by something important, and saving one character over "edit" doesn't help anything.

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Yeah Domino's is one of those places that the price with a coupon, is the regular price. And the food's not terribly worth it even then IMO.

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What's mildly infuriating here is OP... People are trying to explain how you could have saved almost 1/3 of your purchase price and you just argue with them and keep shouting from your soapbox.

Unfortunately, price shopping is a part of every transaction if you are trying to get the best deal. If you aren't invested enough to read the largest banner on the shop website to save almost 1/3 of your total, then getting the best price was clearly not a concern when you ordered. Yes, you are expected to do that yourself, just like buying anything else in the commerce system we have been using for decades. It's real boomer/privileged energy expecting that to just be done for you.

I hear you, but OP already said he didn't use the internet to make the purchase. Honestly, even as a millennial I order out so infrequently that I probably wouldn't use their site either. Yes, the economic system that has created this reality is the main issue, but that doesn't mean it's incorrect to be frustrated at Dominos.

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Never order dominos without coupons. It’s exponentially more expensive than anything you can get with a coupon.

Dominos largest profit margins are on orders exactly like this. It’s often more economical to order more food at a cheaper price.

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You fucked up by not using the coupons

Edit: sorry not trying to blame you, you wouldn't know they do it this way, but they have extra high prices with really good coupons that are always active and can be used over and over. The best is the mix and match for $6.99.

I'm not downloading an app just to buy a pizza. I have 10 local pizza joints in my town of 17,000 people. Stop buying from national chains.

Well duh. But if you only have a certain amount of money the big chain can be your only option, and in that case the coupons are essential.

Edit: also, there's no reason to download the app besides slightly better tracking of the delivery. Website is still fully functional.

It was $15 for a large (16 inch) pepperoni from a local shop last week here. The shop next door to my apartment has an $18 "King" sized that is 20inches. $21 for a 26x18 field. $6 for cheesy garlic breadNo coupons needed. Extra sauces are $1 instead of 75¢, but they are made in house so i can accept that.

Both are admittedly more expensive than the Marcos 2 doors down from me, and i am not factoring in delivery charges, but not by much and certainly cheaper than what the OP posted here. I might also be lucky because my small college town has a piza shop for nearly ever 1000 residents, so they have to really compete with each other which keeps prices down, and the national chains really struggle against the better local options.

You don't need the app, you can use the coupon via the web site.

You're using Domino's wrong. You have to use the 2+ two topping medium pizza coupon for $6.99 each. They have it plastered on the website and the app.

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Kinda shitty that Dominos has it set up so that tip is calculated on top of the delivery and service fees. Tipping on the value of food, I understand. Tipping on the cost of those other fees is double dipping and bad faith in my opinion.

Seriously, "y'all charged me a service fee to deliver my food? Cool! Let me tip you for that!"

Having done time in the service industry, I have no problem tipping where it's warranted, but you're tipping the Dominos corporation for their fuckery at that point, not the driver

That's like 50% of all tip calculations nowadays. It's really obnoxious and feels like it's trying to make you feel guilty for tipping an appropriate amount, but taxes and service charges aren't part of the service.

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Reading the comments about Domino's coupon obsession, I feel like giving an economics story about when JC Penney said nuts to sales and coupons and nearly went bankrupt.

Corpos in food and retail found that overpricing things then hitting you with deals and coupons caused American audiences to feel like they were getting a good deal. 15 buck pizza for only 6 dollars? Sounds like a deal until you realize that it's really cheap to make thanks to suppliers and premade frozen pizzas. But if they always price it at 6 bucks, you're gonna raise an eyebrow.

What if you don't do that? JC Penney had that idea a few years ago, since their industry basically priced jeans for 100 bucks and then said they were 70% off almost every day. So they tried everyday low prices and... they nearly bankrupted themselves. Lots of factors, but their main factor was their usual clientele thought they weren't getting a deal even though the prices were cheaper than competitors (while not really attracting a new audience savvy enough to know sales are a scam).

Point is, Domino's is in a cycle of coupons or bust. It's a shame you don't have good pizza options at reasonable prices nearby, though, and a shame the good old days of free delivery seem behind us.

I hate how people mix up correlation and causation with JC Penney and it's couponless trial. The company was ALREADY very much on a fast track to bankruptcy when it decided to try removing coupons - that's why they tried it. It didn't make enough of a difference to pull them out of the nosedive they were in.

It's not that not doing coupons doesn't work, it just didn't save a failing business.

Doesn't matter, actually. Now the idea is ingrained in the MBA equivalent of a brain, it will be a generation before anyone tries again.

It certainly wasn't a thriving business, but I don't think it's purely a correlation isn't causation situation. The points about clientele not adapting are probably valid, given the evidence suggests that they lost those loyalists on top of their nose dive.

And yes, it can work if you are consistent. Trader Joes is a good example, they are thriving and haven't once did sales while virtually every other grocer does. Domino's is set in their ways, though, although they'd probably survive if they blundered.

My God if I have to listen to my mother in law brag about how good of a "deal" her $10 (made up "retail", $26) Tommy Bahama hand towels from TJ Max were one more time....

Well, TJMaxx and Marshalls is different. Those items are mostly close out, clearance, etc brought in from other retail chains. So on most things there yes it's some expensive brand you're getting for a fraction. Unfortunately both those stores (Same company) have also narrowed that margin as of the last few years.

Yeah - I’ve noticed Big Lots (similar kind of store) hasn’t been that much better than Walmart or whichever store the items first came from.

Clearance sales also seem to getting worse across the board. My Walmart puts dented cans and packages with missing stuff out for maybe $1-2 off at most.

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I used to work at a Dominos, and their side items have been ludicrously priced for a good while. There's usually a "coupon" in their app with a substantial discount on pizza, it's the only way I'd order from them.

There’s a reason for this, they want you to download the app because you’re paying for that coupon via primary access to your personal data. Dominos isn’t just a pizza company, for a long time now they have been a data broker too.

Which I guess isn’t surprising, everyone and their mother wants to be a data broker today. It’s a good reason not to install any apps from anyone though.

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In Canada we still Domino's have coupons on the website and sometimes they are even mailed out.

And yeah, to get a decent deal you have to only order the pizza, pick it up yourself, get drinks and sides anywhere else if you want them. I'm a sucker for cinnamon sticks and icing that many chains offer.

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Never buy chain pizza at menu price. They all run specials all the time, that are around half off. They keep menu prices high so that they can constantly run buy one get one promos and specials to make you think you're getting a deal. They also happen to gouge people who won't bother checking the deals section

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I went online to place an order for pizza recently. Jets pizza. Everything was super overpriced and so one small pizza and 6 piece wings was $50 after tax and fees, not including tip which I usually do $10. So $60 for one person. I scoffed at the price then hit ‘submit’.

I was then hit with the ‘order does not meet minimum for delivery’. They had a $40 minimum which does not include delivery fee, tax, and tip - I was at $38 something.

I almost added some dipping sauce and sent it through but I felt so violated by the $40 minimum which was actually a $60 minimum that I just gave up.

Their minimum saved you from giving their corporate executive a hard earned bonus for enacting that policy

Yup. I deliberately avoid this place now and I am getting better at planning ahead so I am not in the position where I need to rely on overpriced delivery.

The Jets near me closed. I miss that Detroit style deep dish 😞

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The only way to order from Dominos is to use coupons, and even them I feel like I always spent more than I intend to. I remember a handful of years ago they were putting flyers on the pizza box saying that the delivery few doesn't count as a tip. Then what's the delivery fee for???

Um....delivering?

Maybe I'm missing the point as I'm not from the US (and I assume from your content that you are) - but here we pay a delivery fee which covers the cost of delivery, and a tip is an optional bonus for the delivery person if you feel like they went beyond.

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Not particularly helpful for you, but this seemed like the thread to chime in that in general with pizza, it's always MUCH better to go big. Pi*r^2^, folks. A single 14" Dominos is already pretty much identical to two 10" mediums, and that's only if you like to eat the crust. Always do your math by dollars per area, not diameter.

absolutely. not only that, but it's even worse once you factor in the crust::body& topping ratio.

smaller pizzas have more crust area to topping area. So if you like dry bread, get smaller pizzas. If you like sauce and cheese, get a larger pizza.

i had a kid workin at dominoes fairly recently. the margin is insane, and they were always understaffed. in our area they also pay the least of any restuarant. kids make more working at walmart.

the franchise owner was just a douchebag who didnt care because he knew people would keep ordering.

Skill issue.

Check the deals tab on the website, you could have gotten a medium and cheesy bread for at least $10 less that what you paid for this.

Don't blame the restaurant when you won't even try to save money.

Learning to "life-hack" a web site for deals (especially when in a crisis) shouldn't be a prerequisite for purchasing food at a reasonable price. The onus should not be on the consumer to not get ripped off by the seller.

This is just a continuation of systemic failure of business running rampant on the web without any reasonable regulation to prevent it.

This isn't like, basic necessities food. This fast food.

The cost is the manpower and prep involved in being able to deliver food, fast.

The deals are there to make you check the rest of the website and be acquainted with their products, in exchange you get a price reduction.

There is no ripping off, you're just not doing an additional bit of trading. If you don't want food at the price Domino's offers nobody says you must purchase from them.

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I live in one of Germany's largest cities, and while this is high, it's not outrageously high.

I guess to me what sticks out the most is the expected 20% surcharge for "tips" (that get collected by the bosses indirectly anyways as they just underpay their slaves enough to make up for the tips they're getting). That's not normal here. You tip for good service, if you pay in cash you also tip to round usually, and you tip if there's some other outstandingly positive thing about it. I really hate how in the US it's become so expected to tip, while also having fuck all protection for the delivery drivers, who ought to get a wage where tips are a bonus, not an expectation. It's just a delivery fee at this point, let's be honest.

Although I will also say that since I live basically next door to a Dominos, I always pick up, which is ~25%-30% cheaper than delivery. Plus no delivery charge, but that's based on distance I imagine.

German here as well. From the pizza place of my choice, I usually order a large pizza (36cm) and some extra pizza rolls. 22 Euros in total, delivery included. I usually tip around 10%, so rounded up 25 Euros. And that's considered expensive where I come from. I remember it being way lower.

Yeah sounds expensive to me. Also a German. 1 Pizza delivered is around 10€ that's it. But that wouldnt get me over the minimum delivery order though. Not a problem for me yet since I've never ordered a pizza only for myself

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I live in one of Germany’s largest cities

Yeah but this guy lives in Indiana.

I live in SF and this would be a pretty good price here but that literally doesn't matter at all. To someone in rural India this would be like a week's wage. Also doesn't matter.

You have to look at it in the context of its area's cost of living.

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Also in Indiana. Pre-pandemic you could get two pizzas, bread sticks and a 2-liter of soda for that price.

Right? I moved back here in 2012 and probably last ordered a pizza before the pandemic. This was just shocking.

You tipped 20%? If that's the case they're calculating the tip on the taxes and delivery charge as well

i always start ordering something for delivery and then get to the checkout screen and see the price and am like LOL NOPE CANNED BEANS AGAIN

I sure don't blame you! If I could cook, she would be getting a cooked meal.

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A. Should have done the 6.99/7.99 buy two or more deals off the app. B. That cheesy bread got yo ass play. Next time use the app though, that's where all the coupons from the advertisements went. Fr fr bussin 128/10.

National

Just another company thats created two price levels:

  1. Pay full price and dont use the app
  2. Use the app and always ALWAYS get a discount, but we will partner with amazon and google to gather and sell your data to make up the costs of the discounts.

I know 2 is preferable to some but I'm against it purely because of how deceptive it is, so I'm stuck with option 1.

I dont think thats what happened to the OP here, but just wanted to add why the cheaper option isnt always better.

If you call or go in, always ask if they can see if they can get the best price for you and say you saw a good deal somewhere but couldn't remember exactly what it was.

Domino's hates selling smalls so they're typically the most expensive. They sell significantly more medium and large than small.

Domino's hates selling smalls

Yet that's the only size they sell their gluten free pies in. I rarely buy from there (my kid considers it a treat) but I hate paying $15 for plain 10" gf pizza that's mid at best

They have a coupon now for gluten crusts. Make sure to ask if you call in, otherwise it should already be on the app. Could be a local coupon, but im pretty sure I saw it in national coupons.

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Or just use the website that has the exact same deals. You may have to click the mouse two more times and I know that can be difficult for people sometimes when they just want to be mad.

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Hell, not even the app. Their website advertises that deal everywhere. OP must have been blind.

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We order dominos kinda regularly. Check their coupons next time. I can tell you that I'll get a large 5 topping, stuffed cheesy bread and wings for that price or cheaper. And I'm your friendly neighbor to the west, not in a major or midsized area.

This is pretty much true of any of the large pizza chains. Watch the specials, use coupons, take advantage of discounts for things like ordering through the app or texting (because reasons). It's dumb, but you have to play their game to get a decent price.

That said, I can't fault OP at all. Trying to grab a quick meal for a kid means you can't spend the time to piss around and try to get a better deal.

The issue isn't the prices. It's that the prices go up but income doesn't. Get out the pitchforks, but let's go after the real villains.

And the timespan of the increased cost of everything.

Since the pandemic, construction ply more than tripled in price and isn't going down.

That's insane. Income can't keep up with that.

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When I tip the driver in a delivery I literally just give them cash when they deliver (and only if they actually arrive with some promptness, not if they come half an hour late with a cold pizza).

It's a habit I got into when living in the UK because there, like in the US, lots of companies just take the "tip" money and keep it if you tip whilst paying with card.

Granted, I like to pay stuff with cash, both for privacy reasons and because it has actually been shown that people in average spend less if they pay in cash (something to do with the feeling of giving something physical away), so I almost always have some cash to pay and tip.

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I think it's interesting to see the US cost of living catching up to that of my country (Norway). I've always looked at US prices and envied them, but now I'm just like "Whey! That's a normal price!". Based on what I'm reading I'm guessing wages aren't keeping up in the same manner though...

lol, except the high prices in your country provide welfare and health benefits to everyone, a safety net for less privileged. High prices in US allow billionaires to buy their 4th yacht

Oh yeah for sure, the situation in the US is something I dread. The fact that the cost of living in the US is near the equal to ours is mind-blowing to me when I read about their average wage level.

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FYI the value size pizza is almost always the largest one they have.

Dominos is outrageously expensive if you don’t shop the deals.

When I was in college, I’d get dominos with my roommates when they had the 20$ special, which would be about 30$ after tip and delivery. The special had 2 medium pizzas, garlic knots, cinnamon twists, and soda.

After I moved back home, I learned my local dominos doesn’t always have that deal. I’d get something similar to what you got and I’d be upset that I got less food for a bit more…

Now what really pisses me off is the high end neopolitan place near me is cheaper on their dinner special days, where you can get 2 personal pizzas that taste so good I’d accept it as proof that god is real for about 25$ including tips and gas money.

It's tiered pricing. All the chains are doing it now. Jump through hoops or pay double.

They have small frozen pizzas that are in a cardboard box at places like Aldi's and Walmart. They're good, they actually have crust, and cheap. $8 for a supreme. I just get one of those sometimes.

I also ordered a small pizza and wings this past weekend from the pizza place in my area. $27, for take out. It's like fast food and pizza joints are competing to see who can get more expensive.

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Even with an insane 20% tip I don't think you've worked it out right. A 20% tip on the food (because why would you tip on a service charge??) comes to 4.09

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Most people have already pointed it out, but I must say, I don't recall the last time I ordered pizza and didn't use a coupon.

Those mailer coupons are the only reason I ever order a pizza delivery anymore. The cost of delivery fees, tips, and the food itself keeps going up and it's becoming harder to justify the purchase unless I'm getting a significant discount somehow.

I used to order pizza fairly frequently, too. Like once every 2-3 weeks or so. But it's just so expensive now, I think it's been probably 3 years since I've ordered one.

That's crazy... I can get more than 3 times as much food from Domino's in a HCOL area for less money just by paying attention to the online deals and picking it up instead of delivery.

Food is crazy. My wife went to jersey mikes and got a sandwich for herself. It came out to $17.50!

Fastfood lost their fucking minds lol

If you are paying separately for the delivery, what is the tip for?

The poorly-paid driver, who doesn't get any of that delivery fee. I'm fine paying that part, but the delivery fee is bullshit.

I'm not so sure we should lump in the pizza driver with all the other delivery drivers. Generally being a pizza delivery person is a decent first job and they usually work in the store too, and receive an hourly wage.

Not to say you shouldnt tip them, just not out of guilt.

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Right, I agree with you there. I guess I should invert my question. If you're tipping the driver, what is the delivery fee for?

These two costs seem redundant.

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Devil's advocate:

That's $24.85 before tip. I don't know how much tax was or if you tipped on top of tax.

I was curious so went to their website for where I live. I live in a high/average cost of living place:

Small Pizza w/2 toppings - $13.49
Stuffed Cheesy Bread - $8.99
2 sauces - $1.58
20% tip - $4.81

Total for me without tax would be $28.87. Add tax (call it 7%?) on the subtotal only (not the tip), and the total (including tip) is $30.55.

Food - $24.06
Tax - $1.68
Tip - 4.81

I guess the question is, is $13.50 expensive for a small pizza? A local joint near me charges $22 for a small with two toppings. The pizza is $14, and toppings are $4 each.

A small pizza and a cheesy bread is a LOT of food for one person, so you could argue that even though you didn't order food for yourself, you'll be able to eat some leftovers, so that's a plus.

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Me, living in Japan: that's cheap for pizza and a side!

Not even any places deliver to where I live now so I have to drive a couple towns over.

Not even 5 years ago it would have been maybe $20 here.

In general, people don't live in Indiana because it's a great place to live. People live here because it's affordable. In our case, it's our elderly parents, but the fact that things used to be cheaper here is another reason we moved back.

Forget everything you said. Forget the prices. Forget the experience you had.

My first question is......why would you willingly order Dominoes? This is ghe same chain that just 2 years ago had a series of commercials where the core theme of the commetcials was "Hey, we know our pizzas taste like cardboard and are universally hated buuuuuuut, maybe buy a pizza? We're self aware of our awfulness, and we'll try to do better maybe!"

Dominos turned their shit around like, I dunno, 15 years ago or so. When they started making oven baked sandwiches.

I honestly really like some of their pizzas. It’s not bad. They just know that it used to be, many years ago.

It’s like when Buick made those commercials about how their new cars actually look good so people don’t realize they’re Buicks. When you have a reputation, sometimes it’s a good idea to acknowledge it.

Yeah the sandos and pasta are actually decent and with the coupons it's a pretty good value.

I'm not saying it's good food, I'm saying it's decent food and good value.

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1-2 people ordering out doesn’t make sense anymore sadly. It’s just too expensive. You need 4+ people typically dividing the cost to justify it now.

I'm not a huge pizza person but paid $30 for a 9 inch from a pizzeria in Chicago a couple of months ago. It was tasty so I didn't mind but it did seem quite a bit higher than the last time I had pizza.

I'd never give Domino's that much for a pizza though, from what I recall their offerings are subpar.

The local pizza place, a restaurant, has pizza Wednesdays. Every 11" pizza for 7 Euro and you have to pick it up, so you don't have to tip anyone. That's the only time I order pizza.

Inches and Euro? UK?

I think the UK still uses pounds for money. Pizza is one of those weird things that is frequently measured in inches even in otherwise metric nations.

Huh. In former land of victorious socialism(or at least in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus) common pizza sizes are 25/26, 30 and 40 centimeters.

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Did you order online?

Did you ignore the deal they shove in your face as soon as you visit the website that would have made the order much cheaper?

By utilizing the Choose 2 combo, the total cost (assuming same delivery cost and adjusted tax) would be about $25 dollars including a 20% tip (based on total and not subtotal, as in the picture). However, that would include a medium pizza instead of a small pizza.

It's not a massive difference. It is definitely a meaningful difference, but it's still pretty costly for 2 meals worth of food.

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I don't think I've ever seen a pizza place sell small pizzas for a decent value. They price them to not sell. I'm guessing because they aren't as predictable for the amount of volume you might need.

It wouldn't have been cheaper to go for bigger (ignoring deals), but it wouldn't have been much more and you'd have leftover pizza for lunch the next day.

A domino's employee told me to use coupon code 9193 at checkout, he said it's the best one that all the employees use. Hope it helps y'all 🤷

I was just talking to my friends about this and the related food theory video on pizza chains.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TT4AffJJugs

I might also recommend instacart from a restaurant supply store like restaurant depot. You can find a lot of interesting things there in the frozen section.

I expect that kind of price from a real pizza place; not from Dominos, Pizza Hut or Little Caesars. None of those pizzas are worth even half this ridiculous price. They're good (not great, but pretty decent) for $5-6. They're awful for anything more.

Dominos is really only worth it if you’re doing the 2 for $5.99 each deal. Although I think that’s even up to $6.99 now lol

25 cm pizze for about 1000 roubles? What the fuck? I can order 30 cm for 580 roubles (about 6$). Maybe even cheaper from other source.

That's disgusting. We do get take out sometimes from local restaurants, but I'm in a city and we have lots of options, and I don't mind paying a higher price for supporting them. But for some chain restaurant, that's obscene. My SO went to Burger King the other night to try one of the whopper melts they have right now, and that plus fries and an Oreo shake thing was 19 dollars. Glad I'm vegan time and again.

Checked my local good pizza place. Made same pizza, the one you did but med instead. Local place was only $2 more: $17.50 vs $16.

It's pretty much the same to order delivery from local or nicer places these days rather than the big chains.

Yeah, fast food decided to go for good restaurant prices. Fuck you McDonald's, if I wanted to pay $25 for a burger and fries there are awesome local joints I can go to that make much better burgers

This is why I always get a Costco 18" pizza for $10 every time I'm at the store. Yes, the pizza quality is not great, but neither are any of these other chains that charge 3x (or more) for less pizza of similar quality.

Do you have grocery delivery in your area? If she isn't picky with the brand of pizza, maybe a $6 frozen pizza heated in the oven would be an alternative. Not sure if you have to tip, I haven't tried it myself.

Cooking a frozen pizza is not an option due to the smell sensitivity. If we order a pizza (which my wife usually does), I can go into my garage office while it is here, they can turn on the kitchen fan for 15 minutes, then I can come back in.

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Thats why I always go for a local shop, it ends up being the same price and better

I went to check the prices here in Iceland for a similar order to find to my complete surprise that your order was slightly more expensive, when I expected it to be half the local price. That’s crazy.

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My family have explicitly stopped ordering from Dominoes because of how insane their pricing has gotten. We have lots of significantly cheaper pizza options in my area that that are as good or are better.

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Pizza prices shot through the roof and I honestly can't say they are better than throwing a frozen pizza with some mozzarella added into the oven for less than half the total price. I don't think I have made photos, but I legit had "pizzas" where the outer 2-3 inches had no toppings, just tomato sauce burnt onto the dough.

this is central europe so frozen pizza is between 2-4 euros, 1 euro for mozzarella vs 8-10 euros for take out pizza.

it's also a lesser serving, so healthier.

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Wow that is outrageous. I paid the Brazilian equivalent for that amount yesterday on a 16 slice pizza with four different flavors and a white chocolate border + an 8 slice small sweet one from a local shop with delivery services and all.

No wonder these companies don’t see the financial benefit for bringing their operations to the country…

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Last time I got domino's a single pizza was the same price as the 3 pizza menu (excluding upcharges). Maybe that's what's going on

At over something like 2200 calories, that is 4 meals though, so like $7 per meal. Still horribly expensive for pizza though.

Pizza is overpriced for pizza though. I ordered from my non-chain local place. Everybody loves them. 2 pizzas, $90 before tip.

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Sadly, I do order from crap places like this more than I would like to admit. Key these days to keeping semi low prices or get more food for the price is to have an account and order from the app. You can see all the deals and pick one that may work best for you. Some places are better than others. Most of Domino's is a scam because the deal price should just be the real price. It basically penalizes people who don't go out of their way. Good luck next time!

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For the price, pizza always seems like the cheapest “eating out” option compared to others. Our cheapest I’ve seen is $7.99 at Little Caesars for a pizza (“large round”), along with $3.99 for breadsticks. With 3 kids, that’s one of the best deals compared with everything else around (only ~$12). It doesn’t seem universal with all pizza places though, some are worse than others.

What did your order in seems to be the stuffed cheesy bread, dips, and the delivery tip, those ate up half your costs right there, but food prices in general have gone to shit. ~$12 for a combo meal at a fast food place is pretty typical in my area and made me question my receipt a few times during the pandemic when I first started seeing them that high. I just stopped eating out at most fast food places altogether and get by on a salad, shake, and protein bites for around $6 a day.

I agree with this, they made some pretty poor choices and then explained them away by saying they had no choice. The bread was unnecessary, and yes I have kids too. A very picky toddler in fact. You never have to spend a ton on food, they brow beat you because it works, not because they won't actually eat anything else.

Its still funny to me that kids are still tricking their parents into thinking they will starve to death if they don't get exactly the food they ask for.

This poster wanted pizza, and had expectations of it that weren't met, but she didn't have to do it, it wasn't forced. I think even your example via delivery with little ceasars would make more sense. Or just don't buy pizza if there's only expensive pizza near you. Pizza has always been a pricey dinner, only offset by the quantity of food just barely.

Around us, taco bell can be a great deal (and offers a vegan menu to an extent) as well but really this is more about not having enough time or know-how to reduce costs by cooking simple foods at home. A pack of taco tortillas, rice, beans, and vegetables to mix in is not expensive and makes a ton of food.

I feel ya homie. I went from takeout everyday to diving in my freezer for whatever shit I got.

The "I eat out every day" people amaze me. How? It's SO EXPENSIVE! Even before the recent inflation.

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I can pretty rarely get under $30 for just myself ($50 for two i consider quite the deal now) and we live in a city with many options, and most places i would order from are about a 10 minute drive. I'm not saying it's right or good, just that the prices you see are in line with what I've been seeing. Food is quite a bit more expensive right now.

It's a good 1/3 more expensive than it was pre-pandemic though. I could have gotten that order for $20 in 2019.

Absolutely. Pandemic "inflation" threw all kinds of prices too high and nothing is coming back down because most industries are so small that they're all essentially oligarchies now.

I am dead certain that the pandemic has actually put the US into a hard recession which the Fed has been covering up with various tricks. I'm pretty sure that after the presidential election, whichever way it goes, the economy is going to tank.

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