An earlier version of this article on fuel surcharges gave an incorrect title for Jack Gillis at the Consumer Federation of America. He is the director of public affairs.
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Consumer Pain Goes Beyond The Pump
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Among the big three pizza chains, free delivery used to be a mantra. But now Pizza Hut, Domino's and Papa John's are all charging to bring the pie to your pad.
Most of Domino's locations began tacking on delivery fees as far back as 2003 to compensate for a variety of rising costs, including fuel, according to company spokesman Tim McIntyre. The amount varies by region, and many have instituted sliding scales that rise and fall with gas prices.
Papa John's franchisee Andy Freitas, who owns 51 locations in the region, started adding a $2 delivery fee to orders about two years ago as gas prices started to creep up. But although the money helps pay drivers' salaries and reimburse some of their mileage, some customers think the fee replaces their tip. Not so, Freitas implored.
"They are tipped employees," he said, watching the last of the lunch rush leave a Papa John's in Arlington on a recent afternoon. "They've got to break even getting to your door."
A representative for Pizza Hut declined to comment for this article, but a reporter was charged $1.85 for delivery of a $12.99 pan crust Ultimate Meat Grill last week.
Donna Ojjeh got four large pizzas and three orders of buffalo wings from Pizza Hut delivered to her Oakton home for her 16-year-old son and eight of his friends last week. She remembered paying a small delivery fee but said she felt sorry for the guy who brought it to them. She tipped him $10.
"I was just going, 'Man, I don't want to lose him,' " she said.
Ojjeh knows about pain at the pump as proprietor of Maids of Fairfax. In August 2005, her monthly gas bill for her 18 cleaning crews was $2,500. Last month, it was $4,700. Ojjeh said that she was trying to consolidate the crews' trips to save money but that she hadn't added a fuel surcharge.
"I just feel terrible to try to pass that increase on to my customers," she said, fearing it would only irritate them.
But consumers are not the only ones paying surcharges. Companies say their suppliers are tacking on the fees as well.
In addition to watching his fuel bill double over the past year, Mark Crooks, a manager with heating and plumbing company John C. Flood in Montgomery County, said the costs of receiving shipments of parts and tools had also grown. Meanwhile, the price of metals had driven up the cost of his materials.
"It's not just the gasoline," Crooks said. "We're feeling it in every part of our business."
Crooks said the company has considered giving drivers GPS units and other measures to make them more fuel efficient. It is also debating whether to institute a fuel surcharge: How would customers react? Would they simply prefer a higher price altogether? What would that do to their promise of free estimates?
"We know everybody else is hurting, too," Crooks said. "We try to hold the line as small as we can profitably. We just have to make a decision."
