/ Xeni Jardin / 10:13 am Thu Feb 10, 2011

South Korea: backlash over delivery deaths attributed to Domino's Pizza 30-min delivery promise

"A popular Domino's Pizza marketing strategy promising pizza delivery within 30 minutes of an order has met with a public backlash in South Korea, following the deaths of several young delivery personnel. The Young Union, the union For Occupational and Environmental Health (FOEC) and several labor unions held a press conference on 8 February in front of Domino's Pizza's headquarters in Seoul, pressuring the company to abolish the '30 Minute' delivery system." (Global Voices)

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    1. People driving fast to fulfill a guarantee is an abstract and absurd cause of death? Or are we doing the whole “Asians are weeeeird” thing now?

  4. South Korea’s rather late to the party on this one. That “30 minutes or else” policy was gotten rid of in the U.S. years ago for the same reason.

  11. Haven’t there been problems with people calling in their pizza orders especially timed so that the driver gets stuck waiting for a train at a level crossing and such?

    The real problem seems to be that the pizza place won’t absorb the cost, but punishes the delayed driver by taking the cost out of their wages…

  12. Knowing how traffic is in that part of Asia I’m really amazed they had the nerve to try this after they were forced to abandon the practice in the US at one point for the same driver safety reasons.

  13. I seem to recall that we had a case in Tucson back in the 1980s where the Domino’s Pizza driver killed himself or something bad like that, trying to get there in 30 minutes. After that, no guarantee.

    I guess these Koreans have some catching up to do.

  15. ex domino’s employee here. they officially don’t honor the 30 minute guarantee. but if you call and start complaining around then they may do something for you…

  16. I’ve been living in S. Korea for the last 7 months and am good friends with a delivery driver. ALL the delivery drivers are on scooters are they’re all pretty crazy (my friend included) – they ride on sidewalks, completely ignore traffic stops and lights – it’s amazing. It’s also quite dangerous and he’s crashed more than a few times, fortunately nothing serious. While the death of the Domino’s drivers is tragic, just about all the delivery places are faster than 30 minutes. It’s especially dangerous for them during the winter since the roads (and sidewalks :-) are rarely salted, if ever.

    1. I live in Seoul too, and totally agree with you. Dominoes is just one of many crazy delivery services. Actually I think the chinese food delivery people are the most insane drivers. (The interesting part is the have to go back to your house to pick up the dishes after you are done eating) I have been here 3 years, and have seen a few accidents, and many near misses. While there are quite a few motor bikes here most or all of the non delivery drivers are quite sane and decent drivers. Its just the delivery people that make things dangerous (for themselves and others). Walking on the sidewalk here can be quite dangerous, as you continually have to watch out for motor bikes or even cars. There is nothing more irritating then being honked at to get out of the way while your walking on the side walk. I have also seen as talked about in the article where the poor pizza delivery guy is banging on doors and ringing random door bells desperately trying to find the apartment that ordered the pizza, even though they are probably hiding from him. (or he could just have the wrong building?)

  17. I wonder how long until some Fox News talking head starts calling for the reintroduction of the 30-minute guarantee, in the name of both personal responsibility and Americans’ God-given right to junk food?

  19. I delivered pizza for years back in the 80s during the “under 30 minutes” era. In my experience, there wasn’t any pressure on the drivers to drive faster. Cook faster, yes. Walk faster, most definitely. But the corporate imperative was on driver safety over giving out a few free pizzas now and then. They knew where their liability began and ended.

    Still, I imagine there had to have been enough knuckleheaded managers out there who hated to have late-pizza blemishes on their cost reports and so encouraged their drivers to haul ass. Otherwise the practice would still be with us.

  20. Hell, it’s not even safe from your door to the elevator in Seoul, let alone speeding through traffic on a scooter.

  22. In India these delivery boys are usually from the lower middle class and have never owned/ridden the bikes and scooters. So they are very happy to drive fast, rashly on the bikes provided. And they even get paid to do this!! A pizza delivery job is much preferred because for these young men it is a better status than working in other similar jobs. The low pay is made up in tips, thrills and posh workplace.

  23. Heck, Fry and Leela can get a pizza to Seoul in 30 seconds or less.

    …

    Wait, real people are dying because of Domino’s?

    Since the owners are petitioning for suggestions on how to improve service: Obey Jesus’ mandate, and turn your entire fortunes over to the destitute.

    And you can call that a job well done.

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