Want to earn a $3 tip? Then pick up your own pizza from Domino’s to earn a little extra cash.

The effort by the Ann Arbor company comes after the pizza chain announced its first quarterly sales decline in over a decade this past Fall. Why did sales slide 1.9%?

It turns out that you can’t deliver pizzas if you don’t have delivery drivers. Domino’s is struggling like everyone in the industry over staffing shortages.

According to reporting in The Wall Street Journal, “Chief Executive Richard E. Allison Jr. said on an October earnings call that staffing could ‘remain a significant challenge in the near term,’ while adding that the company was trying to improve operations in stores to operate with less labor.”

How does the saying go, “When life gives you a lack of delivery drivers, make some of your own.” A new Domino’s commercial features a woman picking up her own pizzas. As she does, her clothes morph into a Domino’s uniform and her car becomes a delivery vehicle. 

This incentive is a great example of the Purple Goldish of a “throw-in.” A little something extra that’s thrown in for good measure. Here’s how the TIP works. Customers are given a code for a discount on their next order.

While the precise origin of the word TIP is uncertain, it is commonly traced to coffeehouses in seventeenth-century England. The word “tips” was first used for gratuities. A jar with a sign reading, “To Insure Prompt Service” sat on the counter. You put a coin in the jar to be served quickly.

Part of the reason why Domino’s is willing to give you $3 is based on how they’ve withheld from using other delivery apps. Unlike their competition, they’ve gone out of their way to snub the likes of DoorDash and Uber Eats. The $3 offer follows other efforts to promote its own app such as the Domino’s FREES program and its effort to give away gift certificates from small independent restaurants.

Would I pick my own pizza from Domino’s? I think I might do it just so I can tell my favorite personal pizza joke:

“Would you like your pizza cut in six slices or eight?”

“Oh, you better cut it in six slices, I don’t think I can eat eight.”

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Stan Phelps walks the walk. He stands out in the sea of sameness by modeling his own Differentiated Experience (DX) message: Differentiation isn’t just about what you say, it’s about what you do and, more importantly, how and why you do it. Stan leverages his unique collection of 5,000+ case studies on customer, employee, and brand experience to engage audiences with informative learning-based experiences. He believes purposeful DX wins the hearts of employees and customers, and differentiation ultimately boosts loyalty, retention, referrals, and results.

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