My post on pizza deliverymen being armed got a lot of comments, but I thought I should make sure this one gets read. It’s from a commenter named Tim. I can’t verify the facts in it, but they sound true and that’s good enough for IMAO:
@Guy in a Suit, who said: Also, aren’t most pizza delivery guys too young to legally carry a firearm?
Nope, not even close. This is one of those stereotypes that has been a pet peeve of mine for years, and it’s a stereotype that won’t seem to go away. It’s illegal to hire anyone under 18 as a driver because it is considered a hazardous occupation. And most stores I’ve ever seen don’t want ’em younger than mid-20s.
I’ve been a driver for over 10 years now, and I’m 41. The youngest driver we have at our store is about 28. Some of the competitors in our town have drivers that are clearly older than I am.
Pizza delivery is not a game for children, despite what the media-fed story templates say. It is the eighth most deadly occupation per capita in the US, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics; and it used to be the fifth deadliest until we got combined with OTR truckers who used to be tenth. Our occupation is the only one in the top ten wherein crime is a factor in the deaths (approximately 25% of all OTJ deaths are crime-related, the other 75% being traffic fatalities). Interestingly, law enforcement officers don’t even make the top ten despite the obvious hazards, presumably because they carry firearms and are trained to do so.
Tim’s facts are accurate and his characterization of the age of delivery drivers is right as well. My husband worked as a driver when he was in med school and my son’s ambition when he was a teen was to be a delivery driver as well, but he had to wait until he was older because no business would hire someone who was under 21. And that was in a relatively safe small town.
What’s he talking about? My offspring learned to shoot many years before they learned to drive.
A vote for Tim, and keep in mind that “dangerous” may not always be what you think: ‘cab driver’ is suicide-level, ‘farmer’ has been up on the list for several hundred years, and ‘letter carrier’ (what the hell, it’s just walking down the street) is a perennial top-ten entry (hint: you don’t die that often, but a bite from a toy bichon registers on the federal stats the same as a Rottie).
FYI: Last week I e-mailed Domino’s, Little Caesar’s, and Papa John’s to see if they have a no-carry policy like Pizza Hut. Only Domino’s responded; they, like Pizza Hut, absolutely forbid drivers to carry guns on the job.
I too vote for time. Even here in flyover country where small towns don’t seem to have the same criminal element, drivers are older. Occasionally they are women but not very often.
Pizza delivery is not for the faint hearted, nor is anything that takes one into the parts of town that even those who live there won’t go out at night.
Go figure.
If I didn’t have a no-carry policy in my pizza company, I think it would be more fun not to advertise that point.
I’ll be absolutely honest – I’m glad that I my question was answered so thoroughly and professionally. Thank you very much.