Small, Gated Texas Community To End âPizza Delivery Neutralityâ
TheÂ neighborhood ofÂ Comcast Trails near Houston, Texas has announced the adoption of Â an unusual new revenue scheme. They are calling it the Express Pizza Service, and it has some residents at odds as to whether it is good for anyone who lives there.Empire News spoke to local man Dan Howard, who explained how the small community plans to make money using dedicated gates and lanes for each local pizza eatery.âBefore we began this process, I could order a pizza from Papa Johns, Dominoâs, Double Daveâs, or any other small pizza delivery place, and they would all get there around the same time, because they use the same roads, same entrance to the neighborhood, and the same traffic lights,â Howard explained. âThisÂ concept is commonly referred to as Â âpizza delivery neutrality.â However, my neighborhood wanted to become a gated community, so we requested bids from all the local pizza restaurants, and have reached a deal with Papa Johnâs to allow their drivers exclusive access to a special, new, faster entrance to the neighborhood. Dominoâs drivers will have to pass through a different gate, slowing them slightly, but still allowing faster pizza delivery speeds than Double Daveâs, or any of the other local places, who will have to park their car outside of the neighborhood and carry theÂ pizza into Comcast Trails community on foot.ââWe are very thrilled to be able to use the express lane to deliver to Comcast Trails community,â said Papa Johnâs spokesman Arnold Jones. âThe folks in Comcast Trails are some of the fattest people in the country, and they eat more pizza per-household than anywhere else in the United States. Being able to get to them faster means theyâre more likely to order from us than any other local establishment.âDouble Daveâs and other mom-and-pop pizza restaurants say itâs âcompletely unfairâ that they are forced to walk into Comcast Trails when others get to use the fast lane.âWe canât afford to pay the kind of money that Dominoâs or Papa Johnâs can pay, leaving us in the dust,â said Double Daveâs spokesman Charles DeMar. âBasically, when someone orders from us in Comcast Trails, weâre going to have to really haul ass to make it to their house. Itâs about a quarter of a mile from the gate to the closest house, so weâre expecting to be hiring a lot of very fit, young athletes to be delivery drivers from here on out.âAt press time, UPS and Federal Express were also engaged in a bidding war over exclusive access to the newly-proposed Express Delivery gates.