Delivery used to be free, especially at chain pizza places

It was never free, it was subsidized by pick up or eat in.

Now that prices are high and margins are tightened (blame practical downstream or “greedy corporations” or just MBAs, I don’t care) that subsidy isn’t bearable. So you pay for delivery.

>It was never free, it was subsidized by pick up or eat in.

Or not. Sometimes extra costs simply come out of the bottom line because it is better to make a delivery sale with lower margin, than lose the sale entirely.

The idea that it must be subsidized only makes sense if every pizza place has no profit.

I think “free” in the sense that it was the same price whether you picked it up or had the place deliver. You only had to tip the driver. This was for delivery only places like Dominos/local chains near me.

The couple of dollars extra for delivery fees started maybe in the mid/late 2000s where I am (midwest USA).