A Domino’s in Portland quietly let go of three human delivery drivers last week.
Reason?
Their new Kiwibot 5 completed 1,842 deliveries in December with:
- 0 late orders
- 0 wrong addresses
- 0 stolen pizzas
- 0 tips needed (but people still Venmo’d it anyway)
The robot costs $4.20 per hour to run (including charging).
Average human driver cost: $21.80/hour after tips, insurance, gas.
One ex-driver posted on Reddit:
“I got out-delivered by a cooler on wheels that plays lo-fi beats.
I’m not even mad. I’m impressed.”
The robot now has its own TikTok (@pizzabotpdx) with 180k followers and a tip jar that made $2,400 in December… which Domino’s donated to the drivers it laid off.
Capitalism is undefeated.
But at least the robot tips better than most customers.
(Who else has been replaced by a robot that’s nicer than they’re cooler than you?)