Papa John's Sued For Unwanted Pizza-Related Texts

jfruh writes "Nationwide pizza chain Papa John's is finding itself on the receiving end of a $250 million text spam lawsuit. From the article: 'Seattle law firm Heyrich Kalish McGuigan, representing three Papa John's customers, alleged that the pizza delivery service has sent 500,000 unwanted text messages to customers. If the court finds that Papa John's violated the U.S. Telephone Consumer Protection Act, the pizza maker could have to pay damages of $500 per text message, or US$250 million, one of the largest damage awards under the 1991 law, the law firm said. "Many customers complained to Papa John's that they wanted the text messages to stop, and yet thousands of spam text messages were sent week after week," Donald Heyrich, attorney for the plaintiffs said in a statement. "This should be a wake-up call to advertisers. Consumers do not want spam on their cell phones."'

Comments

it would have been more cost effective

[TheGratefulNet]

to just have pirated 3 movies and be done with it.

This is wrong.

[RudyValencia]

Companies should honor requests for people to be able to opt out of their text messaging programs. I used to work in a call center supporting a major cellular carrier and their devices. The most common problem people called about was text messages they did not want and needed help in stopping. All we could do was educate the customer on how to opt out of the text messaging spam. This was one year ago. I left and never looked back.

Re:This is wrong.

[Joce640k]

Companies should honor requests for people to be able to opt out

No, they should all be "op-in"...

(...otherwise they just set up a new company every week and we have to "opt-out" all over again)

Re:This is wrong.

[mcgrew]

As Sheldon would say, "Oh, good lard!" Dude, your tinfoil is leaking.

Re:This is wrong.

[geminidomino]

Bullshit. The law is right on, for once (if a little toothless, like most good laws).

You want to send people your shit, you get them to Opt-IN. Not out.

Law Firm: $50 mil - You: $1 off next pizza

[Anonymous Coward]

Enjoy your justice - American sytle.

Re:Law Firm: $50 mil - You: $1 off next pizza

[c0lo]

(hmmm.... can't stop thinking... a dozen more suits like this and the US economy would be growing... right?)

Re:Law Firm: $50 mil - You: $1 off next pizza

[Sulphur]

(hmmm.... can't stop thinking... a dozen more suits like this and the US economy would be growing... right?)

A gross domestic product.

Re:Law Firm: $50 mil - You: $1 off next pizza

[azalin]

"gross" describes Papa John's "Pizza" quite adequately.

The law says...

[iYk6]

The law says that you aren't allowed to spam cell phones with commercial advertisements. No opt out necessary.

Re:The law says...

[houghi]

In Belgium this is different. We can (and do) send commercial offers to our customers. Two things:
1) We honor the opt-out
2) The customer never has to pay when receiving messages (unless he is in another country and roaming is on)

Re:The law says...

[Anonymous Coward]

But of course there's a loop hole... one used by a company during this past election.

You don't spam the phone by sending text messages... you spam the phone by sending "emails" to
@

Such as 8145553345@vtext.com or whatever Verizon's service is. The company in Virginia that was doing this hasn't gone to trial yet but many see it as "breaking the spirit of the law but not actually the law its self".

Re:The law says...

[kbdd]

You don't spam the phone by sending text messages... you spam the phone by sending "emails" to @

I would like to hear what they tell the judge when he asks where did they think the messages would end up if not on a cell phone as a text message?

Re:The law says...

[History's Coming To]

If you pay somebody else to carry out a crime or civil offence on your behalf you're also guilty.

Re:The law says...

[franciscohs]

So how do you know if the customer is in another country?

Last time I travelled I paid more for text and call spam than what I spent myself with legitimate texts and calls (which were very few, not that I got hundreds of spam messages, but still).

Re:The law says...

[GNious]

How to opt out of the daily calls from peoplethat only speaks french and wants to sell wine/cheese/kitchens/furniture/other-crap ?

THOSE are the ones that are driving me mad, and no, they don't honor anything.

Re:The law says...

[ShanghaiBill]

So how do you know if the customer is in another country?

They don't know and they don't care. Why is it the Belgian government's problem that US carriers have stupid "receiver pays" billing policies? Belgium can't fix an American problem.

Re:The law says...

[TemporalBeing]

US carriers have stupid "receiver pays" billing policies? Belgium can't fix an American problem.

It's worse than that - both sender and receiver pay. That is why I went into my AT&T account on-line and just flat out disabled texting.

If it was sender pays, I might have kept it on, and may have even eventually used it.

It's bad enough to charge for sending, let alone also charging for receiving given that the SMS/Text messages are entirely carried within the extra unused bytes of the already existing Control Messages on the network. It's pure profit - well, nearly so (e.g. 99% profit at worse).

Re:The law says...

[BitZtream]

You do not have the right to express yourself in anyway you see fit. You do not have the right to express yourself on/in/with anything that is considered 'mine'.

You can take your retarded understanding of 'freedom of speech' and shove it up your ass. Freedom of speech does not mean what you think it does.

Papa John

[nospam007]

Just as info for those who don't know these morons.

"Before the election Papa John’s CEO John Schnatter, a big Romney supporter, was one of the highest profile CEOs threatening layoffs and pizza price hikes (god forbid!) if Obama won. He doubled down after the election, like the Vegas man saying he’d start making layoffs and reducing hours at Papa John’s locations rather than having to provide healthcare for people working more than 30 hours per week."

http://www.deathandtaxesmag.com/190955/idiots-line-up-to-thank-papa-johns-for-screwing-them-out-of-healthcare/

Re:Papa John

[TheGratefulNet]

did not know that and now that I do, they are on my do-not-buy list.

in my area, they had semi-ok pizza but now that I know the ceo is like that chick-fil-a guy, I want no more part of them.

Re:Papa John

[Attila Dimedici]

So, you are saying this lawsuit is merely payback for his opposition to Obama?

Re:Papa John

[kenh]

The truth is that Papa John's franchisees will likely cut hours to avoid Obamacare tax/penalty, not corp parent, and the comment was a prediction, not a promise.

Re:Papa John

[RabidReindeer]

"...doubled down"?

Is that the latest trendy phrase over there?

Scott Adams mentioned it today, I thought he was exaggerating. Apparently not.

Yes. You're late to the party.

Translation: It didn't work before, so now we'll do it twice as hard.

Re:Papa John

[MysteriousPreacher]

Because it's a job creator taking a brave stand against Comrade Obama. A job creator, cutting jobs and pay of already poorly paid employees, is an admirable stand against the communism that is causing the EU and Canada to descend in to governmental Orwellian surveillance, economic ruination, soccer, no freedoms and a whole bunch of stupid national anthems and incomprehensible languages.

I salute Papa John's financially successful and well educated Facebook fans. Fight for the job creators, not the White House Politburo!

Re:Papa John

[drinkypoo]

did not know that and now that I do, they are on my do-not-buy list.

You realize, of course, that by doing that, you're hosing the employees even further, because not only will hours be cut, but so will the number of employees.

Perhaps they can go to work for a more ethical pizzeria when Papa John's cuts back locations due to reduced business. I suppose you'd prefer that nothing ever get better at all because some people will suffer if it does.

Re:Papa John

[XxtraLarGe]

The truth is that Papa John's franchisees will likely cut hours to avoid Obamacare tax/penalty, not corp parent, and the comment was a prediction, not a promise.

<sarcasm>Yes, but we must show our support for the workers who have had their hours slashed by not spending our money with their employer. Once they lose enough money and go out of business, they will realize that they shouldn't have cut those hours!</sarcasm>

Re:Papa John

[arth1]

You realize, of course, that by doing that, you're hosing the employees even further, because not only will hours be cut, but so will the number of employees.

People won't stop buying pizza. They'll buy from other places instead, which means other places will be hiring.

Anyhow, I don't really get the whole pizza delivery thing. Where I live, it's quicker for me to make a pizza from scratch than to order one.
It's really not hard - if it were, those guys wouldn't be able to do it...

Re:Papa John

[mea_culpa]

How is that illegal? Do we need government further micromanaging businesses? How has that ever helped the economy?
It is his view as CEO that people are going to buy less pizza under Obama. Even though we don't see it, he does.
Let his business sink or swim on its own merits.

Personally, I think it is ridiculous that he is making a political statement at the expense of his employees. But from a business point of view (political posturing aside) I does make business sense.
PPACA (Obamacare) is a radical change for many businesses. Although I don't agree with these CEOs, Many of them truly believed that Romney was somehow going to heal the economy and end PPACA. Even if Romney didn't achieve that, businesses in general would have had less perceived uncertainty under Romeny and taken more risks in the form of investment and expansion giving a measurable boost to the economy.

Re:Papa John

[MysteriousPreacher]

How much money should a pizza delivery driver make?

Anyways, they make the bulk of their money on tips which they don't report so they don't have to pay taxes on them. You really have no idea how much they make.

My wife worked at a car wash for 3 years. The detailers made 5.15 an hour. They made an unreported extra hundred in tips daily.

Basic pay depends on the location. I don't have precise figures, but I can say straight off that there's a serious problem if someone is earning approximately fifty dollars gross a day with an additional hundred in undeclared earnings. Why isn't the job creator getting a cut of this, and paying taxes? The employees will probably blow that money on short-term goals, like food. The job creator will invest in their business to further enhance their business. Better that than the black economy you describe.

By poorly paid I consider the overall renumeration package. The employees will tend to be part-timers, generally meaning that benefits due to full-timers wouldn't apply. Well done Papa John's for using this wheeze to save money. If people get sick, for chronic conditions they have Medicare. For non-chronic conditions they can go to emergency rooms or use their tips to purchase medical insurance. The IRS probably won't think it a bit odd that someone earning a declared gross income of 100-200 dollars a week is frittering away a substantial chunk of that on medical cover and other health-related costs.

Re:Papa John

[mcgrew]

Anyways, they make the bulk of their money on tips which they don't report so they don't have to pay taxes on them.

Not sure about pizza drivers, but waitresses' tips are taxed even if they make no tips; they add a % to their wages for tax purposes. And waitresses earn LESS than minimum wage because of tips. If you make no tips (midnight shift at Denny's) you're paying too much tax. How many trips can a driver make in an hour? Yes, even with tips they're in poverty.

Re:Papa John

[ehynes]

How can it be payback? The lawsuit is being brought by a private law firm and it was certified as a class-action case by a Reagan appointee.

Re:Papa John

[clonehappy]

Don't bother. People on here don't understand basic economics. They think that somehow these pizza joints (franchises mostly that have nothing much to do with John Schnatter anyway...barely keep their heads above water) are raking in cash hand over fist and greedily sticking it into their vaults to swim in occasionally. This is patently false.

If it costs them an extra $50,000 a year to run a restaurant, many will be forced to lay people off, simply because they can't afford to pay them anymore. Some restaurants may even close. But somehow, in the new Amerika, this is progress?

It boggles the mind. Fix the problem within the healthcare system, then worry about forcing the poorest individuals to pay a tax if they don't have healthcare. But since it was packaged up and shoved in the sickly-sweet loving liberal exterior, it has to be good...and anyone who understands the real ramifications of the healthcare act is a very very bad person and/or a racist.

Re:Papa John

[NotQuiteReal]

People won't stop buying pizza.

People without jobs will cut back on pizza...

Re:Papa John

[dnahelicase]

How is that illegal? Do we need government further micromanaging businesses? How has that ever helped the economy? It is his view as CEO that people are going to buy less pizza under Obama. Even though we don't see it, he does. ... Even if Romney didn't achieve that, businesses in general would have had less perceived uncertainty under Romeny and taken more risks in the form of investment and expansion giving a measurable boost to the economy.

Spamming people on their cell phones is illegal. Firing people based on their political beliefs might not be illegal, but firing them because they are hispanic and probably voted for Obama might be (as one Papa John's franchisors might have done.)

People are probably going to buy less pizza under Obama's next four years, at least from the big pizza chains. (http://www.qsrmagazine.com/competition/fall-pizza) They probably would have under Romney as well. Big pizza has been declining over the past decade, and all signs point to that continuing, but not because of the economy. Small pizza restaurants are doing great, as are small breweries. In a time when the rest of the big pizza industry was declining, Papa John's took a gamble and tried to massively expand. They are facing competition from healthier eating, as well as faster, cheaper, and/or different chains that have grown lately, like Panera, Chipotle, and Jimmy Johns. I imagine they will contract over the next few years, but it's BS to say it's because of the requirement of healthcare. It's a small percentage of costs, and it's something all of the competition has to deal with as well.

You can say Romney would have improved investment and created expansion through less perceived uncertainty, but I completely disagree. I believe he would have created a tidal-wave of uncertainty, with an unknown tax plan, an unknown relationship with congress, and a huge question mark with healthcare. I believe we are more comfortable than we were before, having essentially four years of history with this president and with (essentially) this congress.

Re:Papa John

[RobertLTux]

err FEDERAL LAW requires
1 an absolute minimum wage for tipped employees
2 if tips are not enough to make the difference between the absolute minimum and the federal minimum then the employer must make up the difference
3 various bits on the extent of tip "pooling" (this prevents your top employees from funding the wages of the bottom ones)

any employer that is not keeping good track of tips is
1 an idiot
2 violating federal law

Re:Papa John

[DerekLyons]

Papa John's is reacting to the new economic reality they face under the Obama regime. It's that simple. Obamacare will force them to cut hours and let people go. They know that. We know that. This has never changed since the concept was first floated. It's reality.

Some people knew it - but many people lived under a reality distortion field that lead them to believe that there would be no consequences of any kind under the new law. Those of us who pointed out the flaws in the plan and pointed out that you couldn't alter the trajectory of billions of dollars without consequences were and are being called haters, and liars, and ignorant... and worse.
 
The worst part is that Obamacare doesn't actually do anything to reform health care or control costs. It's a shell game to hide the mounting costs.
 
Still, the effects of this farce are only beginning to be felt. The shell game they've been playing about funding is going to end, with a shell lifted to reveal... nothing. Expect a wave of insurance companies going under over the next decade, if they aren't bailed out to the tune of billions or trillions (which the government doesn't have). Since many underwriters and insurance companies also provide other forms of insurance, the ripple effects through the economy will be staggering.
 
And those ignorant people under the reality distortion field won't understand that these consequences were as predictable as the sun rising. They simply cannot comprehend TANSTAAFL.

Re:Papa John

[Dragonslicer]

Maybe it's been overused lately, but it isn't a new term. It's originally from Blackjack. At least it's usually being used somewhat correctly.

Re:Papa John

[MysteriousPreacher]

The negative score is telling about how much liberals like to suppress opposition. You basically said the exact thing as the +4 post you responded to (except to state a positive action,) and your post got modded as flamebait.

The fact that someone actually used one of their few mod points to hide your post is key to their insecurity.

It cuts both ways. Slashdot tends to have a liberal slant, ergo there'll be liberals with mod points who think downmodding is the way to deal with opposing views. Head over to forums/sites with a conservative bent and you'll see the same. This isn't a phenomena exclusive to any particular ideology.

Chick-fil-a as a company is perfectly entitled to sponsor anti-gay efforts. Hell, let them fund efforts against interracial marriage if they wish. I'd defend their right to be utterly unpleasant, while still considering anyone who supports their right-wing fundie positions to be vile bigots.

Re:Papa John

[jackbird]

Actually, the clusterfuck that ended up being the ACA was an attempt to get republicans on board. The actual sickly-sweet loving liberal version is single payer, like, you know, the rest of the developed world. And small business owners should be first in line to ask for it (perhaps only after large corporations with large retiree healthcare expenses), but somehow they've all been convinced it's anathema.

Re:Papa John

[strikeleader]

That's what food stamps are for

Re:Papa John

[kimvette]

I'm sure that if you're willing to pay two to three times the current price for pizza to cover the $8.5K-$24K additional each employee will cost the company, then papa john's will happily cover 100% of health insurance costs for their employees. Are you willing to pay that increase for pizza?

I didn't think so.

Re:Papa John

[Renevith]

I can't help but picture this CEO as a 6-year-old who's been prevented from stealing his younger sister's toy and is now throwing a tantrum.

I am a libertarian. It should be a no-brainer for Republicans to attract my support (over the Democrats at least). Instead they're giving me and everyone else the finger with their absurd rhetoric and childish political games. This goes for their politicians, their pundits, and quite a few of their supporters. Everything Obama supports is automatically bad, even if it's the same thing the Republicans earlier supported.

This insane prioritization of winning vs. losing and minor social issues instead of real governance is why I agree with the sentiment of this post. The Republicans are a menace and must be stopped.

Re:Papa John

[PraiseBob]

Or maybe he will be force to lower his franchising fees, since clearly the parent corporation is making a ton of money.
They have options:
A) Everything stays the same, go out of business (so the CEO claims)
B) Cut back employee hours to save money, and stay in business
C) Cut back franchise fees to a billionaire who has a private golf course and moat, and stay in business
D) Raise prices by the 11 cents per pizza and pass along the cost to the customer

They've chosen options B and D. Raising the prices by 50 cents to cover health care costs, while simultaneously cutting worker hours so they don't have to give them health care either way, and hiring more "part-timers". Essentially the plan is to screw over both the customers and the employees, rather than cutting his own obscenely large paycheck.

People on here don't understand basic economics
I think people on here don't like assholes.

Re:Papa John

[BradleyUffner]

I just did the math. At 8.5k cost per year the cost would only go up by $1 per pizza as long as 23 pizzas are delivered per day; that doesn't sound at all unreasonable to me. The more pizzas per day the lower that cost increase would be. Even in your worse case it would raise the price of a pizza by $3.

Re:Papa John

[King_TJ]

Honestly, this doesn't really change my opinion of them a bit. All these people placing them on a "do not buy" list ... what do you hope to accomplish with that? Just by pure statistics alone, very close to HALF the entire voting U.S. population claims to side with Schnatter's support for Romney. That's far more than enough potential customers for him to remain very successful, EVEN if you could somehow convince ALL who disagree to never buy a Papa John's pizza again. So right away -- no hope of a successful boycott.

But more to my original point -- I'm not so sure he's wrong to fight the idea of providing healthcare benefits for all of his employees? Pizza delivery and baking isn't really something you do expecting excellent compensation, benefits and career advancement. The only reason we've collectively reached this situation where so many people clamor for paid healthcare is the spiraling cost. Everyone's afraid of what their "self pay" bill would look like.

Think of the spiraling cost of college tuition.... Seems pretty proportionate to the amount of student loans people became able to tap into to pay for it. If there were no loans, do you think colleges and universities would charge the same rates they charge now?

It's the same principle with healthcare today. If they can basically make health insurance a mandatory thing it's "unthinkable" to try to buy medical care without, they can charge insanely high rates and keep getting away with it.

Re:Papa John

[BradleyUffner]

If he just wanted to be mean and layoff people while raising pizza prices he could have done that regardless of who was elected. If laying off people and raising pizza prices would result in higher profit margins anyway (without or without Obamacare), he could have done that regardless of who was elected.

Except now he gets to raise prices and blame it on Obama instead of taking the heat for being greedy. Which do you think is better PR?

Re:Papa John

[Your.Master]

Papa John himself estimated 10-14 cents a pizza. Forbes estimates just 5 cents. Taking Papa John's worst-case estimate and your best case-estimate, the highest price Papa John's pizza could be today is seven cents.

Yeah, I'm willing to go from 7 cents to 14 cents a pizza. That's a friggin' steal either way.

Re:Papa John

[hey!]

Actually, he isn't the the Chic-fil-A guy at all. The Chic-fil-A guy has a problem with gay marriage because of his Christian religion, but *also* because of his Christian religion gives his employees and excellent benefits package. That includes health, dental, vision, disability and life insurance. He also offers a 401(k) retirement plan with a 5% company match, a defined benefits plan, and tuition reimbursement. In other words he's a stand-up guy who happens to be wrong about gay marriage, but I for one support his right to have and express his opinion.

The Papa John's guy wont' offer health care to his full time workers because it'd cost him fourteen cents a pie. He does marketing promotions that cost more than covering his employees would but he doesn't want to do it because he's a scum-sucking bottom-feeder.

Re:Papa John

[cusco]

The actual cost of providing health care is actually going to be around eleven cents per pizza, so it's a net win of thirty nine cents for the sleazebag.

Re:Papa John

[scot4875]

Presumably, they hired these people because they needed them to do a job. That need doesn't just go away because it became more expensive to employ them. If they fire people, they have to make up for it somehow. Hopefully that will be partially by making some of the jobs actual honest-to-goodness full-time jobs that people can support themselves off of. Part of it might come from reduced customer service in the form of longer waits or other intangibles. If the customer service gets bad enough, they'll start to lose business.

What actions like this tells me is that these CEOs are willing to slit their own throats because they aren't willing to pay their employees a living wage.

--Jeremy

Spam tastes great

[mrpacmanjel]

If they offered a spam topping on their pizza then I'll be interested.

Little rectangular squares of ambrosia..mmmmm.....pizza....

I used to get texts from Pizza Hut until I asked them to stop. However if Papa John ignored their own "stop" requests they shouldn't be surprised if they get fined (mind you $500 per text is a bit excessive).

Re:Spam tastes great

[6031769]

Rectangular squares? I suppose you need to differentiate them from all those elliptical squares we see nowadays.

Re:Spam tastes great

[dkleinsc]

So you're saying you want spam, spam, spam, spam, tomato sauce, spam, spam, cheese, spam, spam, and crust?

Re:Spam tastes great

[drinkypoo]

However if Papa John ignored their own "stop" requests they shouldn't be surprised if they get fined (mind you $500 per text is a bit excessive).

Why is $500 excessive for an act of harassment? I think you should also get a restraining order against them in the bargain, and if they send you one more text, the CEO gets jailed for 30 days.

Re:Who doesn't want Pizza?

[bfandreas]

Not to be nitpicky but proper Mozzarella is made from (European) buffalo milk. Not that cheap cow stuff.
Not every lactation of any bovine will do for proper Mozzarella.

But anything is better than that horrid cheese analogue they stir together from second rate fat, rotting skunks and paint.

Sounds like a Marketing-led clusterfuck

[Anonymous Coward]

What I imagine happened is this: A marketing firm contacts Papa John's marketing about spamming sms, convinces them its a great idea.

Marketing arm of Papa Johns goes ahead on its own, resulting in this case.

At no point was any technical, legal or compliance arm of Papa Johns consulted, where they would have found people who know about this stuff due to existing business relationships with above-board SMS platform providers who would have informed them of the legal requirements for operating a sms service (opt-ins, requirement for STOP handling, etc).

Anonymous because the stuff in bold is true.

This won't go to trial, it will be settled beforehand. The case is that unwinnable for Papa Johns.

Re:If I get spam from a pizza company,

[houghi]

It will cost the pizza drivers, not so much the company.

Well...

[Ronin Developer]

Couldn't happen to a "nicer" guy. He was so angry about the $0.14 per pizza he would have to spend to give his employees healthcare coverage that he will now be paying out the equivalent on healthcare costs for an entire state and with nothing to show for it.

Oops.

Stupid is as stupid does.

Re:If I get spam from a pizza company,

[Joce640k]

I'm going to order so many pizzas to be sent to random addresses with the name "sam spam" etc they're likely to get the message pretty quickly.

Be sure to order a spam, spam, spam, spam, cheese, tomato and spam topping.

That would buy a lot of health care

[WOOFYGOOFY]

he pizza maker could have to pay damages of $500 per text message, or US$250 million, one of the largest damage awards under the 1991 law...

That would have bought some health care for their employees.

According to Forbes magazine, it would cost Papa Johns 5 cents per pizza to provide health care to their employees.

http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2012/11/14/Forbes-Papa-Johns-ACA-cost-5-cents/UPI-54101352940627/

It never was about the nickle and it never was. Most species of apes, specifically the males, assert their sexual dominance by keeping more of the good stuff - whatever that might be- for themselves than they can possibly use. This is so they can broadcast the fact of their dominance to females .

I think it's safe to say that the owner of Papa Johns is a physically unprepossessing specimen, basically he looks like some guy on your neighborhood watch.

http://www.politico.com/politico44/2012/08/papa-johns-obamacare-will-raise-pizza-prices-131331.html

Without a mindset that causes him to spend his life seeking, acquiring hording and displaying his wealth, he'd never get laid, or at least, he would not get as laid as he feels he should be.

In making a show of denying those under him healthcare, and especially by talking about how little it would cost him to provide those benefits as per the article above his primordial mind is attempting to broadcast the fact of his sexual dominance / desirability to available females. That's what's going on here.

When shit as demented as "No nickle for healthcare !!!! " becomes that public and is even paraded around by the perps themselves, you have to go to waaaaay back in evolutionary time to find the part of their brain that's being activated.

It's amusing that the conservatives who deny evolution is real seem also to be the people whose motivations are most clearly amenable to forces governing basic evolutionary processes.

Re:That would buy a lot of health care

[Dr_Barnowl]

I'm sure there is an element of this, but it's not just about the nickel ; it's about the dollars he'd have to spend on wages for employees that were no longer terrified of losing their jobs.

People who aren't worried about their healthcare costs are less scared of losing their job. The American healthcare system is a nightmare because a single accident can bankrupt you, wipe you out, make you choose between keeping a finger and sending your kids to college.

People like this ass perceive their employees as convenient victims, not partners in their pizza enterprise. Making them happier and more content is not on their agenda, because happy contented people are less likely to want to work for minimum wage and clock out when the restaurant is empty.

Re:That would buy a lot of health care

[WOOFYGOOFY]

I find your post insightful- yes having a society that functions as the maw of an alligator waiting to eat you EXCEPT for the pittance your employer affords you is exactly the model they are trying to preserve. It's a slave owner's mentality, and they barely make any bones about it. Nice going

I think that we're actually offering two complimentary explanations. I'm reflecting on the ultimate motivation of why corporations like Papa Johns are run the way they're run INSTEAD OF some other, completely affordable way which yields more egalitarian results for society at large.

Why do they WANT to be slave holders? It's implicit in your post that a lot of us (humans) WANT to be slave owners, and LIKE not just being on top, but lowering the bottom too. Slave-seeking land-based pirate ships- which is what a lot of corporations amount to really- are the context in which we live and frame explanations, but why are alternatives not as appealing to ambitious people; why is there not something else in the world?

Answer- because people are genetically predisposed to seek status in a social/sexual hierarchy and that's because our genes , like all genes, evolved in a resource-constrained environment in which competition for survival-giving resources were a zero sum game we played against our own kind.

It's like tits. Why are some men crazy for big tits? ( NSFW link not provided ) The bigger the better ! The reason is that big tits are a secondary sexual characteristic which broadcasts the reproductive fitness their bearer and men are pre-wired to interpret that signal and - here's the important part- nature saw no reason to put an upper limit on the link between the size of the tits and the size of excitation.. the bigger the tits, the bigger the signal ! tits are good, big tits are gooder !

The same thing with wealth and power acquisition. A lot of wealth is good, a super jumbo fortune you-and-your-six-successive-wives-and-eight-mistresses-can-never-spend is better and dramatically increasing the relative wealth spread between you and all your competition for those women:

http://dailymalemodels.com/

is best !

We don't live in THAT kind of resource -constrained world anymore. Our behavior in this way is classifiable under anachronism-->very highly destructive. Science will bestow on our grandchildren the opportunity to control the knows-not-when-to-stop compulsiveness off these and a lot of other impulses.

Future utopias traditionally portray people as more egalitarian, more intelligent, more engaged, interested and interesting, more productive, happier... more evolved. They tend to gloss over the alleged environmental mechanism through which that evolution would induced. Meanwhile, back in reality, news comes that in fact, we may be sliding the other way.

http://science.slashdot.org/story/12/11/13/191217/study-claims-human-intelligence-peaked-two-to-six-millennia-ago

Whatever the case, we know this for sure- 10,000 years of civilization, religious exhortation and radical socio-cultural-political rearrangements has netted us

this :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Donald_Trump_by_Gage_Skidmore.jpg

this :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:David_Petraeus_and_Paula_Broadwell.jpg

and this

http://www.imdb.com/media/rm1884001280/nm0000216

We live in a world of Papa Johns writ large, of pointless, noxious aggressive impulses with free reign and practically unlimited scope. The aggregation of all this is better known as the "culture of assholism." It's not a social con

Re:Who doesn't want Pizza?

[jtownatpunk.net]

I fail to see what Papa John's has to do with pizza.

Re:If I get spam from a pizza company,

[ArsenneLupin]

lack of space in the oven for genuine customers' pizzas

... so the pizza parlor just tries to pass on those pies to other customers who ordered a similar one.

==> So, when playing this prank, remember to ask for extra anchovies...

Re:If I get spam from a pizza company,

[tangelogee]

I don't want spam, I want pepperoni!

Well, you could order the spam, spam, pepperoni and cheese, that hasn't got much spam on it.

Re:If I get spam from a pizza company,

[Y2KDragon]

No, the drivers lose in the cost of gas to go out. They lose tips for non-existent deliveries. They lose income from people being angry and petty. Remember, the people working in the stores aren't the ones who sent the spam, but they will be the ones to bear the worst of the punishment for such actions. Best response is to just not buy from them anymore. I've stopped ordering a long time ago when I found out he was a heavy political backer of the "nut-job right" (not to be confused with actual Conservatives).

The FCC is soliciting comments on this topic.

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, the FCC has a currently open comment period on how to address automated system for sending spam texts to cell phones. See http://apps.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/view?id=7022037251

With this Public Notice, we seek comment on the petition for an expedited clarification and
declaratory ruling filed by Revolution Messaging, LLC.1 Revolution Messaging asks the Commission to
clarify that the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA)2 and the Commission’s related rules3 apply
to users of Internet-to-phone text messaging technology and similar technologies involving the storage
and automatic dialing of wireless telephone numbers.4 Revolution Messaging states that such a ruling
would make clear that Internet-to-phone text messaging technology is a type of “automatic telephone
dialing system” under the Commission’s rules and is therefore subject to the prohibitions in the TCPA
and the Commission’s related rules.

Anyone can file comments urging the FCC to make clear that such systems should be considered a type of “automatic telephone dialing system” under the Commission’s rules.

Read the full petition here: http://apps.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/view?id=7022037252

File comments on the FCC ECFS system, the docket number to use is "02-278". http://http://apps.fcc.gov/ecfs/upload/

And although the deadline is close, the FCC is generally fairly liberal in allowing and considering late-filed comments.

Re:The FCC is soliciting comments on this topic.

[Pinky's Brain]

It's just an attempt at denying culpability at what obvious is a scam to profit from the extremely perverse practice of charging for received text messages you have in the US ... if you're going to file comment do include the fact that Verizon is profiting from spam and that is a big reason why they set up the service in the first place.

Re:The FCC is soliciting comments on this topic.

[Anonymous Coward]

I disagree. I have filed comments on a number of things the FCC solicited public comments on. More so than many other government agencies, the FCC actually reads them and considers them. I'm nobody special, but they cited comments I made in their actual final rulings in two instances. Comments files on these things clearly do have an impact --- or at least have in the past.

I don't want the shit that is papa's pizza or the

[Joe_Dragon]

I don't want the shit that is papa's pizza or the other big 3.

I live in area with lot's of good small chain places.

Re:Who doesn't want Pizza?

[mcgrew]

I personally can not stand there food.

Why are you calling the GP "food"? And why can't you stand there?

Re:Who doesn't want Pizza?

[BlackSnake112]

The Papa John's pizza places I see all use conveyor belts to cook the pizzas. More like cooking by space heater then oven. Ever notice how the better pizza places have a pizza oven or wood or coal oven? They have a real oven not a conveyor belt.

Re:Who doesn't want Pizza?

[interkin3tic]

Oh come on. I know it's hip to hate on chain restaurants, but suggesting Papa John's isn't pizza and getting +4 informative? That's ridiculous.

Papa Johns is one of the better nationwide chains of pizza. Pizza hut, dominos even after they did the makeover, little ceasars, they're not as tasty. And I say that grudgingly as someone who thinks the CEO is an asshole.

Slashdot: news for nerds and also pizza elitists.

Re:Who doesn't want Pizza?

[geminidomino]

Papa Johns is one of the better nationwide chains of pizza

That's like saying "Having electrodes pasted onto your nuts is one of the more tolerable forms of torture."

Re:I am not a Lawyer...

[zarathud]

So who gets the money?

The lawyers of course. This is America after all.

Re:Who doesn't want Pizza?

[Megane]

Can we all agree that it's better than Cici's?

Re:They need a new tagline...

[Reverand Dave]

Terrible ingredients, Terrible pizza: Papa John's

"Obamacare" cost less than free pizzas

[DeadCatX2]

About that criticism of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (otherwise known as Baucuscare, after Senator Max Baucus of Montana, the man who *actually* wrote the law (or rather, it was Sen. Baucus' aides and lobbyists, but at least Baucuscare is less of a misnomer, since laws are not written by the executive branch))

Mr. John Schnatter, CEO of Papa Johns, estimates that the PPACA will cost his company $5 to $8 million annually.

In September, Papa Johns ran a campaign where they gave out two million free pizzas. The cost of these pizzas would be $24 to $32 million, estimated.

In other words, free pizza advertising gimmicks cost about four times as much as providing health care to your employees.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/calebmelby/2012/11/12/breaking-down-centi-millionaire-papa-john-schnatters-obamacare-math/

Re:"Obamacare" cost less than free pizzas

[SomeoneGotMyNick]

In September, Papa Johns ran a campaign where they gave out two million free pizzas. The cost of these pizzas would be $24 to $32 million, estimated.

The "cost" of each free pizza is the cost of ingredients and other fixed costs expended to make each pizza. You can't factor in profits you normally would get by selling the pizza. Unless you're suggesting it costs $12 - $16 to make pizzas which sell for $12 - $16

Even with that in mind, if it costs $6 - $8 to make a pizza, the promotion will still cost more than the PPACA costs, just not quite so much more.

Re:Who doesn't want Pizza?

[RandomFactor]

And makes a kick-ass browser.

Re:Who doesn't want Pizza?

[tqk]

Unfortunately, not everyone can live in a city with decent pizza.

Stupidest post, EVAR!

Hint: I can make pizza. Perhaps you can too? Lina's Italian place on Centre St. N. sells frozen pizza shells. Paint with pizza sauce, add mozzarella, black olives, sliced mushrooms, and pepperoni slices (or pepper rings for vegetarians), ... et viola[sic]! Twelve minutes in the oven and Bob's your uncle.

This's Slashdot. We're expected to be capable of doing stuff. Ya know? FFS.

My pizza

[CosaNostra Pizza Inc]

I promiss my company sends no unwanted pizza related texts.

Re:Who doesn't want Pizza?

[theArtificial]

Apparently cooking is like alchemy to most people. While I'm not the world's greatest chef I do know how to prepare my own meals and making pizzas is extremely fun to do especially when you get down to making the crust. It's great to get the family involved with, too. Most breads are pretty simple to make, the most difficult part is having a decent oven. Pizza stones help out with this. Ultimately it comes down to effort and not everyone is motivated after work. BTW I like the et viola, very cool!

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:Who doesn't want Pizza?

[geekoid]

"ver notice how the better pizza places have a pizza oven or wood or coal oven?"
nope. They taste like smoke, or they have corn meal on then to take away the texture. Most of the time they crust isn't cook evenly, they take forever to cook. IT's just emotional attachment to a perceived 'good old days' fallacy

Conveyor belt oven is the best way to get pure pizza flavor, even cooking, and consistent pizza.

I have had all kind of pizza cook many different ways. My father ran a pizza place, I have worked in Pizza places, I have judged pizza.
I love pizza. I have literally been know to eat nothing but pizza for months. I understand baking and cooking.

So yes, I do know what I am talking about.

Sadly, I have reduce my pizza intake substantially in order to get to a healthy weight.

It should be noted there is a difference between good / Bad and Like / don't like.

People can like poorly prepared food, people may not like well prepared food. So you like oven cooked pizza? fine, enjoy. It isn't the best way to cook a pizza.

oh. Nothing is magic.A pizza with bad dough, bad topping and/or bad sauce will be a bad pizza, I don't care if you cook it with lasers.

I used to work in a Pizza place(about 3 decades ago) that had a conveyor. I invited my pizza snob friend from a mom and pop pizzeria over to cook one of their pizza in the over after hours.

Heh, shut them up quick. After considering it they decided not to get a convey. They where concerned about their image.

Re:Who doesn't want Pizza?

[BitZtream]

Or perhaps you've just worked at some shitty pizza places? I've done my fair share of baking too. Gas is a easier to deal with, but if you're notcing corn meal or smoke, someone is doing it very wrong.

I call bullshit on your entire post. If anything, you sound like the snob.