The holiday shopping season is here.
Plenty of people will shop in-store for their gifts, plenty of others will order online and have presents shipped, some will do a little of each.
Few will try and move their items around in the traditional Santa Claus manner, but that’s ok.
A big chain once tried to deliver pizzas by reindeer, and it didn’t go too well.
On Dasher! On Dancer! On extra large Deluxe with a side of Melty 3-Cheese Loaded Tots!
This was the work of Domino’s.
Back in 2016, it was trying to promote a new system where you could track your delivery driver through an app that used GPS.
It was also testing new ways to deliver its pizzas in Hokkaido, Japan, which gets lots of cold and snowy weather.
They thought, reindeer are used to cold weather, they can move around without tires or skis or whatever, why not have them deliver the pizzas?
There was backlash right away: some people on social media started asking whether the company would look after the animals’ health and well-being, and would the reindeer try to eat the pizzas they were supposed to deliver, and how do you tip a reindeer for delivering your pizza anyway?
Domino’s Japan went ahead with the plan… for a week, after which they closed it down.
As one company official said, “It has been difficult to control the reindeer.”
Specifically, the reindeer repeatedly knocked the pizzas out of the delivery pouches, and when they did make it to a delivery with pizzas on their backs, they didn’t always feel like stopping.
They wound up switching to a backup plan: they had drivers deliver pizzas on scooters that were decorated with antlers and tails to look like reindeer.
Minnesota is redesigning its official state flag.
The State Emblems Redesign Commission asked the public for ideas of what the new banner should look like, and earlier this month they published the more than 2,100 submissions they received.
Some are very fancy and feature some of the state’s most famous symbols, like lakes, stars and wildlife.
At least one submission included a picture of Prince, who’s one of the state’s most famous musicians.
Others featured hotdish and hockey games, and then there was submission number F156, which was just a photo of a dog.
Of course, maybe there’s demand for a flag that’s just a photo of a dog!
Domino’s Tried a Reindeer Delivery Program… You Can Guess How That Went (NBC News)
Whole lotta loons: 2,000-plus submissions unveiled for new Minnesota state flag, seal (CBS News)
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