History Main / ThirtyMinutesOrItsFree

A pizza is ordered. If it fails to arrive within a certain time frame, it's free! This was an advertising gimmick invented by Domino's Pizza in the 1980s, but was largely discontinued in the early 1990s because of an increase in the number of delivery drivers speeding and [[DrivesLikeCrazy reckless driving]] to beat the time limit, getting into fatal car accidents or being pulled over by the police, and also probable profit losses due to customers taking advantage over the "or it's free" part. More than two decades later, this trope has [[ForgottenTrope mostly fallen out of use]] in fiction made after the mid-1990s or so. And if a pizza place still displays such a policy nowadays, it will usually be constrained to a given area.

** Garfield even does this again with Vito's Pizza in ''WesternAnimation/TheGarfieldShow'' episode, "Great Pizza Race". And he would have gotten away with it.... if it weren't for the fact that John was taking Liz to Vito's on a dinner date.

* ''Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1990'': the pizza delivery is two minutes late, so Michelangelo got the pizza at a discount. Also, the "address" was a storm drain they christened "122 1/8", making the address a bit of a puzzle. Note that unlike most examples of the trope, there's never a stated guarantee for the delivery and the the delivery person's annoyance at Mikey refusing to pay the full amount indicates that this was likely something Michelangelo was forcing on the driver. Since the man had already turned over the pizza, there wasn't anything he could do about it.
* The Mexican comedy movie ''Film/TemporadaDePatos'' was entirely built around this trope.

* In the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' We R [[TheIgor Igors]] Diary 2015'', the Rapid Response Igor unit promises "delivery in 30 minutes or your [[MixAndMatchMan pieces]] are free!"

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheBatman'', Joker once ambushed Detective Ellen Yin by waiting outside her door dressed like a pizza boy. When she phoned for pizza, his reply was that it would be there in thirty ''seconds'' or it was free before immediately knocking on the door.
* A Creator/CartoonNetwork short titled [[https://youtu.be/kZePHlH2duk "Pizza Boy in: No Tip!"]] revolved around a delivery boy trying to deliver to the Arctic Circle within five minutes. He somehow managed it, but the Eskimos refused to give him a tip because it had anchovies on it and no whale (surprisingly, no one mentioned the pizza's damaged state), which causes him to [[RageBreakingPoint go berserk]].

* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' parodied this in a cutaway for "Hurry Up, Shrimp". While no particular guarantee is given, it's shown that apparently, the idea behind it is to get the shrimp delivered as fast as possible. They add a disclaimer that they're "not responsible for undercooked shrimp."

** An episode has Garfield at war with a pizza delivery service which kept ''almost'' arriving on time, but each delivery-person fell prey to elaborate traps Garfield had set to weasel his way out of paying. (Well, that and [[ForTheLulz it was fun]].)

** Garfield ''did'' mention there should be a way to get free pizzas without them coming cold. In the end, Garfield wondered if there was some Chinese place that also promised to deliver in thirty minutes.
** Garfield even did this again with Vito's Pizza in ''WesternAnimation/TheGarfieldShow'' episode, "Great Pizza Race." And he would have gotten away with it.... if it weren't for the fact that John was taking Liz to Vito's on a dinner date.

* ''WesternAnimation/LolaAndVirginia'': Lola held this policy during her brief career as a sushi delivery girl. Virginia once tried to stop Lola from making a delivery to her (Virginia's) Dad out of fear he'd compel her to get a part-time job.
* Surprisingly PlayedForDrama in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/LoonaticsUnleashed'' that is [[WholeEpisodeFlashback primarily flashback]] during Rev's section. Yes the food shop he works for offers this but to make up the lost profit, Rev's pay got docked every time it happened and he had such bad luck with getting to the customers' locations in a timely fashion that he ''outright wasn't getting paid''.
* When Creator/WarnerBros had original ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' shorts online, one cartoon involved Daffy Duck ordering from Porky Pig what amounted to a plain cheese pizza, and then trying to delay the delivery in hope of getting the pizza free.

* This story from [[https://notalwaysright.com/theyre-terrible-no-matter-how-you-slice-it/324467/ Not Always Right]] where the customers deliberately refused to answer the door until just after the 30 minute timer. Fortunately, the driver did not let them get away with it, although naturally did not make a tip.