For Domino’s delivery man Dan Simpson, it was simply a nice added touch of helpful customer service. But it has earned him more than $170,000 in less than two months—a windfall that has allowed the 68-year-old to retire early.
Simpson, who lives and works in Boise, Idaho, became a viral sensation after what seemed like a routine delivery on March 27. A customer, Brian Wilson, had ordered pizza with soda, but the Domino’s store was out of the Diet Coke he’d requested. Simpson first tried to call Wilson to ask if he’d prefer a substitute but got no answer. So, en route to Wilson’s house, Simpson stopped off at a convenience store and purchased a couple of 2-liter Diet Cokes with his own money.
When Simpson arrived with the pizza order, Wilson was embarrassed because he didn’t have any extra cash to pay for the sodas, but Simpson brushed that off. “Oh, you don’t need to,” Simpson told him. “It’s a good tip.” In the ensuing conversation, Simpson mentioned that he was hoping to retire by the end of this year.
That delivery and the interaction was captured by Wilson’s front-door security camera, and Wilson, touched by Simpson’s dedication to good service, posted the video on TikTok. Wilson then started a GoFundMe campaign to help Simpson make some extra money for his retirement. “The world needs more Dans,” Wilson wrote in the caption for the TikTok post.
Initially, the GoFundMe campaign, fueled by the TikTok video’s viral success, raised more than $40,000—quite a handsome tip for the delivery driver who has been working part-time for Domino’s for 14 years, in addition to his day job with the Idaho Department of Agriculture.
Since then, however, that dollar figure has kept climbing and climbing. “I got up this morning…and I checked my bank account, and there was $161,000,” Simpson told KTVB in early May. “What a retirement gift that was.” And by May 3, the amount had increased to $171,135, the New York Post reports. That amount currently stands at $171,635.
“What Dan didn’t know is that my wife and I are both visually impaired, so running out to the store for a ‘quick’ pickup is not something that is simple or easy for us,” Wilson told the Idaho Statesman. “What may have seemed like a tiny inconvenience to solve on his end actually made a huge difference on ours.”
Simpson was so blown away by the campaign’s results, he told the Idaho Statesmen, he first thought, “This can’t be real. I’m thinking this has got to be some kind of scam.”
Decades ago, Simpson spent time in prison for a DUI before getting sober and going back to school. He has worked for years to save up for retirement, but the money just wasn’t there…until now.
“I don’t think I work any harder than anyone else,” he said in the Statesman interview. “I’ve always tried to be a pretty nice guy and help people out, because I know what it’s like to be down and out.”
“For stopping and getting someone a soda…” Simpson added, incredulously, “It took me about three minutes [to stop at the convenience store]. They say I went the extra mile, but for goodness sake, it was no big deal.”
As a Domino’s customer, however, Wilson sees it differently. He said he was “blown away” by the act of generosity.
“On the surface, it probably looked like such a small gesture,” Wilson told the Statesman. “But to us, it felt like so much more than that. That kind of thoughtfulness and personal care just feels so rare these days….It was one of those moments that instantly remind you there are still genuinely good people out there who go above and beyond simply because they care.”
