- What Happened: Dan Simpson, 68, a Domino's delivery driver in Boise, Idaho, stopped at a convenience store on a busy Friday night to buy Diet Coke for a customer when the restaurant ran out. Caught on a Ring camera, the moment went viral and a GoFundMe launched by the customer has raised over $50,000 toward his retirement.
- Why It Matters: What Dan did not know is that his customers are both visually impaired, making a quick run to the store not simple at all. He plans to retire from his day job at the Idaho Department of Agriculture on April 30 and keep delivering pizzas.
- Bottom Line: Three minutes. A two-liter Diet Coke. Fifty thousand dollars. America still knows how to recognize a good man.
On a busy Friday night in Boise, Idaho, Dan Simpson had a problem. The 68-year-old Domino's delivery driver had an order ready to go, but the store was out of Diet Coke. He called the customer to ask about a substitute. Nobody answered. So Dan did what Dan does.
"What the heck," he thought. He ran across the street to a convenience store, bought two two-liter bottles of Diet Coke out of his own pocket, and delivered the complete order to a West Boise home. Three minutes. No big deal.
"They say I went the extra mile," Simpson told the Idaho Statesman. "But for goodness' sake, it was no big deal."
NEW: Over $50,000 has been raised for a Domino’s delivery driver who went out of his way to get his customer's Diet Coke when he realized that Domino's was out.
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) April 5, 2026
68-year-old Dan Simpson of Boise, Idaho has gone viral for his kind act.
"[Dan] had stopped at the store himself to… pic.twitter.com/Kz9V5JN9Ax
The customer, Brian Wilson, thought differently. So did his wife. And so did the rest of the country once they saw the Ring camera footage.
What Dan did not know was that Wilson and his wife are both visually impaired. Running out to a store for a quick soda is not a simple errand for them. When Dan showed up at the door with the complete order on a Friday night during deliveries, Wilson could not believe it. "You didn't have to do that," he said repeatedly in the video. Wilson wanted to increase Dan's tip but had no cash on hand and no way to do it in the moment. Dan waved it off. His tip on the delivery was $6.60.
Wilson posted the Ring camera footage to TikTok with the caption "The world needs more Dans." The video went viral almost immediately, racking up over 600,000 views. Wilson launched a GoFundMe titled "Tip for Dan the Pizza Man's Retirement." The internet responded with everything it had. Over $50,000 has now been raised toward a $70,000 goal, with donations still coming in.
Brian Wilson
When Dan came back to work the next day, his younger coworkers told him, "Man, you're famous, dude." He did not believe it.
"This can't be real," he said, watching the donations pile up on his phone over the weekend. "I'm thinking, this has got to be some kind of a scam."
It is not a scam. It is America at its best.
Dan has spent more than a decade delivering pizzas a few nights a week to supplement his day job at the Idaho Department of Agriculture. He will retire from that job on April 30. He plans to keep delivering pizzas. He spent time in prison for a DUI decades ago, got sober, went back to school, and has worked hard ever since. He has always struggled to save for retirement.
"I've always tried to be a pretty nice guy and help people out," he said, "because I know what it's like to be down and out."
He plans to use the GoFundMe money for a trip to see the Redwood trees in California. Maybe Hawaii. "Actually," he said with a laugh, "I'd rather go to Melba."
Dan Simpson bought a Diet Coke. America bought him a retirement. In a week full of bad news, Dan the Pizza Man is the story America needed.