I moved from a house to a condo a couple of months ago and my board game night group came with me. Our tradition has been to order food and we tip 20%. The house was never a problem for them to deliver to the front door. The condo is a 25 story building with elevators, off-street guest parking, and one covered loading/unloading spot so if it’s raining the delivery person won’t get wet. In the delivery instructions I give the address and the entry code. The majority of delivery drivers will either call or text expecting us to come down to get the food. Last night, the text I received said “the driver is looking for you, you have 5 minutes to get your food”.
I’m curious if my expectations that the food should be delivered to the door are wrong?
I don’t know what the “correct” answer is, but within your question you indicate “delivered to the door”. An argument could be made that they did deliver to the door - the building door - just like when you lived in a house.
around here the rule is if its multi story/floor … you go to the lobby door … if its 1 story apts and they know the code to get in they usually take it to your door
but honestly it depends on the delivery person and how busy they are
Some multi-unit buildings have a rule that tenants must meet delivery people in the lobby.
That said, my apartment building didn’t, and despite the fact it was a difficult area for parking, over the years I had hundreds of food deliveries and they always went to my door.
I have gotten food delivered through Door dash to hotels I was staying at and almost always have had the delivery person leave it at my room door.
I could see it being left at a lobby/building entrance when there’s less parking around, and I suspect drivers often leave their car running when making a delivery and a long elevator trip would make that very risky. Also the amount of food that your group orders could require multiple trips- which is a lot easier and quicker to a house than an elevator trip.
That was the rule in my condo. People who live there have a legitimate interest in not having random non-residents wandering the building. Sure, maybe 99+% of the drivers are honest, but the ones looking for easy access for crime can cause a lot of problems.
And this is even worse for Uber Eats type drivers. At least my local pizza place uses a guy they actually know to do deliveries. But some random gig economy driver is a complete unknown. I could see someone taking one delivery every few hours, and then using the rest of their time to try getting into apartments.
I’m in NYC and every food delivery I, or anyone whose apartment I’ve been at, has gotten has been delivered directly to the individual apartment door, not the building front door.
My orders have always been delivered to my apartment door. My apartment complex is a collection of buildings where each apartment has exterior access, rather than a single building with a lobby so there isn’t a great place to meet a driver if they wanted me to come pick it up.
In towers in and around DC my experience was delivery to my unit unless there was some problem. E.g. we needed an RFID fob for the elevator and sometimes the front desk person would be away dealing with something. In that case they’d call and I’d come down.
That’s a hot button issue at my high rise apartment building, drivers got very used to just dropping food in the lobby and running off. Now, there’re not supposed to do that and many of them whine about it.
My expectation is for you to leave it outside my apartment door or hand it to me at the apartment door.
I’ve taken back the tip for lazy drivers who dump it in the lobby or who come up with every excuse to not come up. ‘I don’t have a mask’ even though the sign says ‘face masks suggested’ there’s no mandate and hasn’t been for months.
I’m not sure if you’re ordering from the same place every time, or different places, and if you’re using a place that has their own drivers, or uses a third-party intermediary. If you order from one restaurant consistently that does its own delivery, it might be worth reaching out during their non-busy hours and finding out if they have a policy on this, and what you can do to have the food brought to your door. I think the come-downstairs-and-get-it thing you describe is pretty normal, and you may not be able to get them to do better, but you may.
It probably absolutely depends on the hotel/apartment complex. In the college dorms, deliveries had to be picked up at the front door/lobby. The delivery person would call from the outside phone, and we’d come get the food.
Out of college, the places I’ve lived were apartment complexes of a bunch of smaller buildings that were gated. In those apartment complexes, the delivery person could call us, and we could “buzz” them in, and they’d deliver right to our door.
I imagine if it’s more of a dorm-style apartment complex or a hotel, it’s more like the dorms model than the apartment complex model.
This is the most comparable model to the condo complex I live in. During lockdown we used Door Dash a lot, so I wrote very specific instructions. I’ve had more than a couple of drivers thank me for the clear instructions! It’s self-interest, actually. Our complex is a mix of apartment-styled condo buildings and groups of townhouses with pools and lawn areas and nice grounds laid out with curving pathways. Take a wrong turn, and you can be wandering for a while.
Lotta big, enclosed buildings have dooormen. Who won’t let anyone past their station. They’ll accept your delivery on your behalf then tell you it’s there for pickup. They may call you first may be willing to send the delivery person up to your floor. Or not. Which also depends on what the delivery person is willing to do. More and more of them are in a major hurry and any excuse to stop short of your front door is 100% good news for them.
Gradations of “security” and paranoia vary greatly by building within a region, plus by between regions or SES.