If multiple delivery drivers all get confused then the issue is more with the instructions.
"Building 5 is in the back left, next to the pool, and you can see the ‘5’ above each of the two entrances.
Only one entranceway has a keypad, sorry! Punch *5327 on the keypad to get through the inner buzzer door, then come upstairs and leave the food in front of Apt. 215 and text or call me to let me know it’s there."
As a dog walker I figure I am not being paid to actually walk the dog, because I’d do that for free. (In most cases.) I’m being paid for the hassle of finding the right building and then finding the right unit. Oh, and where to park.
If I ever want to go incognito I am definitely moving to one of these places. Building G in a complex where they are not necessarily laid out in alphabetical order? Or there are those where every building has a separate address, and collectively you can figure out approximately where the address is, but then you get there are there are two enormous complexes, let’s call them The Breakers and The Oaks. (BTW these are actual complexes in Denver, no sign of breakers anywhere, there might be an oak somewhere–but used fictitiously here.) Both The Breakers and The Oaks have big gates with their names on them–but no address. In one of them the buildings are labeled with separate addresses in no particular order, and then unit numbers. In the other the bildings are labeled with letters. If you can find where on each individual building the letters or numbers are.
But wait, you’re not there yet! Looking for apartment 206, you conclude that it’s up a flight of stairs from 106. This may or may not be the case. If not, you might have to go to the other side of the building and go up another flight of stairs.
I am going to guess that when you first went to this address to check it out, you may not have gone straight to the right place, but now that you live there you know, and you think it’s easy. But for someone going there the first time it may not be that easy. A lot of people are doing new things right now. Provide really good specific directions or cut them some slack.
True dat.
[Moderating]
I know that threads about food generally go in CS, but this isn’t really about the food itself, but about deliveries, and I don’t think anyone would argue that deliveries are an art form. Moving to IMHO.
There’s nothing distinctive about them except that since they are on the south side of the building, the east door is to the right as you face the building. I was trying to explain it this way to the guy last night, but the language barrier was so dramatic, I was not even able to really have a conversation about this point. I am starting to wonder if there is some psychological tendency people have to choose the left door when there are two choices? I don’t see any other reason one would keep coming up instead of the other, unless it’s just a coincidence (four or five times now).
That’s actually a great idea, although I think I would just have to insist they make the same code work at the other door. I have found it irritating a couple times that this was not already the case, as they have had workers painting or doing maintenance in our doorway, requiring us to go to the other end (but we could still get in with our key, making it only a mild annoyance in those instances).
There’s still the problem of conveying that it needs to be *5327, not just 5327. I can hear on the phone that they are not doing that, no matter how many times I yell “STAR!” or “ASTERISK!” into the phone. It would be comedic if it weren’t so frustrating. I suppose before the pandemic I would just go down and meet them there, but I really don’t want to go out into common areas and it would be so simple for them to just follow the directions and bring my food to the door. Go to the east entrance, enter *5327, walk up one flight of steps, walk a few feet down the hall, leave the food. Collect that ten dollar tip plus whatever their base pay is.
I did that today (although they messed up my order and I didn’t discover it until I got home, d’oh). I would really rather not go out at all, though, given that we have no direct door to the outside and the virus-laden microdroplets linger in stairwells.
It’s surprisingly difficult (I gave up) to find a picture of such an apartment building that shows the doors. But here is a further-back view of a building that is very similar to mine, although in a different part of town. I know from Ubering that these are ubiquitous around here. In the foreground is the garages: every tenant has one, although it’s not connected to their building (perhaps surprising this far north, but it must save a lot on construction costs). The building in the background is just like mine: everyone has a patio or (above the second floor, as in my case), a balcony. To get in or out of the building, if you are not on the ground floor you must go in a door at either the far left or far right side of the building (not visible here as the garages block the view). There are no back or side doors, no central door either. It’s a cookie cutter style you see everywhere here, so delivery people should be familiar with them.
They don’t seem to have much trouble finding the actual building. And there really is no particular reason to go to one door rather than the other–that part is a mystery, as I mentioned above. But actually, both doorways do have keypads. It’s just that my code will only work in the east door (not the greatest setup, I agree). We are at the far east end of the building; I suppose people more in the middle just have to be assigned the door that is slightly closer, even if it might be convenient to be able to use either?
That photo explains why I couldn’t picture it - that’s a very uncommon style here - the closest I’ve ever seen is a similar style ( right down to the garages being away from the apartments) involving a two story building with a separate entrance for every two- four apartments. You couldn’t really look at them and tell that it’s an apartment complex rather than a row of two family houses
Now that makes no sense at all , having different codes for the different doors that access the same space.
you could send the manager/owner a map beforehand … circling entrance and unit you live in. per your request … he, in turn, would post your map on his wall … so driver would consult it before leaving store. email might be the most practical*(facebook, website, etc)* vehicle for map image*(jpg, pdf)*.
This times 100. I had a stint delivering pizzas for a friend. I found myself in situations umpteen times where simpler directions would’ve been much preferable than my trying to act like GPS.
I’ve lived in apartments for years now, and while I didn’t typically get delivery very often, I did get pizza from time to time (and now I get delivery of some sort most Fridays).
Honestly, I’ve always just gone down to get it… I don’t want to waste people’s time punching in codes and getting buzzed in when A) it doesn’t always work, because not all apartments are great with that stuff), and B) I can get it faster by navigating through my apartment, which I am far more familiar with than any delivery person will ever be.
While I get there are delivery people who are totally cool with going into apartments and wandering through strange hallways praying they’re not late, I honestly see it as a bit silly if you (general you) can’t just walk down a flight of stairs or two and pick it up.
Where I live now I have to do that, since my apt complex is cheap af and has no buzz in / automatic door. But I always did anyway. It’s still saving me time not having to go pick up the food, and the delivery person is probably secretly grateful.
Edit: Also, as someone else mentioned, I am also directionally challenged, and unless I happen to still have my GPS out, I am not going to know the east door from the west door.
Could it be the GPS.
I have a coworker who uses Lyft an Uber and she said, their GPS systems always show her at the BACK of her building in the alley, instead of out front. So the drivers go to the back alley.
Then someone told me drivers have to go to the GPS location to get credit for the pickup in case it’s a no show.
I’m not sure of the details, or even if that is correct, but could something along that lines be an issue?
There are no doors (or pavement for that matter) in the back of the building, but it’s possible the GPS directs them to the west door. The real problem is that my written directions are disregarded or not understood, and the biggest problem of all is that I can’t have a simple phone conversation with someone like so:
“Are you sure you’re at the east entrance? That’s the one on the far right end of the building as you are facing the building from the parking lot.”
“Oh, no: I must be at the west end I guess: it’s the left door.”
“The code won’t work there. You have to go to the other one, and make sure to press the ‘star’ (or technically an asterisk) before you punch in the numbers.”
It’s just not possible to communicate this to any of the drivers I have talked to, and that’s a problem.
If it happens with multiple drivers, I think it’s your expectations that are the problem. Don’t make them come inside. Meet them at the door.
This
Having worked both pizza with it’s own delivery drivers as well as Uber eats and DoorDash.
The pizza place down the street will become intimately familiar with the various apartment complexes. When I worked at round table a bunch of our guys made little binders with maps of the more annoying apartment complexes in our delivery area.
Gig delivery services span the entire city, and it’s challenging to work a certain area you know. You never really get the chance to “learn” the more challenging delivery spots where the pizza guys are there a dozen times a week.
An issue I’ve encountered recently is delivery people not speaking english. I’ve seen a couple of guys wandering around our complex with perplexed expressions and when I asked “which apartment are you looking for?” all I got was a blank stare and “no english”.
We get confused delivery drivers here all the time. My apartment complex used to be two separate complexes until the ownership of one bought the other out and merged the two. There are a lot of signs with the addresses; the even numbered addresses are on one side of the road, the odd on the other. Where it gets confusing is that some, but not all, of the even numbered addresses also have letters but none of the odd numbers do. I get people looking for “1234 A” on my side of the street when I’m “12345”. There’s also “1234” with no A but it’s on the other street in the complex. And don’t get me started on how the road just abruptly changes names. I think that’s where the road was built to connect the two complexes when they merged.
I, too, bet that google maps or some other standard map software marks your address as being at the other entrance.
This. Whatever you are doing isn’t working, so try doing something else.
Are you giving directions in writing? If not, do that.
Are you giving multiple instructions (“go to the east entrance. The entrance on the left side of the building from the road. You need to drive past the west entrance to get to it.”)
Use simple, short sentences to write to non-native speakers.
But do you really want a lot of non-residents in the hallways? have them deliver at the outside door, and pick it up there.
Oh – I live in a single-family house. GPS will reliably get you here. The only delivery problem I have is drivers who leave cardboard boxes in the center of my driveway when it’s pouring rain. My front door is under cover, and is also not in plain view of the road, but that would require the driver to walk up a short flight of steps, and they don’t want to do it.
Good delivery people either put packages by my front door, or right inside the garage, out of the way. Too many of them aren’t good.
Yes, this is the main problem I’m having. It’s almost as ridiculous to have delivery people with no English as it would be for a receptionist or phone customer service rep.
I really don’t want it under those circumstances (because of the coronavirus; OTOH before the virus I didn’t order delivery at all). I want the delivery in the first place (as opposed to takeout) to avoid having to walk through my hallways and stairwell. If I’ve gone that far, I may as well drive over to the restaurant to pick it up. Certainly it’s not worth tipping ten bucks if that’s what I have to do.