Bring Me my Food!

We all want to live in a perfect world. Admit it or not, we all like for the majority of things to revolve around us. We like things when we want it, NOW; and sometimes yesterday depending on the person. When it comes to food, this subject has to be right up there on the top of the list. Today, food delivery is the new and upcoming way to satisfy the void of the everyday hustle and bustle. Thank God to those brave men and women that fight metro traffic, to bring us all a warm meal that we couldn't cut out time to retrieve ourselves. Needless to say, we should lend them a helping hand outside of the occasional tip. Yes, I spent some time as a delivery driver and this one goes out to the high-rise and apartment dwellers.

Again, most delivery drivers will not tell you this, but I'm not the average deliver guy. I have many concerns, but yet I will only highlight a few because I know that your time is important. Having said that, I will be quick and on my way! I'm always leaning on the side of keeping things simple. However, high rise buildings can be very complicated. Some buildings are very hard to access and the staff take pride in difficulty. Some with limited or no parking at all and I have never encountered an order that I had to drop off on the first floor. My orders were normally drop offs at the 14th and above floors. During day time hours, the fear always pumped in my heart that my car would be booted, towed or ticketed when I returned. In a perfect world, if the receiver of this hot meal knew I was coming, meeting me in the lobby would be a good thing. Maybe I'm the only one who thinks this way. Somehow, this would make a smoother transition with the exchange and delivery drivers wont have to worry about returning to any surprises upon making it back to their vehicle getting ready for the next delivery. Potential set backs on deliveries to high rise buildings are a bad in the night time vs the day because parking restrictions are not enforced at night as they are during the day. However, apartment complexes present the same problems, around the clock.

The typical apartment complex presents some of the same concerns I mention in the "The Rideshare Experience", but with an added twist. Not knowing the lay of the land, the deliver driver can have a task at hand when trying to figure out which floor and side of the build the actual apartment unit is located. Yeah, most of the times, the customer gives the apartment number as if the delivery driver should be familiar with the complex. However, there are concerns that may surface during a delivery, the most aggravating experience a delivery driver can encounter is a call not answered when they are trying to contact the customer when additional information is needed. Now I have ordered food many times before and my fear is that I don't want my food to be left out on my door step for any critters or dishonest person to snag. So the last thing I will not do as a customer is not answer my phone.

I can never figure out the perfect exchange, and I really don't think there is such a thing! What I would like to see happen is an improvement of customer awareness that will help the delivery driver exchange the merchandise more effectively. Maybe this will help someone improve their customer experience. Bottom line, please pay attention to your deliver and provide as much information as possible. Delivery drivers have more that one person that needs to receive quality meals.