Delivery drivers of CE - why are "smart" doorbells such a problem?

I have grubhub near me and I always tip a good amount (absolute minimum of $5 for small orders, generally 20% otherwise), but there's one thing that drivers consistently ignore and I'm wondering why. In the notes, I ask if they can please ring the doorbell because my computer isn't anywhere near the door and I don't always have my phone on me, so if they just drop it off on my porch I wouldn't know it has arrived until it's already cold. Historically, drivers would ring the doorbell like... 50% of the time. However, I recently got one of those Arlo smart doorbells and I've noticed that since then, drivers ignore the request to ring the bell like 80-90% of the time. I don't know whether it's a fear of the fact that it has a camera, or if most drivers are felons or something, but it just makes no sense to me. Can someone explain why it's such a problem? I don't want to be a problem for delivery drivers (thus why I try to tip well on each order even though I can see on the grubhub tracker app that most drivers drop off like 3+ orders before actually delivering mine, usually causing it to arrive lukewarm), but I need to understand exactly what I'm doing wrong for them to decide actually letting me know my food has arrived before it gets cold is somehow a problem.

A smart doorbell probably wouldn't post a wall of text

Irony posted...

A smart doorbell probably wouldn't post a wall of text

tl;dr: why do drivers refuse the ring the doorbell when asked, even though it's the only way for me to know it's arrived before it gets cold?

Much like my Amazon delivery people, they rarely read the note in my experience

Jiek_Fafn posted...

Much like my Amazon delivery people, they rarely read the note in my experience

I like the video I saw where this person had a note on the door that said please don't ring baby is sleeping and the delivery guy rings it and then sees the note and he facepalms.

Are felons not allowed to work for grubhub?

Same in the UK. We don't tip, but for some reason they went from always ringing the bell 6-7 years ago, to never ringing it now. Generally I hear them via a motion alert.

Cornmuffins posted...

Are felons not allowed to work for grubhub?

Sure they are. I'm just wondering if that would give them an exceptional aversion to doorbells with cameras to explain why switching to one caused drivers to just... stop actually ringing the bell.

I would assume they are either assuming that the camera picks them up automatically(so that they dont have to ring it), don't want to be on camera, think it's weird that you want to record them in the first place, or just didn't read the note.

Maybe some combination of that too.

I dont know man, when I delivered pizza years and years ago I could never get customers to come to the damn door. Multiple doorbell rings, rounds of knocking, even unanswered phone calls were common. Half the doorbells didnt even work.

FunWithAFryPan posted...

I dont know man, when I delivered pizza years and years ago I could never get customers to come to the damn door. Multiple doorbell rings, rounds of knocking, even unanswered phone calls were common. Half the doorbells didnt even work.

That's part of what's weird to me. I ask them to leave it on my porch anyway, so they don't have to wait for me. I just also ask for a ring when they do it so I know to go get it. I don't want anyone waiting around for me. They should get about the rest of their day.

I have never used any of these services so I have no first hand experience on how they actually work but I was reading a thread one time and a delivery driver for one of these door dash, grub hub type places said that the delivery drivers can't see the special instructions section so anything you placed there wouldn't get done. Not sure how accurate that is.

As others have said, delivery drivers don't read the delivery notes. I have automatic gates and I always add my gate code to the delivery notes.

Now, living in a regional/rural area I know my local delivery drivers quite well, and they know my gate code off the top of their heads, so no issues there. When I order from companies that use their own couriers, or not our local ones, they either throw the packages over my fence and leave or they will ring me asking for the code (I have a big sign out the front advertising my business and it has my phone number on it in big numbers, right next to the gate).

Usually they just throw my packages over the fence.

I deliver for Uber, its most likely they didnt read the instructions. Im in nyc and I always read it cuz sometimes ppl will want me to leave it with their doorman/ring the bell/dont ring the bell.

They are so rushed they don't want to wait and talk to you.

The techno-fascist service companies are monitoring their minute to minute performance.

Irony posted...

A smart doorbell probably wouldn't post a wall of text

blistr posted...

As others have said, delivery drivers don't read the delivery notes.

It shouldn't matter about the delivery notes. Knocking/ringing the door id just standard practice for every delivery. Especially food.

TC, you could try:
(1) Automatically leaving a 1-star review every time it happens
(2) Not using the company any more
(3) Not paying up-front online, just pay at the door so they're forced to speak to you.