FAQ

How far do you deliver?

We have a standard range that we can always serve as well as an extended range that we can often serve.

Standard range

Here’s a map of our standard delivery range. This is for both personal deliveries and traditional deliveries (traditional: when you order delivery directly from one of our restaurant clients).

Delivery fees for our standard range are set by the zones in the map.

Extended range

Over 75% of the time we can accept deliveries farther than our standard range and often up to 25 km or more. Just check the bottom of any page on our site to see our extended range status and distance.

Delivery fees for our extended range are set by this formula: the delivery fee for the downtown zone + 88.5 cents per kilometer

When we have extended range, we can also pick up at restaurants and stores that are located anywhere.

Contactless?

Yes. We’re offering contactless delivery during these strange times and will continue this option when things get back to normal, too. Contactless means the courier just leaves the package at your door and payment is either by e-transfer or cash left out in a safe place.

By requesting contactless with e-transfer, you are agreeing to send the transfer within an hour of receiving your order.

Like any payment method, the courier will get the full tip for e-transfers, and with much appreciation.

E-transfers to pdintrovertpay@gmail.com. It is auto-deposit and no security question is needed. E-transfer gives you the option to include a message. Include courier’s name and your address in that message eg. “This is for Hannah’s deliv to 1 Division St.”

How can I pay?

Etransfer, card “at the door” (debit, visa, mc, amex) or cash. Our machines can do “tap”

Note that if you order delivery through one of our restaurant clients, there is a chance that that particular restaurant may not use all of our options. For example, we are supplementary to a staff driver for some restaurants and they may not accept etransfer. All of our payment options are available for all personal deliveries whether it’s picking up your takeout or doing a grocery shopping delivery.

Are your delivery fees higher than the delivery apps?

Depends on the app. True for some apps and especially for far deliveries. It’s hard for us to compete with rates in some cases because the apps are also taking a chunk of the restaurant’s food sale and, with this extra money, they can promote lower delivery fees while paying the courier more than the delivery fee that you see, which is necessary for the courier to earn enough. It’s worth considering, however, that the restaurant’s food prices may be lower if you order directly from the restaurant. As well, some restaurants choose to cover some, or all (if you’re close), of our delivery fee for you with a minimum purchase eg. over $40 purchase.

We have modest fees in a lot of cases.

-Customers that are located within 4 or so Kilometers of downtown (the 8 zones surrounding downtown), are almost always satisfied with the delivery fee

-We have significant discounts for some of our non-urgent personal deliveries like grocery and LCBO.

-Our $4 fee that we charge restaurant clients for some delivery areas hasn’t increased in 6 years

-for especially far deliveries, we use a formula based on the kilometers to your exact address. This way, the fee is at least proportional, precise and consistent. read more

Generally speaking, if the customer is splitting the cost of the order with one or more other people, our fees should seem reasonable. If you are alone, affordability will depend on your location and what you’re ordering and we recommend that you check the rates before ordering. If you don’t see the fee for your particular need, send us a message and we will be happy to let you know the price for you to consider before ordering.

What is the Pulse?

The Pulse is the current delivery environment. This considers the current delivery volume, weather and traffic conditions. The Pulse status (shown at the bottom of every page) is a designation and status that the dispatcher adjusts periodically, throughout the day, to communicate the current Pulse to our customers and clients.

Different Pulse statuses can mean a greater or smaller chance of hold time (the time the restaurant waits before beginning to cook to better-align with the courier’s arrival to pick up) and more or less chance of delivery pooling.

Some of our service options offer an experience that isn’t varied by the current Pulse.

The Pulse is perhaps most useful for you to know when we are at our busiest and there is the possibility of major delays (this is less that 7% of the time and you can check if it’s the case by checking the Pulse)

Note: delivery volume is relative to the size of the current courier team. For example, although Monday at 11:30 am is usually low volume, occasionally we are still hoppin’ because of higher than usual volume relative to the smaller lunchtime courier team.

There are 4 Pulses statuses. (Extra strength (es), Typical (t), Hoppin’ (h), Surviving (su)). Most of the time we’re in “es” or “t”.

Extra Strength (es): Most deliveries are dispatched as they come in. Delivery request “lineup” clears as fast as it appears. read more

Multiple couriers are either “clearing” their current route in 5 to 15 minutes or are parked and ready for you. Deliveries could be pooled but a higher chance the delivery is a “single”.

Typical (t): in between “es” and “h”

Hoppin’ (h): It’s busy. The delivery team is keeping up. There may be holds on cooking eg. if the restaurant can cook in ten minutes, you may want to check with us before ordering. We may tell you eg. “tell the restaurant have it ready in 25 minutes” (if you’re ordering a traditional delivery, we’ll discuss hold time with the restaurant if hold time is warranted). Higher chance deliveries are pooled. Choosing a specific service option is worth considering if you have specific time constraints or are ordering food that is extra temperature sensitive as some wait times will be longer than average. Many delivery requests will still be completed as quickly as they are in “es” and “t”. Extended range may be limited in distance or not available.

Surviving (su): We’re in “su” less than 7% of the time. Hold time is likely on most food orders and possibly significant hold time. Choosing a service option is recommended if you have specific time constraints or food that is extra temperature sensitive. Still, some food delivery routes will have little sitting time. Text and Facebook messages could be up to 5 minutes before they are replied to due to quantity of messages. Even short-distance personal retail deliveries (LCBO, Shoppers Drug Mart) could be up to a 3-hour wait (for our standard option). Some service options are, at times, not possible for Pulse “su”. We’ll let you know if that’s the case. Extended delivery range likely unavailable.

How much to tip? Do I have to tip?

You may as well be asking for an answer to the meaning of life! Well…

On one hand, the existing tipping culture and driver earnings from tipping pushes down the market price of delivery fees (the price that customers and restaurants are willing to pay) so that the delivery fee, on its own, is not enough for a courier to make a living (it would definitely be below minimum wage if nobody tipped).

On the other hand, if you’re not sure you can afford to tip or you are trying to save money or you don’t believe in tipping, yes, you should still order, of course. A tip is still a tip and is the buyer’s choice. I prefer to release you from tipping expectation and ask only to educate you!

Tipping guide:

$0 thank you (and no problem) and on to the next delivery! J

$2-$3 Nice! (if you feel that spending more than then this is spending too much on your meal than this is great!)

$5 or 10%  Awesome. This is generous!

$7-8 or 15% You light up our life! 😮

$10 + or 20% You are a legend-tipper! (You pretty much just guaranteed this will be a $20+ hour (net) for the courier and even more if it’s busy. Courier may be bragging to other couriers about this one.

Average tip: ~10%

Things to consider: read more

the couriers don’t make the money some assume they do and they do depend on their tips. As well as gas, depreciation or extra repairs can be significant. Let’s say after 3 years of delivering, a courier wants a different car. Maybe there are now 75 000 more kilometres on the car then there would be if they didn’t have a delivery job. They are then selling the car for maybe $6000 less then they could be as the mileage affects the car’s value. If the courier uses an older car (less depreciation) they may be dealing with $600 ish repairs more often than a non-delivery car. One of our couriers has put $5000 of repairs into his Smart car! (this is not usual, though, and thanks to tipping, the couriers are doing okay!). Also worth considering is the courier is sometimes parked for some time before or after your delivery and not earning. (other times non-stop and excellent earnings). They work evenings and weekends. Lastly, (for your own calculations) consider the courier gets 65-75% of the delivery fee. Princess Delivery gets the rest. This is our revenue as we don’t take a commission from the restaurant’s food sale (being that we are a transportation service).

Why no app?

For one, we’re a delivery service and not a closed, proprietary system like a delivery app. The ways we can be used are many and varied. some restaurants have their own ordering websites and want to take orders independently but use us to deliver, we allow you to use Messenger, in a conversational way to, for example, shop for you at wine rack while picking up your food on route. You can even text us to deliver an item from your house to a friend. We offer a lot of versatility and flexibility and messaging works well for this. For two… okay, we should have an app. If we did this we would just want it to be awesome enough to stand beside the other food apps on your phone.

Do you guarantee customer satisfaction?

We are fully accountable to our role in the process. This includes compensating you, in full or in part, for delivery fees and/ or the food price if we are responsible for an issue. If the restaurant cooks the wrong food, for example, you will follow up with the restaurant (since you ordered it through them, initially) and ask them to make the correct item, compensate you or give you a credit for next time. Most of the time, the restaurant is responsive and cooperative (let us know if they aren’t as we may be able to help). Also, we will deliver the replacement item, without charging you a delivery fee, even when it’s the restaurant’s error.

Can I do split bills?

There’s no need to etransfer your housemates to settle a bill or debate tipping theory with each other. Each housemate can pay for their food separately at the door and the delivery fee will be divided equally, too. Please order the food as separate bills or indicate which items belong to each “payer” for a shopping delivery, so the courier will have separate receipts. We can’t split one receipt (separate various menu items/ do math with you) at the door as this can put the carrier behind for their next delivery.