The pick, before the details
I take pickup for any order under about $60. The menu price and the excise tax are identical whether you stand at the counter or answer your door, so the only real question is which add-ons hit your card. Pickup adds gas and a few minutes of your day. Delivery adds a fee, a tip, and often a minimum that pulls your cart past what you meant to spend. Under that $60 line, delivery almost never pays for itself.
Above it, the math flips. That is the whole review. Everything below is how I get to those numbers.
What pickup actually costs
- Gas and parking: $2 to $6 round trip in a city, more if you use a garage.
- Time: 20 to 40 minutes door to door, including the line and the ID check.
- Nothing else. No service fee, no tip line, no minimum.
The tax line does not change. Delivery does not make the flower cheaper or more expensive. It changes the total at checkout, and that is a different thing.
Medical Cannabis Pickup Option: Convenience as a Deciding Factor
What delivery actually costs
Expect a delivery fee between $3 and $10, a minimum order that runs $25 to $100 depending on the shop, and a tip most customers put at 10 to 20 percent. On a $40 order, that lands at roughly $12 to $18 in extras. That is 30 to 45 percent on top of the sticker.
Plenty of stores waive the fee above a threshold. Treat that threshold as a sales tactic, not a favor. If you were going to spend $50 anyway, the waiver is real money in your pocket. If the waiver talks you into $85, you just paid $35 for free delivery.
The math that settles it
- Write down your cart total before any fees.
- Add the delivery fee plus a 15 percent tip.
- Compare that to your cart total plus $4 for gas.
If the two numbers land within $5 of each other, order delivery. Your half hour is worth $5. If the gap is $15 or more, drive. Between $5 and $15 it comes down to weather, parking, and how much you trust the menu photos.
Where each one breaks
Pickup
Online menus lie. Strains sell out mid-afternoon and the site lags behind the shelf. You also lose the budtender conversation, which is where I usually learn that the $35 eighth is the same grower as the $50 one. Friday evening lines can eat the savings.
Delivery
Windows run 45 to 90 minutes, and some shops call with substitutions when something is short. You need to be home with ID and, at cash-only shops, exact change. Local rules vary a lot, and some cities don't allow it at all.
Three ways to play it
Small order, shop nearby
Pick it up. The fee and tip will cost more than the gas, every time.
Big stock-up
Order delivery from a shop with a fee waiver above your real cart size. Skip the upsell to hit the threshold.
No car, bad weather, or mobility limits
Delivery, full stop. Convenience is worth a premium when the alternative is a two-bus trip. Just check the minimum first so the fee does not surprise you at the door.