to think delivery drivers should take their shoes off?

[sleepycoffeemonster]

We had bedroom furniture delivered today, delivery drivers turned up at the door step with part of the furniture ready to bring in asking where to put it, directed that it would be going upstairs. Up they went, no stopping to take off shoes or cover. Once up stairs one realises he's walked mud up the stairs and in a nice pattern on our light carpet.

How do people who keep shows on indoors not mind this? The house must get so dirty with several people coming and going with shoes on!

We're a shoes off by the door house because if this. Its not even wet out and we have a path from drive to door so not sure how he managed to get so muddy!

They will if you ask but you haven't mentioned asking them before they came in

I can't tell if you're serious or not, OP. You're extremely lucky if you can find any deliverymen who will cart stuff upstairs. We are a "no shoes in the house" household too, but you can't in politeness impose such rules on visitors, esp not those needing to protect their feet as PP have pointed out.

Delivery people are not paid to lug the items up your stairs. If they do it then they are being kind to you. You should have put something down if you wanted them to do this.

Shoe and boot covers aren't great for grip the shoe slides around on the plastic absolutely no good for people delivering stuff. Just run a hoover about the floor after the world hasnt ended.

Oh god this kills me. I always just tell them to put deliveries in the hallway and I'll get it upstairs myself. Even then though we have a huge mat at our front door which my daughter's pushchair is usually kept on; I moved the pushchair because we were getting a tumble dryer delivered but they still managed to trample all over the carpet even though they were only placing it a metre inside the front door. Even when I've politely asked people coming in to measure for blinds etc to either wear covers or take shoes off on the mat they stand on the carpet to do it WHY??? it's literally a huge mat covering half of the hallway!!! I just grit my teeth and cry inside.

A lot of extra cleaning?! How many people are in your house daily with their shoes on?? A bit of mud is so easy to clean, once it's dried, a run over with the Hoover and it'll be gone? If not, a scrub with a brush and it'll be gone.

So between the van and your front door there's mud? Maybe sort that first? Or put planks down? I can't see how drivers get so muddy in such a short distance. You need outside doormats if it's a particular problem. Also don't hoover mud until it's dry otherwise it's tricky to get up.

@Anordinarymum

Delivery people are not paid to lug the items up your stairs. If they do it then they are being kind to you. You should have put something down if you wanted them to do this.

Actually it was part of the cost and detailed in the contract at the point of sale (by a large, well known furniture company) that the drivers deliver to the room and put it together for you in that room. They weren't doing me an extra favour! (I wouldn't have been that cheeky to ask if it wasn't discussed by the sales person).

I can see that protective shoes are likely to be required for safety and insurance, just annoying that now I have a new problem to sort out in the form of carpet cleaning. After the trades people we'd had that covered their shoes without being asked, I was expecting the same.

@CoronaPeroni

So between the van and your front door there's mud? Maybe sort that first? Or put planks down? I can't see how drivers get so muddy in such a short distance. You need outside doormats if it's a particular problem. Also don't hoover mud until it's dry otherwise it's tricky to get up.

There isnt, they parked in our drive and walked on the path, its not been raining and I can literally see no mud!

@Anordinarymum

Delivery people are not paid to lug the items up your stairs. If they do it then they are being kind to you. You should have put something down if you wanted them to do this.

That's not true, it depends on the delivery. Pre covid, delivery drivers refused to bring a delivery of nursery furniture upstairs even though the contract stated it would be delivered to a designated room of our choice. One phone call to their head office and they were sent back to fix it.

Also we have two doormats lol! A thick coir brush one followed by a soft one thats supposed to soak up mud!

I'd chop their feet off, I've got cream carpets 🙄
Boiler man came last week, he used shoe covers.
It's really rude to assume you can walk on someone's carpet in your outdoor shoes

I would imagine shoe covers could be quite slippy and dangerous when carrying things up and down stairs.

@Westfacing

Their feet need protecting so need to keep shoes on.

I'm a nurse and those plastic shoes covers can be slippery - especially on carpets and stairs.

Me too! Lots of times I am asked to remove my shoes and will decline. Happy to put shoes covers on but patients have to provide them it isnt something the NHS provide. They are really slippy though.

In you instance op I think it was your responsibility to protect your carpet not theirs, I have just renovated my house and bought rolls of sticky carpet protector for this very reason.

You cannot out sheets down on stairs etc whilst people are lugging heavy goods, its a massive safety hazard. Get a box of shoe covers, keep in a cupboard if you get tradespeople coming in, crikey what a load of tosh.

The world will not end if you have to clean your carpet.
Carrying furniture upstairs with shoe cover on might lead to someone slipping... Whose insurance do you suggest they claim off if they can't work due to, say, a broken leg?

You can buy the disposable covers and keep some at home for situations like this. Terrible for the environment mind.

Although disposable, they can easily be reused. A few shoe covers will not cause an issue with the environment.

Their shoes/boots are ppe, they are lifting and carrying heavy items and need supportive footware with good grip. Shoe covers would also be inappropriate if carrying things upstairs because they reduce grip and cause the shoes to slip on carpetted floors, but would be fine for bringing items into a downstairs location. I'm a paramedic and wear steel toe capped safety boots, I won't take them off ever or wear shoe coverings if I will be lifting and carrying someone in a carry chair down a set of stairs.

I'd chop their feet off, I've got cream carpets ... It's really rude to assume you can walk on someone's carpet in your outdoor shoes

I reckon maintaining your cream carpets is your responsibility.

Do you have insurance should your delivery man people slip with the shoe covers on and hurt themselves?

I doubt they'd be allowed to take off their boots for health and safety reasons. The boots are there to protect their feet in case they drop something and get injured. If I had a problem with delivery people walking through my house I'd ask them to leave the item at the door and make my own arrangements for carrying it upstairs.

YABU as it would be a safety hazard, as would be shoe covers or putting sheets on the stairs.

Had a disgustingly rude midwife a couple years ago refuse to take her shoes off. She kept trying to walk in And Dh had to block her ! I’m the end he said ‘look. STOP. You are not seeing the baby unless you take your shoes off or alternatively you can walk on some newspaper’

She was hateful she then handled ds so badly we had to complain

You need to buy slip on shoe covers for these occasions.
I dont have shoes on indoors but it wouldn't be safe while carrying heavy items.

Shoe covers would be the answer to this!

Health and safety - probably need steel toed boots on. Shoe covers are a slip risk.