Drive if the store is close and open
Within ten minutes of an open LCBO with an hour of trading left, going yourself wins. You browse, you compare, you are home in twenty-five minutes. Nothing beats that.
It also wins when you genuinely do not know what you want. A shelf is a better browsing experience than any screen when you are undecided.
Order when time or timing is against you
After 11 p.m. there is no store to drive to, which settles it. Before that, the calculation is guests already at your door, weather that makes the drive unpleasant, parking that costs you fifteen minutes downtown, or anybody at the party having had a drink already.
The last one is not a convenience argument. If everyone present has been drinking, the drive is not an option and there is no version of the maths where it is.
The real cost comparison
A round trip to the store is typically thirty to fifty minutes of your evening once you count parking and the queue on a Friday. Delivery averages about 30 minutes and none of it is yours. Whether that trade is worth it depends entirely on what the evening is doing while you are gone.
Common questions
Is alcohol delivery more expensive?
There is a delivery cost attached, which the trip to the store trades for your time, parking and fuel.
When is delivery clearly the better option?
After retail hours, in bad weather, when guests have already arrived, or when anyone who would drive has been drinking.
