They are free if you pick up your own order. I know this is about deliveries, but take outs are basically the same thing with the person ordering acting as the delivery walker (I live in Seattle/Ballard, so at least we don't have to drive to get food). I've recently discovered a local grocery store's salad/hot bar, and its basically my go to for lunch now (they grocery store doesn't even ask for tips).
There is a real argument in Seattle that tipping in most cases should not be required, and you shouldn't feel bad about just selecting "0" in many cases. We pay people a minimum wage here and the tipping arrangement that, unfortunately, exists in the rest of the country is inverted here as a result.
Also if you're in Ballard, I hope the store you're talking about is Town & Country. Their hot bar is good enough that my wife and I grab dinner there some nights.
Yep Town & Country, I used to just ignore it out of bias, one of those yuppy grocery stores, but it turned out to be way better than QFC, and its not like they do salad bars here like Ralph's does in LA.
Tipping is crazy in Ballard, and the food options aren't that great anyways. If we drive, we just go to Bellevue or even Edmonds to eat (my wife is Chinese).
Takeouts had a huge increase during COVID and I don't think they've gone back down again. Heck, Starbucks entire business was boiled down to mobile ordering grab and go for a long time, which is how their stores lost so much appeal (they started getting rid of their lobby, and people just figured out there was no reason to go there anymore). You could argue that takeouts killed Starbucks, at least. My local Thai restaurant is 80% takeouts now, they have a dining area, but its just so small, most people are grabbing food and eating at home.
Have you seen the delivery fees? You're not saving any money by ordering delivery.