diff --git a/bin/swift-bench b/bin/swift-bench
index b24345c873..04a0428eef 100755
--- a/bin/swift-bench
+++ b/bin/swift-bench
@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@ CONF_DEFAULTS = {
     'devices': 'sdb1',  # space-sep list
     'log_level': 'INFO',
     'timeout': '10',
+    'delay': '0',
     'bench_clients': [],
 }
 
@@ -117,6 +118,8 @@ if __name__ == '__main__':
                       help='If set, will not delete the objects created')
     parser.add_option('-V', '--auth_version', dest='auth_version',
                       help='Authentication version')
+    parser.add_option('-d', '--delay', dest='delay',
+                      help='Delay before delete requests in seconds')
 
     if len(sys.argv) == 1:
         parser.print_help()
diff --git a/swift/common/bench.py b/swift/common/bench.py
index bc45d809c8..0a46be2d76 100644
--- a/swift/common/bench.py
+++ b/swift/common/bench.py
@@ -352,6 +352,7 @@ class BenchController(object):
         self.delete = config_true_value(conf.delete)
         self.gets = int(conf.num_gets)
         self.aborted = False
+        self.delay = int(self.conf.delay)
 
     def sigint1(self, signum, frame):
         if self.delete:
@@ -378,6 +379,11 @@ class BenchController(object):
             self.running = gets
             gets.run()
         if self.delete:
+            if self.delay != 0:
+                self.logger.info('Delay before '
+                                 'DELETE request %s sec'
+                                 % self.delay)
+                time.sleep(self.delay)
             dels = BenchDELETE(self.logger, self.conf, self.names)
             self.running = dels
             dels.run()