diff --git a/CONFIG.md b/CONFIG.md
index 92c36ae..2cac906 100644
--- a/CONFIG.md
+++ b/CONFIG.md
@@ -102,9 +102,15 @@ authenticators is `type`:
 ### The `local` crawler
 
 This crawler crawls a local directory. It is really simple and mostly useful for
-testing different setups.
+testing different setups. The various delay options are meant to make the
+crawler simulate a slower, network-based crawler.
 
 - `path`: Path to the local directory to crawl. (Required)
+- `crawl_delay`: Maximum artificial delay (in seconds) to simulate for crawl
+  requests. (Optional)
+- `download_delay`: Maximum artificial delay (in seconds) to simulate for
+  download requests. (Optional)
+- `download_speed`: Download speed (in bytes per second) to simulate. (Optional)
 
 ## Authenticator types
 
@@ -114,8 +120,8 @@ With this authenticator, the username and password can be set directly in the
 config file. If the username or password are not specified, the user is prompted
 via the terminal.
 
-- `username`: The username (Optional)
-- `password`: The password (Optional)
+- `username`: The username. (Optional)
+- `password`: The password. (Optional)
 
 ## Transformation rules
 
diff --git a/PFERD/conductor.py b/PFERD/conductor.py
index 5022a22..d50574e 100644
--- a/PFERD/conductor.py
+++ b/PFERD/conductor.py
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ class ProgressBar:
 
     def set_total(self, total: float) -> None:
         self._progress.update(self._taskid, total=total)
+        self._progress.start_task(self._taskid)
 
 
 class TerminalConductor:
diff --git a/PFERD/crawlers/local.py b/PFERD/crawlers/local.py
index fb08cc9..1677ff0 100644
--- a/PFERD/crawlers/local.py
+++ b/PFERD/crawlers/local.py
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 import asyncio
 import datetime
+import random
 from pathlib import Path, PurePath
+from typing import Optional
 
 from ..conductor import TerminalConductor
 from ..config import Config
@@ -14,6 +16,24 @@ class LocalCrawlerSection(CrawlerSection):
             self.missing_value("path")
         return Path(value).expanduser()
 
+    def crawl_delay(self) -> Optional[float]:
+        value = self.s.getfloat("crawl_delay")
+        if value <= 0:
+            self.invalid_value("crawl_delay", value)
+        return value
+
+    def download_delay(self) -> Optional[float]:
+        value = self.s.getfloat("download_delay")
+        if value <= 0:
+            self.invalid_value("download_delay", value)
+        return value
+
+    def download_speed(self) -> Optional[int]:
+        value = self.s.getint("download_speed")
+        if value <= 0:
+            self.invalid_value("download_speed", value)
+        return value
+
 
 class LocalCrawler(Crawler):
     def __init__(
@@ -26,6 +46,14 @@ class LocalCrawler(Crawler):
         super().__init__(name, section, config, conductor)
 
         self._path = config.working_dir / section.path()
+        self._crawl_delay = section.crawl_delay()
+        self._download_delay = section.download_delay()
+        self._download_speed = section.download_speed()
+
+        if self._download_speed:
+            self._block_size = self._download_speed // 10
+        else:
+            self._block_size = 1024**2  # 1 MiB
 
     async def crawl(self) -> None:
         await self._crawl_path(self._path, PurePath())
@@ -41,28 +69,49 @@ class LocalCrawler(Crawler):
 
     async def _crawl_dir(self, path: Path, pure: PurePath) -> None:
         tasks = []
+
         async with self.crawl_bar(pure):
+            if self._crawl_delay:
+                await asyncio.sleep(random.uniform(
+                    0.5 * self._crawl_delay,
+                    self._crawl_delay,
+                ))
+
             for child in path.iterdir():
                 pure_child = pure / child.name
                 tasks.append(self._crawl_path(child, pure_child))
+
         await asyncio.gather(*tasks)
 
     async def _crawl_file(self, path: Path, pure: PurePath) -> None:
+        stat = path.stat()
+        mtime = datetime.datetime.fromtimestamp(stat.st_mtime)
+        dl = await self.download(pure, mtime=mtime)
+        if not dl:
+            return
+
         async with self.download_bar(path) as bar:
-            stat = path.stat()
-            mtime = datetime.datetime.fromtimestamp(stat.st_mtime)
-            dl = await self.download(pure, mtime=mtime)
-            if not dl:
-                return
+            if self._download_delay:
+                await asyncio.sleep(random.uniform(
+                    0.5 * self._download_delay,
+                    self._download_delay,
+                ))
 
             bar.set_total(stat.st_size)
 
             async with dl as sink:
                 with open(path, "rb") as f:
                     while True:
-                        data = f.read(1024**2)
+                        data = f.read(self._block_size)
                         if len(data) == 0:
                             break
+
                         sink.file.write(data)
                         bar.advance(len(data))
+
+                        if self._download_speed:
+                            delay = self._block_size / self._download_speed
+                            delay = random.uniform(0.8 * delay, 1.2 * delay)
+                            await asyncio.sleep(delay)
+
                     sink.done()