How to fix undefined method `<' for nil:NilClass in the view when cancelling kaminari scopes by invoking @delivery_requests = @delivery_requests.except(:limit, :offset)

indeed, when I try to cancel pagination on @delivery_requests by doing this: "@delivery_requests = @ delivery_requests.except (:limit, :offset)", I get the following error:
undefined method `<'for nil: NilClass at the line where I write this:
<%= paginate @delivery_requests %>. However @delivery_requests does not return null.