A FreshDirect “Depot” at 70th street and Broadway.
By Jessica Brockington
Local residents showed up to a public Community Board 7 meeting on Tuesday night expecting to speak with representatives for FreshDirect, but the company decided to skip the meeting altogether. Instead, FreshDirect is planning to meet privately with the committee at a future date, according to Andrew Albert, co-chair of the Community Board’s Transportation Committee.
“Apparently they don’t want to face the public,” Albert said. “They will attend a much smaller meeting, but we certainly want to hear what you have to say,” he told those in attendance.
The online supermarket, which offers unprecedented convenience to some – the disabled, elderly, and the over-scheduled, for instance – is creating a dangerous nuisance by setting up street-based distribution centers, according to Albert.
Committee members and residents raised concerns about double-parking, unloading in bus stops, idling their engines, using noisy refrigeration units and staking out parking spots for months at a time.
“We’ve recommended they find another place to distribute,” Albert told the crowd. “They’ve chosen not to do that.”
Gus Stone, a neighbor on 90th Street, said he had reached out to the 20th and 24th Precincts asking for stronger enforcement against the company’s illegal traffic practices.
“Their business model assumes they’re going to get all these tickets. The trucks all have tickets lining the window every day,” Stone said.
Richard Robbins, a member of the Transportation Committee, expressed his support of the services offered by the company.
“I like them. I don’t want to put them out of business,” Robbins said. “A lot of Upper West Siders use it, which is the root of the issue. If we don’t want to say ‘Go Away,’ we need to come up with a solution.”
Lillian Moore, another member of the committee, was concerned that the company had cooperated in the past and been amenable to community suggestions.
“They were willing to work with us,” she said.
Albert disagreed.
“They haven’t changed their MO at all,” he said. “They’ve commandeered blocks, reduced the flow of traffic and city buses and other deliveries.”
Mark Diller, Secretary of CB7, asked why FreshDirect wasn’t renting space locally for their distribution.
“Last time they were here, you said that their long term solution can’t be to rent space in the community the way everyone does,” he said.
Dan Zweig, co-chair of the Transportation Committee, said that because they aren’t selling retail they can’t rent space. Local zoning doesn’t allow for food distribution.
Diller called it a unique problem and warned against trying to find a solution specifically for this one company.
“We’ve seen how they’re using the streets of New York for warehouse distribution. If any other business tried to do that, we’d be in worse shape,” he said.
Expanding commercial parking was offered as a solution, although committee members pointed out that as soon as commercial spots were available they would be snapped up by other businesses making deliveries in the area.
But other businesses make their deliveries and then leave, while FreshDirect finds a location and stays for months, Albert pointed out.
Committee members were not concerned with the potential for any unfair competition FreshDirect might pose for the brick and mortar retailers.
“These people are not putting grocery stores out of business,” Zweig said. Decades of escalating rents and low profit margins for grocery stores are the problem, he explained.
Committee Member Miki Fiegel agreed. “The profit margin on grocery stores is very low. Something like a half of a percent,” she said.
“But is it fair to give [FreshDirect] free warehouse space in the street?” Diller countered. “We’re subsidizing FreshDirect.”
Zweig suggested convincing the company to be more neighborly.
“We need to talk with FreshDirect. If it doesn’t fit their business model, then it won’t work.”
In a written statement supplied to WSR after the meeting, David Helfenbein, spokesperson for FreshDirect, declined to comment on their no-show Tuesday night or on whether they are planning a smaller meeting with just CB7 members. Their statement to WSR reads as follows:
“FreshDirect has been working closely with Community Board 7 and will continue to do so. We carry an extremely strong sense of responsibility toward all the communities we serve, including Manhattan’s Upper West Side. As part of this commitment, we are invested in being environmentally friendly with advanced technology programmed to immediately shut off our truck engines if left idling past a period of three minutes. Each truck contains a fridge reefer, which cycles on and off to keep food cold. This sound could be mistaken for an engine.
In addition, FreshDirect trucks do not park in bus lanes. All parked trucks are placed strategically throughout the city, serving as hubs to reduce side street congestion.”
I am a dyed in the wool capitalist, but between Uber believing that their business model allows them to ignore the TLC and Fresh Direct turning our sidewalks into loading docks, I feat that we are setting a bad precedent. Simply because we benefit from them does not mean that we cannot establish basic rules of conducting business.
First, Uber follows all TLC regs.
Second, these fresh direct trucks are annoying, but they are getting ticketed. They should get four tickets for all the spaces they take up, but I fail to see how it is different from food trucks, UPS and all the other businesses that use the streets for their business..
Agree; (1) “‘These people are not putting grocery stores out of business,’ Zweig said. Decades of escalating rents and low profit margins for grocery stores are the problem, he explained.” is inaccurate as the competition hurts. (2) “Zweig suggested convincing the company to be more neighborly. ‘We need to talk with FreshDirect. If it doesn’t fit their business model, then it won’t work.’ This Z just is thinking that Fresh Direct will justmakethe right decision for the neighborhood. That’s his job!
Just stop it. Fresh Direct provides a valuable service. Cut them some slack. There are a lot of shut-ins (believe me, I know) that rely on the service. And ferchrisakes tip the delivery guy. They tell me they don’t always get tipped. They should be.
“And ferchrisakes tip the delivery guy. They tell me they don’t always get tipped”
If you go to a restaurant and there’s a “service charge” you are not expected to tip;
doesn’t FD charge a delivery fee?
why should one tip if they’re charging a fee?
Tips are income earned in addition to one’s salary.
From a Fresh Direct order confirmation email:
“The delivery fee is not a gratuity for any FreshDirect employee who delivers or is otherwise involved with the delivery of your order and will not be given to any such employee as a gratuity.”
ConchShell:
“If you go to a restaurant and there’s a “service charge” you are not expected to tip;”
That is often called a “grautity” but it is an oxymoron to call any mandatory fee a “gratuity”, which, by definition, is not mandatory but optional.
——-
Incidentally, although both Amazon Fresh and now Fresh Direct, as well, offer the option to include a tip as part of one’s order, the deliverymen would prefer that you give them cash directly.
The delivery fee goes to the company. The tip goes into the pocket of the person carrying boxes of your groceries from the street to your door or into your apartment. It’s a way of saying “thank you” for their work, for their courtesy, and for their unflinching good humor.
Re: “…and for their unflinching good humor.”
AND, as the Assistant Custodian at that high school on E. 116th/FDR Drive was fond of saying every time he told a bad joke, “If you don’t like Good Humor…try Bungalow Bar!”
Totally irrelevant, but……..
“The delivery fee goes to the company.”
and the company pays the delivery guy.
your logic makes no sense.
Providing a valuable service doesn’t make a company above the law.
Stop trying to shut down the dialogue.
Fresh Direct operates in many locations. What are those places doing to work with FD? Why not contact the relevant community boards to see what they’re doing to deal with the situation?
I use restaurant, and I’m not sure how I would manage without them. I hope they can find a solution that satisfies everyone. Or at least almost everyone.
That was supposed to be FreshDirect, not restaurant.
I find that UPS trucks are a greater nuisance than FreshDirect Trucks. They are double-parked in front of vacant parking spaces for hours at a time, blocking a lane of traffic and keeping others from parking.
Fresh Direct didn’t show up because Fresh Direct doesn’t care what the citizens of New York think. They don’t have to. Any problems they have, Im sure “someone” will fix them.
It amazes me that New Yorkers fail to understand that allowing these trucks to idle on the streets gives Fresh Direct an unfair advantage over the business that have been serving them in their neighborhoods for decades. Our choices are already limited, much more than big European cities like Vienna or Munich. It is really unfortunate.
Local businesses have lots of rules and regulations they have to follow and they have high rents to pay. Fresh Direct has a truck. When all local business have closed and reasonably priced restaurants have succumbed to high rents and food trucks, we’ll all regret it. But hey we don’t have to walk to the store so that makes it all better.
Stop polluting, noisy Mr. Softee trucks.
Fresh Direct trucks are out on the street a fraction of the time Mr. Softee trucks are spewing exhaust and noise, day and night.
I love their song. Reminds me of childhood and the beach.
Peapod manages to deliver effectively without using our streets as a distribution center. And their prices are a LOT lower. Since Fresh Direct charges much higher prices to NYC than they do to their customers in NJ, they can afford to find a better distribution solution.
I was tempted by Peapod’s lower prices to try them. Then I looked at their reviews on Yelp…
We gave up on Peapod, which is the delivery arm of Stop and Shop supermarkets. They never delivered within the specified time period (unlike Fresh Direct), they didn’t notify us when they knew they were going to be late (unlike FD), they substituted inferior items if something was out of stock, items leaked or were crushed because items were delivered in plastic supermarket shopping bags, etc. Also, they were based in NJ, so if there was a traffic problem crossing the Hudson (which is almost all the time), they would be delayed. No matter how many perks they offered to keep us as customers, we terminated our relationship with Peapod.
Peapod has 18 customers, of course they can manage. Lower prices does not make their service better, FD has much better offerings, and IMO is worth spending a few extra bucks.
Did the transportation committee make time for Stryker Park?
It’s painful to watch this project get roadblocked again and again. The corner is an ugly disaster.
On Fresh Direct, i like how the trucks stay in set locations and the delivery guys radiate from there with hand trucks. Sometimes it feels like every Walgreens or Budweiser delivery truck driver can’t be bothered to go another 50 feet or a quarter block to pull into a legal spot, so they double-park in traffic instead. Fresh Direct does the hub and spoke with hand trucks really well.
Yes! More to come on Stryker Park, Margaret. Watch WSR for our coverage of that conversation.
This is just another thing that drives me insane, along with illegal immigration. WHY are we allowing this to happen – IT IS ILLEGAL. They are using the streets as retail outlets! These trucks have amsterdam avenue bet 65 – 70 JAM PACKED with traffic for most of the afternoon with kids from school trying to cross streets. What other country allows this insanity? And for those of you who support it, can’t you simply think what happens 3 years down the road when EVERYONE thinks they can do this (incorporating tickets into a business model of street level distribution)? STOP THIS UNSIGHTLY, COMPETITIVELY UNFAIR, POLLUTING, NOISY NUISANCE NOW!!! What is going on here anyway that we need to discuss, much like illegal immigration and the book/garbage/lamp vendors cramping broadway and 72nd street, whether we can do anything about it?
@ Barney L:
When it comes to the hiring of illegal aliens vs. fellow countrymen, compare the respective records of Fresh Direct as well as Amazon Fresh record in this area with that of their local competition. (At least when it comes to deliverymen.)
@ Steven:
“intolerant people that post anti-immigrant comments”
I wonder whether you would characterize the late Congresswoman Barbara Jordan that way. Are you familiar with her views on immigration?
See also
https://www.numbersusa.com/about/no-immigrant-bashing
Quote:
And this page on the web site of the Center for Immigration Studies:
Quote:
Nice pivot to immigration; hijacking the topic under discussion. You know: FD trucks and their drivers.
Fresh Direct trucks drive me insane along with intolerant people that post anti-immigrant comments in response to unrelated topics.
Re: “…me insane, along with illegal immigration….”
YES! And not only should we do something about Fresh Direct trucks illegally immigrating, but we must also do something about:
1). Overly-crowded UWS sidewalks, perhaps by having “Official-Crowd-Control-Monitors”. The uniformed O.C.C.M. would limit the number of pedestrians entering any specific block at any given time, possibly by forcing them to wait in curb-side holding pens until congestion slows;
2) Loud-talkers in restaurants, perhaps by having “Noise-Control-Monitors” listening for any mega-decibel-conversators. When found, the uniformed N.C.M. (N.C.M. uniforms different from those of the O.C.C.M.’s) would address the offending loud-talker by slapping her/him upside his/her head and yelling “Shut Yer Pie-Hole!”; and, finally
3) Tourists, also over-crowding UWS sidewalks, especially around Century-21 and at Central Park’s Strawberry Field. For this we would need “Too-Many-Tourist-Monitors”. These uniformed T.M.T.M.’s (uniforms of course different from those of both the O.C.C.M.’s and the N.C.M.’s) would watch for obvious tourists (easily recognizable because {a.} they carry maps, cameras, and huge backpacks suitable for 2 weeks on the Appalachian Trail, and {b} they do NOT dress in the official black-on-black outfits (O.B.o.B.O.) that every self-respecting Manhattan-dweller wears. After identifying a tourist, the T.M.T.M. will convince these persons to immediately book a flight home by telling him/her that {a}his home-country has suffered some sort of plague; {b} Century-21 and Strawberry Field are breeding-grounds for Ebola; or {C} he/she has just won a Nigerian Lottery and all he/she has to do is return home and seek out the nearest Nigerian embassy.
Perhaps Pres. Trump will adopt these policies on his first-day-in-office, AFTER he’s finished deporting Muslims and Mexicans.
Do you join me in denouncing the ugly, “nativist” animosity and hostility that we so often see displayed here toward tourists (as well as Upper East Siders, people from suberbia, etc., etc.)?
Try doing without the revenue that tourists bring…
Since we will have all these bike lanes, Fresh Direct could start bike delivery of groceries and get rid of those polluting trucks. I can see it now thousands of Fresh Direct bikes all over the city what a green liberal dream.
Do you really believe that Fresh Direct delivery people will use the bike lanes? And if they do use them, will they be traveling in the proper direction and obey all traffic rules? I doubt it.
I would like to know how do you get invited to attend these board meetings? I would like to know what is going on in my community and how decisions are made.
The community board meetings are open to the public and listed here: http://www.nyc.gov/html/mancb7/html/calendar/calendar_monthly_oct_copy.shtml
I wish they would rent out the abandoned movie theater on Broadway and use that as their distribution hub. Makes sense, and use of a dilapidated eyesore.
The community board and associated NIMBYs would never allow it.
I just listened to the recording of the meeting (bit.ly/CB7TransMay16) and don’t believe the quote in this article accurately represents my comment, nor does it represent my views.
I was quoting Andrew Albert when I said, “Andrew earlier said something that is the heart of the matter. We like Fresh Direct. We don’t want to put them out of business.”
At the meeting I also said, “Do we want a business that is able to avoid traffic laws and just do what they want and say it’s a cost of doing business and we’re going to keep doing this?” and “If we have businesses that are building their business model on using our streets, causing traffic, double parking in a way that we all agree we’re not comfortable with, do we think there should be some legislative look at what would it take them to not do that?”
I recognize that Fresh Direct provides a service that many in the community like but I don’t think that status quo is acceptable.
These are my personal views and do not reflect the opinions of the Transportation Committee or of CB7.
Thank you for setting the record straight. I hope WSR corrects the article.
Not surprised. This company’s customer service sucks. Tried them a few times and they overcharged me for items, short-shipped and took forever to settle, and then sent rotted produce. I hate Fresh Direct, and I hope they go out of business.
Maybe they could get some drones…While we spend money and energy on trying to reduce the carbon footprint, their trucks keep the motors running while they make deliveries and they don’t care about the tickets.
So are the motors running or is it the refrigeration units in the trucks that are running as stated earlier? Doesn’t anyone read the full articles/comments here before posting? We shouldn’t have FD deliveries because we should all be able to walk to the store? We should get rid of FD, take away a service that many people are completely dependent on, not because of convenience but NECESSITY and that will solve all of the problems on the UWS? Look around you!