FreshDirect trucks triple-park in Manhattan street to reportedly create “street warehouse”

Delivery trucks for online-grocery service FreshDirect have recently been blocking traffic in New York City’s Upper East Side, often double- or triple-parking to set up what appears to be a “street warehouse,” according to local news outlet Upper East Site.

Last Tuesday, FreshDirect trucks were triple-parked on Third Avenue between East 85th and 86th Streets, using cones owned by the City’s Department of Environmental Protection and a barrier from energy company Con Edison and “bottle-necking traffic,” per the outlet.

• Later in the day, one truck remained, but the barrier and cones continued to block the left-hand turn lane to store cases of water. The next day, this lane was filled with hand trucks of deliveries.
• When Retail Brew visited the site on Thursday evening, a single truck was parked along the curb with hand trucks extending into the lane.

Hazard lights: Andrew Fine, VP of the East 86th Street Association, first tweeted images of the trucks on July 12. “This is a game of Whac-A-Mole,” he told Upper East Site. “Chased from one location, they practice the same game of dominating metered parking, hydrant spots and second and third lanes of traffic, with no cares.”

• Tweeted photos from the association show the company has been using the space since at least May.

Last December, a mini-motorcycle driver died after crashing into a Ryder truck delivering for FreshDirect that was using the intersection of East 76th and First Avenue as an illegal loading zone.

• Last June, a 13-year-old-boy and 62-year-old man were hit and injured by a FreshDirect driver making a left turn at an intersection in Manhattan.

FreshDirect responded to Upper East Site’s and Fine’s tweets on Tuesday about the incident, stating the information would be forwarded to its transportation team. FreshDirect did not return a request for comment from Retail Brew.—EC