If you read the ole BD regularly, you know there was quite a kerfuffle following a post about FreshDirect's new initiative to deliver their convenient products to Westchester County.A BD reader emailed and expressed her frustration that FD would literally be driving through the BoogieDown to deliver food, but not deign to stop in non-Riverdale Bronx nabes.
For some reason a Riverdale resident found it rather objectionable that the demographic hoi polloi of the Northwest Bronx would desire or could afford to buy groceries.
A quick call to Fresh Direct shed some light on the matter:
The customer service person I spoke to said that FD does not do market research into per capita income, or other such statistics to decide why and where to expand. In fact, he indicated that they generally respond to demand voiced through phone calls and emails. The end result of the call: Fresh Direct would love to service the Northwest non-Riverdale Bronx; we just need to ask them.
So I implore you, dear readers, to call FD's corporate number between the hours of 8am-5pm (718-928-1000) to request service to your part of the Bronx. You should also email FD on their website. Additionally, you can simply go to their website and create an account with your address - if enough accounts are created, they will extend services! To do this, first enter your zip code in the purple box at the bottom of the homepage that says "Find out if we're delivering to your neighborhood!" You will most likely be directed to a page that says "Home Delivery Not Available In Your Area." Beneath that message, enter your email. You'll be taken to a page that says "Welcome to Fresh Direct!" At the top of the page click on "New Customer? Sign Up." Enter all of your contact into here, and you've officially created an account.
Ansd lastly, make sure to join the newly formed facebook group "Bring FreshDirect to the NorthWest Bronx!!" (generously set up and run by BD reader Lis).
Not from the NW Bronx? Establish your own Facebook group (and still call and email FreshDirect), and be sure to let us know about it so we can update this post with links to your groups. FreshDirect made it very clear that they would love to service the Bronx, they just need to know about Bronxites' desire to be served!
~ErLu
14 comments:
Thanks for all your research and calls BD! I can almost taste the FreshDirect delivery!
Wow. What a completely assholish and utterly inaccurate summary of my comments in the original thread -- where, by the way, I was the one to raise the idea of writing letters and contacting Fresh Direct directly.
In that thread and post you also accused Fresh Direct of not serving your area because they were working with a stereotypical (racist and classist) view of the Bronx. Did the customer service person address this concern, or did it somehow not come up during the conversation?
I'm glad I could help you come up with the idea to contact the company and I hope that your initiative is successful.
Cheers!
as i posted on facebook... It would be great to have FreshDirect in the NW Bx. But, sorry, they ain't coming until the city backs off the gestapo parking ticket tactics. NW Bx meter maids will think it's Christmas in July once those trucks start making their deliveries.... and that's no joke. They will literally follow them from delivery to delivery. deliveries or not, the meter maid tactics up here are not delivery friendly and it's not a stretch to think they would target a service like this to help feed their quotas.
Yup! Thank you, Anon; remind me to give you a big BD hug when we meet for thinking up the idea of writing letters and contacting the company in order for the company to change their business practices. I owe you!
Yup! Thank you, Anon; remind me to give you a big BD hug when we meet for thinking up the idea of writing letters and contacting the company in order for the company to change their business practices. I owe you!
you know, the bit yesterday got me curious. i checked 4 addresses, 2 in manhattan and 2 in queens. one in or on the block of a housing project and one a few blocks away from the housing projects. big surprise - fresh direct does not deliver to housing projects BUT if you live a few blocks away from one, no problem! i'm sorry, but i'm starting to believe that f.d. are classist and racist and why would you want to buy from them?
What's different about the parking situation in Manhattan than in the Bronx? If anything, I think it would be more difficult to find legal parking in Manhattan, no?
i can't vouch for anyone else's borough because i don't regularly look for parking there. but i can tell you that in the NW Bx it's ridiculous. and i understand it's like that in the east bronx, too. so i'd love to have fresh direct here. any additional services that help bronxites are ok with me! but i'm just making the point that doing things like this is not made any easier by the city's revenue-driven ticketing and it could scare away companies wanting to do legitimate business.
I left a message for Fresh Direct. I see the Peapod truck in front of my building, that's Stop & Shop's delivery service so I think there is business for another delivery service.
I too want Fresh Direct in Norwood... I hope they come here!
How about Fresh Direct in the ENTIRE borough of the bronx not just cherry picking the neighborhoods?
Eddie,
The only reason we're focusing on the NW Bronx is b/c FD only responds to localized demand. Start the campaign for Melrose or the South Bronx! Demand needs to be localized by neighborhoods and zip coded for FD to respond.
You must bombard Freshdirect with emails everyday to get them to come to your neighborhood. I did this in Rye and they eventually came. Just send one email each day until they come.
I live in Mott Haven, this site is right down the street from our apt. We need jobs here. Every time I go to our local grocery stores nearly everyone pays their bill with EBT or food stamps. We need Fresh Direct here FOR SURE. I would hope that most here would want to work.
I don't experience a lot of noise here from idling trucks. Most of the noise comes from screaming neighbors and honking drivers, and music turned to volume 11. It's ok - all part of living in the city.
I like Fresh Direct. I would hope they will deliver here someday. Any business would if the market was there, the drivers were safe and there was demand for the product.
I say YES to this proposal.
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