Another week, another pilot program. Mayor Adams debuted Locker New York City last week, allowing New Yorkers to pick up parcels at his seven sidewalk locations.
However, like the previous pilot on e-bike charging for food delivery workers, this is more a public subsidy for private benefit than a technology-driven innovation.
On Wednesday, the mayor echoed New Yorkers’ “universal concerns.” “When packages are dropped off at our homes, they get taken. You gotta love New York,” he said, adding, “People find out their packages are stolen over and over again.” “I will,” he added.
I don’t think the mayor would want to talk. Up The problem of collective theft.
Almost a year ago, while teasing this locker program, the city even announced that 90,000 packages are stolen or permanently lost every day.
However, police report just 440 cases of grand theft and petty theft each day.
In fact, if the actual number is 200 times that number, including semi-secure apartments with locked front doors, then New York faces a crime crisis of epic proportions that no tricks can solve. There will be.
Nevertheless, the tricks of technology are what we get. The city has teamed up with startup GoLocker to install his seven LockerNYC locations on public sidewalks in Manhattan, Queens, and Brooklyn.
Residents can sign up for a shared locker online, send packages directly there, and receive them free of charge within 24 hours.
And as City Hall reliably told reporters, the city is not paying for the pilot.
“It costs nothing. It’s a free demonstration contract with GoLocker,” said Dinés Mendez, head of the Department of Transportation’s Freight Mobility Bureau.
In a sense. The public sidewalk is a public space, and it’s already cluttered with all sorts of nonsense, including a LinkNYC kiosk, a parked delivery e-bike, and four increasingly large trash cans.
Currently, we are handing over public space to private commerce, and private commerce is already dealing with the problem.
Amazon, the national package delivery giant, offers free pick-up and drop-off locations at Whole Foods and other locations, including lockers at 7-Eleven stores.
UPS and FedEx allow delivery to their hard-to-find retail stores.
Unless private e-commerce companies are solving the problem, why should cities support for-profit industries by providing them with free public space?
Amazon competes with local retailers who must rent their own stores and pay high property taxes through the rent.
As of February, New York remained short of 44,700 retail jobs, or 13% compared to 2019. Nationally, all lost retail jobs have been recovered.
It’s the same issue as Adams’ pilot, which opened on February 29, to provide e-bike couriers with public sidewalk and street space to charge and swap e-bike batteries.
Food delivery is a for-profit business, controlled by giant global apps like Uber Eats.
Corporations, not New York City taxpayers, should provide all the infrastructure and equipment employees need to do their jobs.
And GoLocker offers more security than the NYPD.
DOT Secretary Ydanis Rodriguez said, “We have been working with the local New York City Police Department to improve safety at each location.”
But why should these lockers receive more protection from the NYPD than other locations storing private property?
Additionally, the mayor and his staff used the word “free” four separate times during Wednesday’s press conference, but there’s another catch.
GoLocker provides free services when you sign up for the city’s program on the GoLocker website.
However, we also offer a selection of two premium services. If you want him to receive the package 24 hours instead of 72 hours, you can pay $5 per delivery, or $20 per month.
Adams didn’t mention these non-free options last week, but essentially the city is offering businesses free public space and free advertising, including sign-up links. charging For that space.
This is an Adams pattern. Announce “pilots” for free or cheap to city governments that are not large or important enough to receive widespread oversight.
He’s doing it here with GoLocker, his NYPD recently did it with a new barnacle windshield boot to immobilize vehicles with unpaid tickets, and His DOT highlighted three small private companies in its e-bike charging program.
It’s not just an advertisement. These companies will be able to say to other customers and investors, “We’re so good, the New York City government is using us!”
City Council should ask what process businesses go through to get this free advertising and approval.
Nicole Gelinas is a contributing editor for the Manhattan Institute’s City Journal.
