Lost in transit

pickup or delivery?

The very first thing that a lazy person like me could fall in love with in a city like New York are the various special services provided to help make life easier and lazier and probably just more effective. Where I grew up in Poland, there would be a lady who would ring our door bell each and every week and deliver a piece of meat or some other kind of food that she somehow got somewhere through her special channels. A more official subscription existed for milk delivery. Each and every morning there would be a quart of fresh milk on our doorstep. The neighbors got two to three bottles every day, so it might have had something to do with the amount of children in the household how many bottles were delivered every day.

My mornings in New York, 30 years later, start with a less noisy whop of the New York Times hitting my door. It is usually 5:30 in the morning and the lady that delivers the papers to our floor just throws the sometimes several pounds heavy publication with a very professional aim. Getting the paper is nothing unusual, of course. It is like getting pizza delivery, it is pretty international. The fascinating thing about New York is that there is barely anything that can not be delivered to the doorstep. New Yorkers with a doorman get even an extra edge. Imagine going to a store and buying something really heavy, like shelving or an orange chair. Just leave your address at the front register and before you even get home, all the stuff will sit and wait at the front door. Food products? Groceries? Just give them an address. How many bags? 20 here we go.
Then there is the laundry service. Around the city are little places that do not even have washing machines in them, just a friendly person, a dispatcher, somebody who directs the traffic of dirty socks and clean underwear. Not only do these guys deliver, they pick up "for free" as well. One just needs to find the time to put all the laundry into one of those huge nylon bags, call the favorite laundry place and in the evening there is this magical, very compact, perfectly folded cube of clean everything, waiting to be soiled.
I know, there must be an army of people who do not see daylight, just so I can get my laundry done for ¢75 a pound. I know my shoe maker though, and he also delivers. The restaurant across the street just need to hear my name...
There used to be services here in New York that tried to consolidate the delivery needs of the city into a "brand". Remember kozmo and urban fetch? companies covering "the last mile." They are very gone now, but the services they provided existed in New York to some extend for a long time. And they are not going away. There is now even a new service that will try to take New York by storm. freshdirect.com is supposedly really fresh stuff from one of the best makets in this city (fairway is really amazing.) And the delivery is about $4? Hmm, this is what I would like to give as tip to the person who actually brings the food to me, from the supermarket down the block.
We'll see. Freshdirect is giving New Yorkers $50 of free food in their first order. What can you get?, type in my zip code (10025) and address (215 west 95th street) to get the full menu... and a big one it is...
Hmm, it all feels a bit indulgent, doesn't it? And this is why I actually like to walk to places and talk to the friendly people in their little stores and carry home my own stuff. I will pay a visit to my shoe maker later today. I dropped off a 30pound laundry bad (oops, bag) at my laundry place this morning.
I try to buy my books and supplies at Ivy's and murder ink. It might be a tiny place, but they can get any book amazon has over night. (delivered.)
Oh, and IKEA does not deliver, not even in New York City. In fact there is no Ikea in New York City... only one in New Jersey and one in Long Island somewhere... but that's a completely different story.