Headed to New York City next weekend

[drcollie]

Next Saturday my Delivery Team (Tommy and Jim) are headed to New York City, New Jersey and Long Island to make (4) Delivery stops of all Hancock and Moore pieces (three sofas, two chairs, two recliners) all to forum customers. We don't normally go to NYC with our truck because its too costly to make the run from Washington DC - about $ 1,400 per trip - however as luck would have it we had these four orders all ready to go about the same time and can spread that cost of the trip through the four stops. Several of these pieces have the high-sheen premium finishes on them and we can absolutely minimize the chance of marking the finishes when we do it with The Keeping Room truck. I know because I am the one packing the truck. Tommy has never been to New York City and he's fifty years old. Can't believe he's never been to The Big Apple and he will flip on the midtown Manhattan delivery when he comes out of the Lincoln tunnel and starts jousting with the Taxis in the shadows of the skyscrapers...lol. It's very challenging driving a commercial diesel truck in downtown NYC and all the sights are quite distracting, I've done it many times in years past. Jim on the other hand, grew up on Long Island and he's going to show Tommy the sights and his old stomping grounds, so they are both very excited to make this trip. I have not told them that one of the deliveries is a 4th floor apartment with no elevator - figure that will be a good surprise for them when they get there.

It's a five-hour drive each way, and I marvel that folks come from NYC on a Saturday to shop at my store. They are passing every Hancock and Moore dealer in New York City, all of New Jersey, Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore to come make the trip to buy from The Keeping Room. They have a lot of other dealers they can go to with a whole lot less effort so it's very humbling to me that they sacrifice a whole day in the car or bus or train to shop at my small store, and I try to be a gracious host and appreciative of the effort. Then of course the question that also pops into my mind is what are all those other dealers NOT doing in their business to keep their local customers?

Even more interesting..I have more customers from California and Texas than I do in my home state of Virginia, and I'm the largest H&M dealer in the State. It's a bit too far to run our truck to Texas, however!

[Danw99]

I hope your trip is going great Duane! I can't imagine driving a big delivery truck in midtown, it is frustrating enough in a car.

[drcollie]

We have the sports car of delivery trucks a 16' Isuzu !

I'm not going....Jim and Tom are. Leaving out 5:30 a.m. tomorrow. Looks like rain the whole weekend.

[Asomer]

We have the sports car of delivery trucks a 16' Isuzu !

I'm not going....Jim and Tom are. Leaving out 5:30 a.m. tomorrow. Looks like rain the whole weekend.

Lol, I grew up in Houston where you absolutely NEED a car to get anywhere & we have our own share of nerve racking traffic jams, daily! But, even I would get stressed out in the back of a cab in downtown Manhattan!! Lol, I tried to walk anywhere I could, or take the subway instead. I can't imagine maneuvering a diesel truck in THAT kinda traffic: kudos to them & secretly kinda jealous. Rain, or not, NYC is my all time fave city

[drcollie]

I've done many deliveries in NYC when I was younger. Its not really too bad, the grid system there is easy to figure out and cars generally don't mess with trucks because they lose in an impact. Washington DC is worse to deliver to, as the roads don't make much sense and if you get within three blocks of the White House with a box truck the cops are all over you. Worst part of the East Coast to deliver though is southern Connecticut and Pennsylvania around Philadelphia. They have so many low bridges / and weight restricted bridges that we were constantly backing out of them, then have to go 20 miles to get around them*. The Boston region used to be awful as well, for some reason Massachusetts doesn't really believe in street signs, you had to kind of just guess with a map on your lap (pre-GPS days). After-dark deliveries in that state were a real adventure. I used to make so many trips in that corridor that after about ten years I didn't even bother to take maps with me.

* I took the entire roof off our diesel truck in West Chester PA at midnight one foggy night, low bridge got me.

[Asomer]

Woah, the whole roof of your truck? Geez, how did that delivery end up: you continued on without the roof?!

As far as the additional insureds: that's the 1st I've heard of it too. I've lived there twice; once was in a sublet in an Upper East Side townhouse converted to apartments btwn 5th & Madison & this last time, was in a more traditional building up by Columbia University. In both circumstances I only had about a dozen large(24" x 24") boxes delivered & it was never an issue. Both units were furnished, so I never encountered having furniture delivered, but saw ppl moving stuff in all the time using the freight elevators. I'm wondering if maybe this is a CO-OP building they're living in? Those are sometimes the best, little hidden gems of apartments in the city...IF, you can negotiate your way in with the board & live with a bevy of whacky rules. Lol

[drcollie]

When you have a roof strike, as long as you can back the truck out from the bridge you just keep on going back home as long as its safe enough to do so. In thirty years, we've peeled two roofs. I did the one in Westchester PA and one of my guys did it doing an apartment garage delivery locally. What you don't think about until you'd experienced one is how violent the stop is. If you don't have seatbelts on, you'll be going through the windsheild.