NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) — Mayor Eric Adams and the Department of Transportation are fighting package theft and delivery truck congestion in the city with a free pilot program, LockerNYC, which provides free public sidewalk lockers for New Yorkers to receive deliveries securely.
Each day, 90,000 packages are reported stolen or lost in transit in NYC, where statistics show 80% of households receive at least one delivery per week, according to City Hall.
To help lower these numbers, while reducing delivery truck traffic through the consolidation of deliveries at central locations, the LockerNYC pilot includes seven units, each with the capacity to hold 25 packages at once.
The program is open to the public, and is available across multiple delivery carriers. Each locker location is equipped with two security cameras, LED lighting and anti-theft mechanisms on the locker compartments, officials said.
“New Yorkers have had thousands of dollars’ worth of items taken from their apartments, their lobbies, out front on their porches, and we want to tackle the problem head on and we want to send a message to the porch pirates that your days are over,” Adams said at a press conference on Wednesday.
LockerNYC setups are currently in place at the following locations:
• Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn — 830 Lafayette Avenue, outside Ideal Food Basket grocery
• Canarsie, Brooklyn — 1380 Rockaway Parkway
• East Flatbush, Brooklyn — 1086 Brooklyn Avenue, outside Ideal Food Basket grocery
• Prospect Lefferts Gardens, Brooklyn — 2036 Bedford Avenue, outside Ideal Food Basket grocery
• Sunnyside, Queens — 47-01 49th Street, outside the Cosmopolitan Houses apartments
LockerNYC lockers will soon arrive at the following locations:
• Bushwick, Brooklyn — 72-80 Wyckoff Avenue, outside Key Food
• Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan — 778 9th Avenue at West 52nd Street
The locations were selected based on land use, concentration of buildings that lack mail or package rooms, NYPD package theft data and other relevant data.
Adequate circulation space, ensuring smooth pedestrian flow and avoiding the obstruction of windows, fire escapes and public art were also taken into consideration.
The pilot program will last one year, with the potential for expansion. The DOT will test and evaluate the technology and delivery model, and collect anonymous data of locker usage, to assess the program’s overall success.
Similar programs have been successful in other major cities, like a delivery locker pilot in Seattle that reduced the amount of time delivery trucks dwelled at the curb by as much as 33% and reduced delivery times by as much as 78%.
LockerNYC builds on City Hall efforts to reimagine deliveries, restructure freight distribution and create a sustainable last-mile delivery systems, exemplified by the implementation of a rule last month that allows for more deliveries to be made using electric cargo bikes, and the DOT’s local delivery hub pilot program that will launch this year in an effort to reduce the environmental and safety effects of trucks.
“COVID changed the way we shop,” Deputy Mayor for Operations Meera Joshi said. "This administration is taking a holistic look at green solutions for this very modern challenge with delivery lockers and microhubs, and using our waterways, rather than trucks, to get goods where they need to go. The green revolution starts here.”
New Yorkers can sign up for LockerNYC for free and manage orders here.