Jackson Heights Life

Buddy, this response won't be terribly helpful to you, but as a consumer, I've decided to opt out of Fresh Direct as a whole.  Believe me, I'm no stickler for political correctness, but that whole alleged union busting fiasco that Fresh Direct was involved in late last year sort of left a sour taste in my mouth.  Oh yeah...I'm well aware that other businesses may be involved in similar dealings, but I strongly feel that if I make this one choice now, perhaps it can make a small difference.  It also helps that I know someone that was directly affected by this.

I order fresh direct about 2 times a month.  Since it has become more popular in Jackson Heights, you need to order about two days in advance from when you want it to be delivered.  I used to be able to order the night before without any problem.  You choose a two hour time window for delivery.  Not all days are available here.  You should check the available delivery times before you go through the trouble of making an order.

I find the prices are similar to the grocery store with some items being relatively cheaper, like organic milk, and others being more expensive.  My experience with their fruit hasn't been good, but the vegetables are fine.  I like the marinades they offer with their meats.  My husband doesn't like the cold cuts because he says they are cut too thin, but that's how I like them.  It's definitely a good option if you like a nice organic selection and have a specific list of what you want.  I spend less when I order fresh direct because I avoid all those things I tend to pick up when I'm walking around the grocery store.  The delivery guys are great too.  If they're running ahead of schedule they will call you to see if you'd like your order delivered earlier.  Overall, I'm a fan.

Thank you.   Whenever possible I also try to support local merchants.  I buy my organic items from the  Jackson Heights Health Food market at 83rd and 37th.  I like that place.   I shop at Italian Farms and I usually buy my fruit and veggies from several of the small stands along 37th. My fave supermarket is in Astoria: Berry Fresh Farms - Ditmars at 43rd. I won't support vendors or merchants whose product, service or just plain ambiance I don't like.  I just don't like the supermarkets here at all.  I'd even rather go to PatheMark or Waldbaums instead of C-Town.  But it's a pain sometimes going from place to place.  Once and awhile, I'd love to pick up the phone, order and have it delivered.  I've been to the Episcopal church and saw those local farm vendors last year.  I don't know but something turned me off.  Maybe I'll go look again next time they're around.  As far as Fresh Direct and their union problems and undocumented worker problems.... well I'm Union so I do have feelings about that... but I'm not about to discuss them here because that could be too volatile and truthfully, the last thing I'd like to see happen here is that kind of discourse.  I like exchanging comments... I can read between the lines when people express their views and then I do what I feel is right for me.    I haven't gone to Trader Joes in Forest Hills yet.  And whenever I'm out in Long Island, I go to Whole Foods. I loved all your comments.  Definitely food for thought!  :coolsmiley:

We order from Fresh Direct often, but have found their quality to be dwindling. The over packaging also is a bit annoying. We've recently been finding the values of premade foods at Trader Joe's to make us order from FD less and less.

We have been using FD since they first started up, and were so thrilled when they came to JH. We order at least once a week, and really we get mostly staples, as well as their seafood. We don't have a decent fish market in JH so FD really makes up for that. Also since we don't have a car, going to Trader Joes or other groceries are a major pain, FD really makes that a lot easier. I do wish they would figure out a better way to package there groceries, or do like a box exchange program something that would cut down on the cardboard boxes. FD's has pretty good produce and they have a lot of organic produce that I've been more interested in getting lately.

That being said, I've been considering FarmSpot when it starts up again in the spring, an will check it out as well.

I went to TJs in Queens for the first time this past weekend, and I really liked the larger size and shorter wait for checking out. The union square TJ's is so over crowded! I though the Queen's TJs had more products and seemed to be better stocked.  The bus ride over there wasn't half bad either. I'll be heading back sometime for sure. Maybe I'll do a Zipcar and stock up!

I did a survey for Fresh Direct and directly complained about the over packaging issue. In response they sent me a very detailed message explaining that it is something they are working to fix. I didn't think it was even put upon them to respond to my comment, so I was impressed. Here is the letter, cut and paste:

Thanks for taking the time to complete our survey. We appreciate your concern about packaging, and we wanted to address that issue with more detail.

 

We’re definitely looking for ways to eliminate waste and reduce the packaging we use. To illuminate our challenge a bit: Our greatest concern is about your food quality. That’s why we divide different types of food into 12 separate climate zones at our Long Island City facility. This necessitates three separate assembly zones, which create separate boxes.

 

Since the number of items in a box has a direct relationship to the number of items ordered from a given department, we sometimes end up sending just one or two items in a box. Delicate and breakable items (such as eggs), also tend to arrive with more packaging than durable goods (such as soup cans).

 

Packaging is a regrettable side effect of the way any delivery company operates, but we want you to know that we’re dedicated to eliminating nearly all of our cardboard delivery boxes within the next 3 years.

 

We’re making big changes, and we appreciate your patience while we seek out the best solutions. We’ll keep you up-to-date as we work toward adopting more eco-friendly technologies and policies.

 

Best Regards,

FreshDirect Customer Support Team