FreshDirect wrote "an enormous amount of code" to minimize boxes per order
cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com
cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com
I have been a FD customer for many years and although it takes them awhile to react, they at least take the feedback and try to do something with it.
- Their sliced meats and cheeses usually have a sticker on them containing the slicer's number and an e-mail address asking for feedback on the slicing.
- They recently switched their egg carton packaging from a plastic bag with foam sheets to shredded, recycled cardboard.
- Their delivery trucks recently switched to all use biodiesel only.
- As this article states, they've cut down their packing and boxing materials and I expect it to get better as they switch to the returnable plastic containers.
- Throughout all of this they remain very competitive in terms of produce quality and pricing. It's cheaper and better quality than the grocery stores in my area.
"We had to write an enormous amount of code," Mr. Ackerman said, "because any one of 10,000 products can go to any point at any time."