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Governor Kathy Hochul has offered a novel solution for businesses grappling with the challenges posed by congestion pricing: schedule your deliveries for the middle of the night. This advice comes in response to concerns about rising costs that businesses face due to the unpopular toll.
In addressing these complaints, Governor Hochul confidently suggested that businesses consider taking advantage of lower-cost delivery options available during off-peak hours, specifically from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m.
While the governor’s suggestion seems straightforward, it raises an important question: why haven’t business owners already embraced this seemingly practical idea? The answer might lie in the fact that most businesses are simply not operational during those hours.
For many, the idea of receiving deliveries when their doors are closed is less than ideal, highlighting a disconnect between policy suggestions and the realities of day-to-day business operations.
Oh, maybe because that’s when nearly all regularly operating businesses are closed.
The cost of driving below 60th Street is indeed lower overnight; just $3.60 to $5.40 per delivery truck, versus $14.40 to $21.60 during the busiest stretch.
But peak hours are peak hours because that’s when most people need to be in the city because that’s when most stores, offices and restaurants are open.
Hochul may have assistants running all of her errands for her, but most New Yorkers are aware of this fact.
To “save money” by getting deliveries overnight, most operations would have to hire workers specifically to sit around and wait to accept them, which would quickly surpass the cost of her congestion tolls.
Even open-late restaurants need supplies long before, not during, dinner rush.
Hochul might as well channel Marie Antoinette: Answer toll complaints with a simple “Let them eat cake!”
Then again, she may want to recall Queen Marie’s fate and ditch the tolls before her victims get to vote next year.