UPS, FedEx, DHL or Amazon. Who will Wheat Ridge choose as their exclusive single-package delivery company? All those trucks throughout the day, every day. Just imagine the damage to our roads and noise pollution. 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., seven days a week!
Some deliver commercially and some drive all the way to my house to deliver a simple foam filter for my espresso machine. The gallons of fuel, the tire wear. And of course we have so many restaurant delivery drivers, running stop signs to get to our homes before those dumplings get cold. Will it be GrubHub we choose as our exclusive food delivery company?
How about the landscapers and their trailers? What about all the school buses from so many schools, every day, twice a day? Maybe one ambulance company? What about one vaccine provider? This way we all have the same microchip. (Of course I’m kidding about the microchip.) But wasn’t it great to have multiple companies racing and pushing each other for a faster product?
We know that exclusivity breeds bad service. It’s constant firing and hiring of waste haulers we read about on Facebook and NextDoor: bad service, missed pick ups and more. Now imagine if you were stuck with terrible service and no longer were able to make a choice.
The sustainability groups tried to get neighbors to use a single hauler without much success. People want to be able to choose who they want to use. It’s why we have so many vendors of all kinds. Over 12 pizza restaurants in Wheat Ridge alone, even more banks, etc. It’s why Colorado is a choice state when it comes to education. It’s also why Denver has cut back on their waste pick up services. Not able to collect from everyone. In fact Denver had more than 8,000 missed trash collection complaints received in the last six weeks.
Fast forward. Wheat Ridge City Council has decided to reach out to the community via different avenues and get more opinions about the subject. Should this be a ballot question as it was many years ago? A decision could be made in the next few years.
If you do believe the single-hauler option is best for you and your neighbors there’s no reason why you couldn’t start right away in choosing a common carrier for your block. Every little bit helps.
Lastly, I am excited to share that the Neighborhood Gazette will be hosting a community meeting at Stylus & Crate on June 3 with mayors Bud Starker of Wheat Ridge, John Beltrone of Edgewater and Emile Mitcham of Mountain View, to discuss best practices and common challenges in a post-COVID-19 world. Please write to us at WRGazette@gmail.com with any questions you’d like us to share with our guests.
Happy spring everyone. As always, thanks for reading.
Contact Neighborhood Gazette Publisher Guy Nahmiach at WRGazette@gmail.com or 303-999-5789.
