Photo: Dr. Jean-Paul Rodrigue, 2019.
Refrigerated urban deliveries have been a standard practice between distribution centers and grocery stores for decades. The growth of e-commerce has allowed for the development of the home deliveries of groceries, including refrigerated goods such as produce, meat and dairy products. This required the introduction of specialized urban delivery vehicles with refrigeration capabilities. The above mid size delivery truck is owned by Freshdirect, a major online grocery store operating mainly in the New York metropolitan area. The whole distribution system is anchored around the e-groceries fulfillment center to which a rather well defined delivery range (market area) is bound to.