Effectiveness of Financial Incentives for Off-Peak Deliveries to Restaurants in Manhattan, New York

The fundamental tenet of this paper is that moving deliveries by trucks to off-peak hours requires the implementation of comprehensive policies targeting the critical components of the supply-chain process. This is so because by far the most decisions concerning time of travel of commercial trucks in urban areas are either made by the receivers or made jointly by the receiver and the carrier. In this context, without receivers able and willing to accept off-peak deliveries, the ability of trucking companies to move out of normal hours is severely hampered. This paper analyzes the receptiveness of an important group of receivers, the restaurant sector in Manhattan, New York City, to policies aimed at fostering off-peak deliveries. This study focused on restaurants for several reasons. First, in-depth interviews with private-sector executives indicated that the restaurant sector could be a good candidate for off-peak deliveries. Second, and more important, the relatively high number of restaurants and drinking places in Manhattan (exceeding 6,500 establishments) generates an estimated minimum of 20,000 truck trips per day. These numbers suggest there would be a significant payoff if a significant portion of these truck trips were switched to the off-peak hours. The analyses are based on a small attitudinal survey used to evaluate the effectiveness of four different policies involving financial incentives to the restaurants accepting off-peak deliveries. Despite the small sample size, the key findings from these analyses are consistent with the estimates from behavioral models based on a larger data set. These preliminary results show that financial incentives may be effective in fostering off-peak deliveries.