[Asia Economy Reporter Seoyoung Kwon] In a large apartment complex in Gangdong-gu, Seoul, delivery vehicles have been banned from entering, resulting in delivery packages being left piled up near the main gate.
According to Yonhap News on the 4th, at apartment complex A in Gangdong-gu, which has about 5,000 households, all vehicle entry and passage on the ground roads within the complex have been completely prohibited since the 1st due to concerns over safety accidents and facility damage. The apartment complex management has restricted all vehicles to move only through the underground parking lot, except for unavoidable cases such as moving trucks or emergency vehicles.
However, regular delivery vehicles could not use the underground parking lot because their vehicle height exceeded the entrance height limit. As a result, on the 2nd, countless delivery packages were piled up in front of the security office at the back gate of apartment complex A. The number of boxes left by delivery vehicles at the entrance since the previous day reached about 1,000.
Some residents expressed discomfort with this situation. They had to come out to the apartment entrance to receive their deliveries directly, and they were also concerned about the loss or damage of the piled-up delivery packages.
One delivery driver criticized apartment A’s claim that "using smaller vehicles would suffice." He pointed out that small trucks cannot handle the surge in delivery volume caused by COVID-19. He also raised his voice saying that switching to or modifying low-floor vehicles is realistically difficult when considering the costs.
Meanwhile, the apartment management office maintained their position that they had sufficiently warned delivery companies about the access control policy since last year. They claimed, "There was a near accident caused by delivery vehicles within the complex at the end of last year," and accused "some delivery drivers of reckless business practices."
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