Greg Packer

Gregory F. Packer (born December 18, 1963) is a retired American highway maintenance worker from Huntington, New York, best known for frequently being quoted as a "man on the street" in newspapers, magazines and television broadcasts from 1995 to the present. He has been quoted in hundreds of articles and television broadcasts as a member of the public (that is, a "man on the street" rather than a newsmaker or expert). Although he always gives his real name, he has admitted to making things up to get into the paper.

Packer's status as a frequent interviewee is due to a number of factors, including seeking out members of the press and appearing friendly, although mostly it is due to his hobby of attending public appearances of celebrities and other media events and attempting to be first in line on such occasions. This has led to him being dubbed a professional line sitter. It has also led to Packer's other claim to fame: being the first person in the world to buy an iPhone, on June 29, 2007 at Apple Fifth Avenue in New York City, after having camped out for five days in front of the store. (He tried to similarly be the first to buy an iPad in 2010, but was bumped from the first position in line due to not having a reservation.)

Notoriety as frequent man on the street In June 2003, columnist Ann Coulter and blogger Mickey Kaus, commenting on media coverage of Hillary Rodham Clinton's memoir Living History, noted that Packer was "the centerpiece of The New York Times''' 'man on the street' interview about Hillary-mania." Packer had been quoted in the Times as stating, "I'm a big fan of Hillary and Bill's. I want to change her mind about running for president. I want to be part of her campaign." Coulter said:

According to the Nexis database, from 1994 through 2004 Packer was quoted or photographed at least 16 separate times by the Associated Press, 14 times by Newsday, 13 times by the New York Daily News, and 12 times by the New York Post. He had also been quoted in the Los Angeles Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and The Times, as well as having appearances on CNN, MSNBC and Fox News. The Associated Press sent out a memo to its news editors and correspondents, stating in part:

After the ubiquity of Packer's quotes became public, he was still quoted and referred to occasionally, but sometimes with more disclosure of his identity provided. When Bill Clinton began his book tour for his memoir My Life, Packer was first in line for Clinton's first signing; a 2004 New York Times article on Clinton's appearance referred to Packer as "Greg Packer, 40, wearing a New York Yankees shirt, who has been cultivating the press for several years now and manages to attend at least two news events a week."

The blog TechCrunch reported on Packer in 2010 when he was first in line to buy an iPad. This caused Nicholas Carlson of Silicon Alley Insider to refer to Packer as "the same stupid guy who's first in line for everything."

In 2010, New York Times reporter Nicholas Confessore wrote a short humorous essay about soliciting a quote from a man holding an Andrew Cuomo 2010 poster, finding out that it was Packer, and moving along to find someone else to quote.

Additional man on the street quotes Even after 2003, many journalists have remained unaware, or unconcerned, about Packer's reputation. When Packer attended the Super Bowl victory rally for the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2006, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review identified him only as "Greg Packer, 42, a lifelong Steelers fan from Huntington, N.Y." In 2008, now celebrating the Super Bowl victory rally of the New York Giants, he was identified by the Rocky Mountain News only as "Greg Packer, 44, a retired highway maintenance worker." Though he had previously claimed to be a Steelers fan, Packer stated he was "all about the Giants", and "as proud as [he] was in the Yankees' dynasty years." Later in 2008, he attended the victory parade for the World Series champion Philadelphia Phillies. He told the New York Times on that occasion that "In New York right now, we have no Mets, no Yankees, no stadiums… I came here to represent and cheer our neighbors." On New Year's Eve in Times Square, Packer told the New York Daily News, "I love it. I mean, everybody from all over the world comes just to watch a Waterford crystal ball. It's great."

In 2016, Packer was quoted in Time magazine at the Strawberry Fields memorial in New York City on the anniversary of John Lennon's death, saying, "With everything going on in the world, we really need to listen to John's message about more peace and love, and more understanding and more acceptance in the world."

In August 2017, Packer was interviewed by The Independent as part of a crowd gathered in New York City to watch the solar eclipse over the U.S. Several months later, he was interviewed in the New York Daily News before attending Midnight Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral, saying "It's Cardinal Dolan that keeps me coming back year after year." Several days after that, he was interviewed by Reuters while in Times Square for New Year's Eve, saying "It feels more like Antarctica than New York. But everybody in the world is here."

Packer has also been interviewed after being the first, or one of the first, in line to, among other things, buy copies of Donald Trump's book Think Big and Kick Ass in New York City in 2007, buy soup at the newly-reopened The Original Soupman location in New York City in 2010, buy a meal at the first Sonic Drive-In location in Long Island in 2011, shop at a Best Buy location in New York City on Black Friday in 2011, attend the funeral of Whitney Houston in the public spectator area in Newark, New Jersey in 2012, buy tickets for a touring production of Hamilton'' in Hartford, Connecticut in 2018, and attend the memorial for George Floyd in Raeford, North Carolina in 2020.

Personal views on notoriety In 2004, Packer described his success at being quoted as, "I always come up with an answer for everything, number one. And… I always give everybody… the respect and the time that they need." He has also said that he tries to "just be myself, [and] show how happy I am to be in the front row".

In a 2013 interview, Packer stated that "The first time I saw my name in print, I couldn't believe that I made a major newspaper. That made me feel that I accomplished something." He also expressed disappointment at the directives issued by various news organizations to not quote him, saying, "if I'm their source for an interview, I don't see where the problem is at all. What I do is not only helping reporters do their jobs, but it's also helping me tell my family and friends where I've been. So it's a case of helping each other."