2D Game - Movable Object Prevents Being Pushed If Too Close To Player

Dear Unity Community,

-Disclaimer: This is my first post so I hope I meet the social consensus with my post.-

My scenario:

I'm in the process of creating a 2D puzzle/stealth game. The entire game and its objects are 2D, some of which are movable. You can move objects around by holding down the "interact-"key (in my scene, its "e").

My problem:

Whenever the distance between the object and the player (=collider) is 0, the object does not move. My theory is that the player needs space in order to be able to move into a direction, so that subsequently a movement vector can be applied to the affected object. I assume thats why a vector cannot be calculated (due to a length of 0 between A (collider) and B (object)). In my code I parent the object to the player (whenever "e" is pressed) so the object copies the players movement.

My goal:

I'd like to be able to move even though the distance between the object and the collider is 0. In other words: I want to be able to stand directly next to the object in order to push it. How can I achieve that?

PlayerController Script:

 using UnityEngine;
 using System.Collections;
 
 public class PlayerController : MonoBehaviour 
 {
 
     public float maxSpeed = 10f;
     bool facingRight = true;
 
     Animator anim;
 
 
     //setup for the fall, since we're not doing a jump anim, but a midair anim
     bool grounded = false;
     public Transform groundCheck; 
     float groundRadius = 0.2f;
     public LayerMask whatIsGround;
     public float jumpForce = 700f;
 
 
     void Start () 
     {
         anim = GetComponent<Animator> ();
     }
     
 
     void FixedUpdate () 
     {
         //constant check if we're on the ground. if grounded = .. is true, we are on ground, and vice versa
         grounded = Physics2D.OverlapCircle (groundCheck.position, groundRadius, whatIsGround);
         anim.SetBool ("Ground", grounded);
 
         anim.SetFloat ("vSpeed", GetComponent<Rigidbody2D>().velocity.y);
 
         // realistic jump (you cant alter direction mid-air
         // if (!grounded) return; 
 
         //capture side movement
         float move = Input.GetAxis ("Horizontal");
         //fill the speed parameter in the animator with a positive (=abs) number
         anim.SetFloat ("Speed", Mathf.Abs (move));
         //change left right, but not up down (x,y vector, where x changes, y stays constant)
         GetComponent<Rigidbody2D>().velocity = new Vector2 (move * maxSpeed, GetComponent<Rigidbody2D>().velocity.y);
         //flip around if movement is positive/negative)
 
         if (!Globals.pullingObject) 
         {
             if (move > 0 && !facingRight)
                 Flip ();
             else if (move < 0 && facingRight)
                 Flip ();
         }
     }
 
     void Update()
     {
         if(grounded && Input.GetKeyDown (KeyCode.Space))
         {
             anim.SetBool ("Ground", false);
             GetComponent<Rigidbody2D>().AddForce(new Vector2(0, jumpForce));
         }
 
         if (Globals.pullingObject == true)
             maxSpeed = 4f;
         else if (Globals.pullingObject == false)
             maxSpeed = 10f;
     }
 
     void Flip ()
     {
 
             facingRight = !facingRight; // change facing
             Vector3 theScale = transform.localScale; // temp save vector3 localscale 
             theScale.x *= -1; //flip x coordinate of temp save
             transform.localScale = theScale; // override localscale with temp save
         }
 }
 

Box Pull Script:

 using UnityEngine;
 using System.Collections;
 
 public class BoxPull : MonoBehaviour 
 {
 
     public GameObject player;
     public bool pulling = false;
     Rigidbody2D rigbody; 
 
 
     // Use this for initialization
     void Start () 
     {
         rigbody = GetComponent<Rigidbody2D> ();
     }
 
     // Update is called once per frame
     void Update () 
     {
     
         
 
         if (pulling && Input.GetKey(KeyCode.E)) 
         {
                 Debug.Log ("Pressed E");
                 transform.parent = player.transform;
                 //rigbody.isKinematic = false;
                 Globals.pullingObject = true;
         }
         else 
         {
             transform.parent = null;
             //rigbody.isKinematic = true;
             Globals.pullingObject = false;
         }
     }
 
     void OnTriggerEnter2D ()
     {
         Debug.Log ("EnterTrigger");
         pulling = true;
     }
     void OnTriggerExit2D ()
     {
         Debug.Log ("LeaveTrigger");
         pulling = false;
     }
 }
 

Object Physics Script:

 using UnityEngine;
 using System.Collections;
 
 public class ObjectPhysics : MonoBehaviour {
 
     public float pushPower = 2.0F;
 
     void OnControllerColliderHit(ControllerColliderHit hit) {
         Rigidbody body = hit.collider.attachedRigidbody;
         if (body == null || body.isKinematic)
             return;
         
         if (hit.moveDirection.y < -0.3F)
             return;
         
         Vector3 pushDir = new Vector3(hit.moveDirection.x, 0, hit.moveDirection.z);
         body.velocity = pushDir * pushPower;
     }
 }