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What Is Last Mile Delivery ?

Last mile delivery is defined as ” The final stage or the last stage of delivery from the distribution center or distribution hub to customer’s doorstep “. By the end of last mile delivery the customer would have his/her ordered product.

It is often called last mile delivery since its the last stage of the delivery journey, normally last mile delivery it is the shortest distance covered but it is the most crucial and very important stage of the distribution system.

In easy language “Last Mile Delivery represents the last stretch of the delivery service”.

The last mile delivery is crucial since it involves a complicated set of factors to deal with like complicated traffic pattern, heavy schedules and in time deliveries to customers to meet customers satisfaction.

As E- Commerce businesses surge and the expectations of customer surge up the companies are increasingly optimizing their ” Last Mile Delivery ” segment. This includes a lot of “Supply Chain Analytics” and “Supply Chain Predictive Analytics”.

Let us deep dive in understanding the other concepts of ” Last Mile Delivery “.

Last Mile Delivery Challenges – Challenges Faced By Companies.

There are a lot of last mile delivery challenges faced by the companies, lets discuss the issues one by one –

High Cost – The last mile delivery accounts to more than 50 % of the total delivery costs which includes fuel cost ( Which Includes Fuel Price Hike ), delivery labor expense or delivery cost, Traffic challenges and the delivery vehicle maintenance. Apart from this, wage hikes and labor demands also adds up to the total cost.

Traffic Issues – According to reports last mile delivery operations occur mainly in Urban areas due to high population density, this can lead to high traffic jams and blockades leading to inefficiency in delivery process. High traffic often leads to high fuel consumption which again leads to high costs.

Delivery Issues – Often delivery companies always promise same day delivery or next day delivery to meet customer expectations and customer satisfaction, which in turn puts tremendous pressure on the logistics providing companies. Failure to meet the promise leads to customer dissatisfaction.

Visibility – Limited visibility in the last phase of the delivery poses a big challenge to delivery companies in terms of tracking goods in real time. This vacuum can lead to late deliveries, lost shipments.

Environmental Issues – Since the last phase of the delivery system completely relies on vehicles that use fossil fuels can contribute to a lot of carbon emission and pollution. Sustainable delivery options is a way to come out of this. Electric and solar charged vehicles can be used to achieve this goal.

How Can We Improve The Delivery Optimization ? ( Last Mile Delivery Optimization )

There are a lot of ways on how to improve the efficiency. Lets discuss them one by one –

Optimization Algorithms – Due to high growth in data science streams, lets are a lot of route optimization algorithm that use real time data traffic data and weather condition and give out a best optimized route for the delivery boys saving time and fuel.

Alternate Delivery Model – Crowd shipping can be used as a alternative delivery model to reach remote places. Crowd shipping is a concept that uses local public or people to deliver products to customers, and they get paid for this. This is a very innovative way to solve the delivery problems.

Autonomous Vehicles – Self driving vehicles equipped with route maps and sensors can be used to deliver the products to the customers. This option looks to be very promising in the future for the logistics companies as it eliminates the manpower and their wages.

Drone Delivery – Unmanned aerial vehicles can be used to deliver the product to their customer as it is one of the fastest delivery options eliminating the traffic congestion part. Drones use GPS ( Global Positioning System ) for its routing purposes.

Pickup Points – Establishing well monitored and safe Pickup points enables customers to pickup their parcels. This in turn increases the delivery efficiency.

Last Mile Delivery Companies.

There are lot of Last Mile Delivery Companies around the world. To mention a few these are the leading LMD companies in the world.

Last Mile Delivery Jobs.

Last mile delivery jobs offer great opportunities and career opportunities for individuals with diverse skill set ranging from driving experience to customer service.

These are a few job names that are available in last mile delivery sector.

Delivery Drivers.
Delivery associates.
Dispatchers.
Logistics Coordinator.
Supervisors.
Delivery Package handlers.
Delivery operations customer relationship officer.

All the job opportunities mentioned above are available in USA, Canada, United Kingdom and all over the globe. One can use LinkedIn a online job searching platform and apply for the same. These jobs are well paid jobs.

Conclusion.

Last mile delivery is a very crucial part in the delivery segment for all logistics service providing companies. This segment comes with a lot of challenges and opportunities. If the right technologies are embraced for the increasing the efficiency of delivery operations, companies can over come all the challenges faced. Due to high growth in E- Commerce companies , Last Mile Delivery segment offers a lucrative career option for all individuals. All in all the future of last mile logistics is filled with great potential in days to come.

FAQ’s

What is meant by last-mile delivery?
Answer – Last Mile Delivery represents the last stretch of the delivery service.

Who are the biggest companies in last-mile delivery?
Answer – Amazon Logistics, UPS, FedEx to name a few are the biggest companies in last mile delivery service.

Why is last mile delivery so expensive?
Answer – All lot of factors add up to make last mile delivery very expensive. One of the major cause is the labor cost and the delivery vehicle maintenance cost.