The Last Mile Is the Whole Job
Every parcel you’ve ever received traveled most of its distance cheaply. A container ship crosses an ocean for cents per kilogram. A truck runs a highway lane at near-perfect utilization. Then the parcel reaches a depot twenty minutes from your door, and the economics fall off a cliff. Figure 0: The Last Mile Delivery Problem The numbers say it plainly. Last-mile delivery now absorbs roughly 53% of total shipping cost — up from 41% in 2018, and now the single largest line item in the fulfillment chain, having quietly overtaken warehousing and middle-mile freight combined [1][2]. ...