Last mile delivery in logistics: what is it?

Last mile delivery refers to the final transportation of products, goods and even people. This term has its origins in telecommunications, to describe the difficulty of connecting homes and businesses to the main telecommunications network so the term Last Mile Delivery has been coined to refer to the delivery of goods or services that the consumer purchases at the time and place of their choice.

Telecommuting is the ability for an employee to complete work assignments by using telecommunications tools such as email, phone, chat and video apps. The growth of artificial intelligence and robotics has made it easier than ever for many work-related tasks to be performed. Some of the benefits of telecommuting include the following:

• Employees have a more flexible work schedule.
• Employees may not have to deal with common workplace distractions.
• There are less transportation costs.
• There is higher productivity.
• Increases employee autonomy and loyalty.
• Better work life balance for employees.
• Can save an organization money.

Last mile delivery in e-commerce

We can not fail to mention the reason why it would have been and exponentially the courier and parcel industry the rise of eCommerce product of the need to meet consumer demands in pandemic and post pandemic times is the engine of this new reality that has involved even the incorporation of new players or Players in the retail field such as Amazon and Alibaba.

This in turn has given life and impetus to the industry and forces it to evolve and innovate, however this process of devolution in novation puts pressure on the courier and parcel business and thus last mile delivery is born.

This represents a great challenge since last mile delivery becomes the most costly and inefficient part of the delivery process, forcing the industry to look at new ways and means to innovate in order to achieve greater efficiency and lower costs:

• Incorporating new technologies: this includes the use of drones, autonomous vehicles and robotics. The idea would be to integrate these technologies throughout the delivery process to achieve greater efficiency and lower costs by being able to respond to multiple eventualities.
• Greener deliveries: with an increasing number of carbon-free zones in all cities, the courier and parcel industry is being forced to renew its fleets or simply invest in emission-free vehicles and devise new ways of delivery.
• Increasing delivery points: in last mile delivery the customer decides or chooses the delivery location and this is currently a limitation, so the idea is to increase the number of delivery points in order to reach a greater number of customers who in turn can enjoy the delivery service when and where they choose from a large number of options.
• Address Intelligence: the most innovative delivery method that will become a trend. This will enable courier and parcel companies to develop alternative routes and modes for efficient delivery.
• Plan the delivery with intelligence: observing the difficulties that may exist in the delivery area since the unloading area, the place to park, walk to the delivery point becomes a challenge that also makes the delivery of the package is really complicated and increase the delivery time so it is a challenge to achieve with the use of technology to locate access routes or more efficient delivery routes studying in advance the areas to generate alternative routes and thus optimize the service.
• New players: When new social delivery or collective transportation companies are incorporated, it is these new players who optimize delivery routes by sharing loads.
• Creation of urban micro warehouses: to reduce delivery times, Last Mile Delivery forces companies to build small warehouses in city centers.