Last-Mile Delivery Costs Retailers a Fortune. Is It Sustainable?

Once upon a time, not so long ago, we watched eagerly out the window for the UPS truck, whose driver we knew by name, hoping today he’d finally deliver that mail order or online purchase made a week earlier. Today, you can drive through just about any residential neighborhood in the US, and for every UPS truck you might see, you’ll pass a dozen vans (Amazon, Walmart, Target, Kroger, Lowe’s among them) plus herds of rental trucks and unmarked cargo vans.

The next- or same-day last-mile delivery business has become an industry within the retail industry. For starters, it’s huge. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were 1.7 million people employed as delivery drivers last year. By 2031, that number is forecast to grow to 1.9 million.