by Walther Ploos van Amstel
Pitney Bowes Inc., a global shipping and mailing company that provides technology, logistics, and financial services, released its annual U.S. Parcel Shipping Index. The index revealed significant shifts in the carrier competitive landscape and consumer behaviors in 2023. Of the four largest carriers (USPS, Amazon Logistics, UPS, and FedEx), only Amazon Logistics grew volumes year …
New regulations require Chinese couriers to notify customers before dropping off parcels. China’s recent regulatory amendment, which mandates parcel delivery workers to inform customers of the exact delivery location, has evoked a mixed response across the sector. Effective March 1, 2024, the amendment requires delivery workers to refrain from leaving packages at community delivery areas …
A recent study found that an electric cargo bike, specifically a Bullitt cargo bike, is twice as efficient and over ten times cheaper than a van in urban areas. These are unprecedented results. Never has a study found this kind of result. According to the study, adding insurance, maintenance, depreciation, and energy costs, vans have …
The rise of e-commerce has led to an increase in parcel deliveries, increasing the need to address last-mile delivery’s cost and environmental impact. Customers accustomed to next-day free delivery can play an essential role by choosing more sustainable delivery options. Retailers and logistic service providers could allow customers to wait for their delivery or pick …
Integrating parcel lockers has become crucial as urban spaces evolve, especially with the booming e-commerce sector. A new ULaaDS publication, developed by Bax & Company, with valuable insights from Gemeente Groningen (NL) and the University of Groningen, addresses the rapid expansion of these services and their impact on urban life and public spaces. Key highlights …
Urban freight deliveries using microhubs and cargo kibes have gained attention in cities suffering from congestion and emissions. Cargo bike deliveries for parcels and microhubs used as transshipment points in urban cores can replace trucks to make cities more livable. An Urban Freight Lab study describes and empirically evaluates an e-cargo tricycle pilot delivering parcels …
A new paper by Niemeijer and Buijs analyzes the carbon emission impact of pickup points in last-mile parcel delivery. Pickup points offer customers and delivery companies an alternative to attended home delivery. The delivery company can drop a parcel off at the pickup point, such as a service desk in a grocery store or a …
The fast growth of e-commerce in urban areas has led to a surge in last-mile transportation demand and an associated increase in external effects: congestion, noise, and visual pollution. A recent paper analyses a new urban freight transport service that could potentially reduce this footprint: crowd shipping. Crowd shipping is a service where a package …
According to preliminary results published by International Post Corporation (IPC), postal operators worldwide saw revenue decrease by 0.9% on average in 2022, demonstrating resilience following the post-Covid strong growth and the overall challenging environment. Holger Winklbauer, CEO of IPC, commented on the results: “Preliminary results for 2022 show that continuous efforts of posts to …
Parcel lockers have emerged as a potential solution to the last-mile delivery challenges and are believed to reduce delivery times and traffic congestion. However, there has been no empirical analyses of the impacts of parcel lockers (in larger residential buildings) on delivery times. Researchers found that using lockers caused a 50–60% drop in the average …