Use of crowd logistics for the last mile of home parcel deliveries
Hernandez Cedillo, Erick Manuel (2022)
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2022121429809
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2022121429809
Tiivistelmä
Technology has transformed the way logistics is done and how parcels are delivered. Similarly, it has contributed towards an ascending e-commerce growth, making the shipping of goods more affordable, faster and more reliable. In consequence, this has created more demanding consumers with higher expectations including affordability, more control of the delivery process and faster deliveries. Along with consumers’ demands, the promptly increase of labor and fuel costs, the difficulty to fill drivers’ positions and the non-existent structure for urban deliveries with robot couriers has forced logistics companies to come up with innovative solutions to solve such problems being crowd logistics one of them.
The objective of this research was to influence change in the traditional home parcel delivery process by leveraging new technologies such as crowd logistics to contribute to the creation of value for stakeholders around the home parcel delivery process. A mixed method was used to carry out the research where comparisons of variables such as cost, revenue generation, impact on the environment and flexibility for home parcel deliveries between crowd logistics and traditional delivery practices were made.
The results indicate that the use of crowd logistics for home parcel deliveries can reduce costs directly and indirectly, it can increase the revenue for logistics companies and retailers, and most importantly, it could make the home parcel delivery process more resilient, giving consumers more control over the last mile. Furthermore, the use of crowd logistics did not have a positive impact on sustainability compared to traditional practices due to the heavy investment required from delivery couriers to switch to fossil free vehicles which could take years to accomplish.
This research can serve as a guide for logistics companies in future projects concerning home parcel deliveries and therefore, contribute to a faster, flexible, and more profitable parcel business; however, generalizing the results and applying them to logistics companies in Finland of lower scale could be unsuitable due to external forces and inadequate infrastructure. It is recommended to continue with the research to have a more robust understanding about crowd logistics and leverage it for the creation of solutions.
The objective of this research was to influence change in the traditional home parcel delivery process by leveraging new technologies such as crowd logistics to contribute to the creation of value for stakeholders around the home parcel delivery process. A mixed method was used to carry out the research where comparisons of variables such as cost, revenue generation, impact on the environment and flexibility for home parcel deliveries between crowd logistics and traditional delivery practices were made.
The results indicate that the use of crowd logistics for home parcel deliveries can reduce costs directly and indirectly, it can increase the revenue for logistics companies and retailers, and most importantly, it could make the home parcel delivery process more resilient, giving consumers more control over the last mile. Furthermore, the use of crowd logistics did not have a positive impact on sustainability compared to traditional practices due to the heavy investment required from delivery couriers to switch to fossil free vehicles which could take years to accomplish.
This research can serve as a guide for logistics companies in future projects concerning home parcel deliveries and therefore, contribute to a faster, flexible, and more profitable parcel business; however, generalizing the results and applying them to logistics companies in Finland of lower scale could be unsuitable due to external forces and inadequate infrastructure. It is recommended to continue with the research to have a more robust understanding about crowd logistics and leverage it for the creation of solutions.