Last-Mile Delivery

Poland-based InPost continues to implement its pan-European expansion strategy with the acquisition of Spanish parcel operator Sending.

Regional courier service Deliver It has gone out of business.

A bevy of new final-mile delivery companies is eating into the market share of FedEx, UPS and the U.S. Postal Service. The competition is keeping a lid on rates to the benefit of e-commerce shippers.

DHL Parcel in Germany is looking to expand use of parcel vending machines.

The powerful Teamsters union is accusing UPS of failing to fully honor terms of its 2023 contract related to air conditioned vehicles, hiring full-time workers and forced overtime.

DHL Express Canada could resume operations within days if union workers ratify a preliminary contract negotiated by Unifor.

Amazon is ramping up Same-Day and Next-Day delivery for small towns, rural areas.

Canada Post and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers are not giving an inch in their fight over a labor contract, with Canada Post showing frustration with union leadership and opposing its call for binding arbitration.

Canada Post’s financial troubles have been compounded by the ongoing labor dispute and the inability to generate more revenue from parcel delivery.

Veho, a tech-enabled parcel courier, is testing a delivery robot that can walk, climb and roll to customer doorsteps in cityscapes.

Canada Post workers backed away from going on strike, opting instead for a ban on overtime work. But the threat of a strike has already allowed competitors to take parcel business from the national post.

The CEO of Mercado Libre, the dominant e-commerce player in Latin America, has decided to turn control to one of his lieutenants and move to the board room.

Postal workers in Canada have threatened to go on strike Friday, which would shut down most delivery services and hurt businesses that depend on Canada Post to fulfill orders.

Amazon will outsource delivery of large packages to FedEx in a deal that should prove more profitable on a per-shipment level than shipments under the companies’ partnership that ended six years ago.

The U.S. Postal Service board of governors is set to vote soon on a FedEx official to lead the agency, according to a newspaper report.

A UPS white paper promotes the benefits of traditional express carriers over gig logistics providers, but the TD Cowen/AFS Logistics Freight Index shows why businesses might like the lower prices from newer last-mile providers.

U.S. parcel volumes hit a record in 2024, but new competitors like Amazon, Walmart and OnTrac are eroding the market share of FedEx and UPS, a new report says.

UPS has changed the name of its SurePost economy service, which it used to manage in conjunction with the U.S. Postal Service.

Germany’s DHL Group is acquiring U.S.-based CryoPDP to boost its health care logistics business.

Postal unions are raising alarms about downsizing and potential privatization of the U.S. Postal Service.

Amazon beat expectations for revenue and earnings for the fourth quarter, but it predicts slower growth in the next quarter.

Some Amazon employees are preparing to strike or protest on Black Friday as part of the “Make Amazon Pay” demonstrations against alleged labor abuses.

Last-mile solutions provider OneRail has raised $42 million in venture capital backing to streamline the last mile of the delivery process.

Two-year-old SpeedX is entering the international logistics sector with the acquisition of Accelerated Global Solutions.

Switzerland-based DSV added to its stable of logistics providers, buying Schenker from the debt-laden German national railway.

Point Pickup Technologies has agreed to sell $100,000 in assets to Delivered, including customer lists, software, transferable permits, books and records, Point Pickup’s website, and promotional materials.

OneRail has launched a solution to address in-transit problems that lead to lost inventory.

Delivery company DHL will pay $8.7 million to settle a class race discrimination lawsuit alleging that the company assigned Black workers to more dangerous routes than white workers.

In the constantly changing world of last-mile delivery, it can no longer operate as a siloed operation from middle mile.

A study by last-mile solutions provider OneRail addresses retailers’ concerns about diversifying delivery networks and highlights strategies such as leveraging technology for strategic planning.

Thefts from a storage facility have raised concerns from a government watchdog agency as the Postal Service moves to electrify its delivery fleet.

Final-mile delivery company Riverstone Logistics said Monday it has acquired appliance delivery company Ralph’s Transfer.

Last-mile delivery is complicated. Technology can make it more efficient, but the key is successfully integrating multiple systems.

A source wonders if UPS’ new offering is a reconstituted version of an earlier stab at quick delivery.

With the last mile the most complicated part of the shipping process, new solutions could help, but it will take a strong balancing act.

With Oracle and Uber Direct, retailers can now offer same-day delivery and returns.

A former driver for Ameritrans Express, a contract delivery company that hauls mail for the U.S. Postal Service, says he and other workers wonder whether they will be paid after the company filed for bankruptcy protection.

A former FedEx Ground contractor, accused of killing 7-year-old Athena Strand of Paradise, Texas, pleaded not guilty to capital murder and aggravated kidnapping charges on Monday during his arraignment hearing in Wise County, Texas.

Supply chain software provider Descartes announced Tuesday the acquisition of final-mile tech platform GroundCloud.

Less-than-truckload carrier Pitt Ohio announced a minority investment in national final-mile platform Aria Logistics.

Locus is expanding its workforce and solution offerings for Mexico’s booming e-commerce market.

Demand for 3PL services to handle last-mile shipments of heavy goods will grow by double digits annually through 2025, according to a report by Armstrong & Associates and the National Home Delivery Association.

A week after authorities say FedEx contractor Tanner Lynn Horner confessed to killing 7-year-old Athena Strand and dumping her body near her home in Paradise, Texas, investigators have released new information about Strand’s death.

Mothership’s same-day freight marketplace injects modern software into an industry still lagging behind in technology adoption, opening doors for shippers that will directly allow them to break into new markets and build consistent and dependable service with low overall damage rates.

Fitness company Peloton plans to turn over all final-mile business to J.B. Hunt and XPO in the coming weeks.

Mario Harik will succeed Brad Jacobs following the spinoff of XPO’s brokerage business. Jacobs will become XPO’s executive chairman.

Decades of experience delivering critical health care products has shaped Capstone Logistics’ last-mile solution for e-commerce and grocery delivery.

FreightWaves SONAR data can be indispensable, particularly in this environment.

The Small Fleet & Owner-Operator Summit takes place on June 15, 2022.

Net sales hit the high end of estimates; shares get whacked in after-hours trade.

The family of a Maine commercial fisherman who was struck and killed by an Amazon delivery driver in July 2020 recently filed a negligence lawsuit against the e-commerce giant.

FreightWaves Founder and CEO Craig Fuller explains the boom and bust cycle of the trucking industry.

FreightWaves Founder and CEO Craig Fuller analyzes methods to generate more revenue in a trucking downturn.

We’re breaking down the last mile ahead of FreightWaves’ Future of Supply Chain event.

Geoffrey Finlay, CEO of Chicago-based Logistyx Technologies, said joining E2open will “enable more companies to ship smarter.”

As parcel demand has skyrocketed, shippers have obviously been faced with serious capacity issues.

A.P. Moller – Maersk announced the $1.8 billion acquisition of U.S. forwarder Pilot Freight Services. The deal is the company’s latest move in building out a land-based logistics network.

A Postal Service reform package passed by the House on Tuesday would eliminate massive financial burdens at the agency while maintaining a unified package and mail network.

XPO Logistics has issued 2022 guidance and vows to fully right the LTL segment’s operating ratio by midyear.

J.B. Hunt Transport acquires less-than-truckload furniture carrier Zenith Freight Lines from Bassett Furniture.

XPO adds two terminals and 50 dock doors to its North American network.

The test by the startup company is not being viewed as a proof of concept but rather to demonstrate its model to midsized companies.

“We don’t partner with one asset, we partner with all box truck assets in a region and we aggregate the totality of orders to be sure that there is one full truck delivering to one ZIP code,” said Onward Delivery CEO Grafton Elliott.

Ryder appears to have paid a sum in line with current Whiplash revenue, a provider of final-mile services.

Expanding applications of its molded structural composite trailer bodies, Wabash is looking to the grocery delivery business as a new market.

Werner Enterprises triples the size of its final-mile offering with the addition of Northeast-based Nehds Logistics.

CalTrans is boosting the weight limit for port truckers. The regulatory change was made with good intentions, but can it work?

Proper delivery routing is often overlooked as a potential sales tool, but done right, it can lead to increased customer engagement and more sales.

The chaos in the supply chain has ripple effects down to the last mile. AxleHire Founder Daniel Sokolovsky is responsible for ensuring his company can meet those last-mile delivery demands.

Company takes no chances in keeping supply chain problems away from holiday deliveries.

Workhorse decides to pursue alternative opportunities after ending its bid fight with the Postal Service.

UniGroup Logistics’s Meghan Meurer sees shopping from home as the new normal for a growing number of larger products, suggesting that the final-mile delivery experience is now of utmost importance.

“The FDC is also very focused on equity and inclusion. We are extremely proud that 54% of our network is woman-, minority-, and veteran-owned.”

As businesses struggle to keep up with consumers’ growing demand for sustainability, 81% of respondents in a recent survey said companies use excessive packaging when shipping products.

With today’s growing delivery economy, one thing’s for certain: The job isn’t complete until the last mile is covered.

Postmaster General DeJoy underscored improved performance at the Postal Service despite a $3 billion quarterly loss.

“This collaboration brings us closer to another source of data and another way to look at last-mile problems.”

Can regional carriers and last-mile delivery companies build out national delivery networks?

Forward Air announced Friday that VP and Controller Rebecca Garbrick has been named the company’s new CFO, a role that had been vacant for three months.

The union’s declaration establishes the `Amazon Project,’ with the long-term goal of creating a division to organize company workers.

The company will add Missouri, Illinois and Kansas and deepen coverage in Louisiana and Arkansas, effective in early September.

The company’s investor day focuses on modest projections for domestic package-delivery margins through 2023.

Love it or hate it, the regional parcel carrier looks to clean up as e-commerce drives up demand for parcel-delivery services.

Asset-light trucking and logistics provider Forward Air’s new pay plan incentivizes operators to haul into the country’s more challenging markets.

A white paper by TIA and CLDA stresses the need to differentiate from Amazon to succeed in final-mile delivery.

FedEx is raising the fees on U.S. residential deliveries, its Ground Economy service and on packages requiring “additional handling.”

The electric vehicle pilot is part of Walmart’s last-mile delivery initiatives.

People are eager for face-to-face gatherings. But health and safety issues will still call the shots.

The company’s pickup and delivery revenue jumps; about 95% of sales were fulfilled from stores

The first-ever deal with Apple is part of $4 billion in logistics contracts for XPO since the year began.

Company boosts its full-year EBITDA range, and discloses 11-year, $1.8 billion logistics contract with unidentified customer.

“It’s about speed, convenience and also being greener,” says Chris Jarvis, chief logistics officer at GoFor.

Drone delivery planning in urban environments requires many considerations, including emergency landing zones, no-fly zones, route planning, takeoff and landing sites and governmental regulations.

Forward Air provided some clarity on longer-term margin expectations during a Friday conference call with analysts. The company beat first-quarter expectations and its new guidance came in much better than expected.

Shipping costs rise 57% to $17.1 billion.

Wabash National spent $364 million to buy into final-mile products in 2017. It is finally starting to realize the hoped-for potential.

Jacobs says 10% U.S. GDP growth is not out of the question in 2021.

“We are deeply shocked and saddened by the loss of our team members following the tragic shooting,” FedEx said.

Forward Air’s growth plans net 11 new final-mile terminal locations in the first quarter. While recent activist shareholder interests called into question the company’s capital allocation strategy, it appears the final-mile segment remains part of the plan.

The author of “Fulfillment: Winning and Losing in One-Click America” talks about Amazon’s push for complete dominance and what it may mean for all of us.