Home News Features Compliance

đź•’ Article read time: 2 minutes

2024 Last mile challenges: reducing costs

By Alex Buckley, General Manager of EMEA and APAC for DispatchTrack


Reducing costs is a critical challenge in the last mile and this remains a top priority for operations and logistics professionals in 2024. In this article we highlight four areas to prioritise when it comes to maintaining control and minimising costs.

  1. Invest in new technologies to improve efficiency  

With spiralling fuel costs every mile matters, therefore the number one technology investment has to be in route optimisation and planning to streamline route efficiency and complete more deliveries per day based on your specified parameters. Being able to optimise for the shortest possible routes between delivery stops can, for example, save you an average of 10% of miles driven, which equates to a 10% saving in fuel costs and CO2 emissions per route. A win for cost savings and a win for the environment.  

  1. Minimising failed deliveries through better customer communication  

A failed delivery doubles costs in the last mile, so being able to reduce the chance that a customer is not in to receive the delivery through customer notifications will greatly reduce costs by improving first attempt delivery rates. This doesn’t just include communicating scheduled deliveries, but also sending notification in real time to all impacted parties when the unpredictable happens - bad weather, road closures, traffic and breakdowns - to potentially re-schedule or re-route deliveries.  

It’s worth noting that in addition to cost, failed deliveries can harm your brand’s reputation if not communicated promptly, ultimately resulting in lost customers. Giving customers dynamically generated options for rescheduling their delivery also helps customers find a new time slot that works for them while also taking into consideration existing capacity limitations. 

  1. Effective management of returns  

Having to make additional trips to pick up returns significantly adds to last mile costs, therefore being able to incorporate returns into a planned delivery route will ensure no additional journey is required. The ability to capture the reason for the return is a crucial part of return management - is the item damaged or faulty, or just unwanted? - as this is likely to determine where the item is returned to and needs to be considered when scheduling routes. 

  1. Visibility, visibility, visibility 

Inherent in all the above points is the need for visibility - it is arguably the most important element for communicating with customers, optimising routes, reacting in real time, etc. Real visibility in this sense means that the information you need is at your fingertips when you need it. This includes proof of delivery, order information, statuses of customer order confirmations, billing information, delivery audit trails and much more.   

Without true end-to-end visibility, you’ll wind up delivering packages to unavailable customers, receiving more calls inquiring about delivery statuses, and being clueless about whether any given order has been fulfilled. In short, last mile visibility gives you the opportunity to avoid disruptions and ultimately boost efficiency across your delivery logistics, saving time, resources and money.  

Getting rising delivery costs under control is paramount for last mile success - but that can’t come at the expense of great customer service. That’s why confronting last-mile delivery cost challenges proactively requires the right technology, complete visibility and smooth communications between the delivery team and your customers.  

Published On: 29/02/2024 14:00:00

 

Comments Section

If you are a Logistics UK member login to add comments.

There are no comments yet.



Latest articles

Incoming Transport Minister Heidi Alexander must prioritise logistics to support growth, says Logistics UK CEO

Following the resignation of Transport Secretary Louise Haigh MP, Logistics UK, one of the UK’s biggest business groups and the only organisation which represents all of logistics, says the incoming Secretary of State, Heidi Alexander MP, must seize the opportunity to drive Labour’s growth mission by prioritising logistics and acknowledging its foundational role in the economy.

Read time: 2 minutes

View article

Out and About & In the Mix

A snapshot of where the Logistics UK policy team have been and who they've seen in the past week.

Read time: 2 minutes

View article

Flying Scotsmen?

Transport Scotland’s National Speed Management Review Consultation could see the speed limit for HGVs on single track roads raised to 50 mph.

Read time: 2 minutes

View article

Next page

A month in the media – February 2024

E-news archive

You can also view our e-news archive here.

E-news archive

Interested in Membership?

Get in contact using the Membership Enquiry Form.

Membership Enquiry Form

Logistics Magazine Portal

The hub for finding relevant and informative features, news & compliance guides from Logistics Magazine

Logistics Magazine Portal Home

Sponsorship Opportunities

Learn more about advertising on the new digital Logistics Magazine, with a variety of advert options to reach 30,000 relevant readers.

Sponsorship Opportunities

Magazine Contents

News

Logistics Magazine will cover all the latest news on stories breaking in the industry, including developments on COVID-19,  Brexit, Clean Air Zones, transport law and decarbonisation.

News

Features

Our frequent features will tackle the broader issues affecting logistics such as the COVID-19 vaccination programme, technology and innovation, the political and economic landscape, global trade and the drive to reduce emissions across all transport modes.

Features

Compliance

Each month we explore a different topic in depth in our popular Compliance section, while each week we will publish answers put to our Member Advice Centre team.

Compliance

View Supplements and Previous Printed Editions

View Supplements and previous printed editions of Logistics Magazine here.

Previous