Online retailers and buyers alike often face the conundrum of being made to choose between fast delivery and low-cost shipping. Buyers are forced to pay extra to ensure same-day delivery of items.
No surprise, the e-commerce trend has entrenched itself into the lives of consumers — for better or worse — and there’s no turning back now. Another round of retailers this year has filed for bankruptcy.
Tropos Technologies’ electric vehicles are capable of hauling over 1,000 pounds and can be configured for cargo and last-mile delivery, perhaps making them an ideal alternative for local delivery.
Last-mile delivery might get very interesting very soon. Boeing has unveiled a prototype “unmanned electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing (eVTOL) cargo air vehicle (CAV) prototype” capable of hauling 500 pounds.
Walmart has patented an ‘unattended retail storefront’ that would be located in customers’ homes and stocked by autonomous vehicles, part of its quest to compress or eliminate delivery delays altogether.
Despite the still-existing demand for customers to visit brick-and-mortar stores to see and touch the goods, especially fresh food items, before buying, Jewel-Osco has decided to give in to the demand of delivery service, The Chicago Tribune reports.
JD.com, Alibaba’s closest rival in Mainland China, is pushing to develop 1,000 “new energy logistics” vehicles through its subsidiary JD Logistics, Yicai Global reports.
A 2017 study by the RAND Corporation found that shifting UPS’s lightest 20% of packages in an urban setting to drone delivery would only result in a 5.7% savings in total energy-use. As the shipping industry transitions to electric trucks, the drones’ advantage in carbon emissions would also disappear.
Taking the last-mile delivery battle seriously, Amazon may have found a hit with its Hub. According to The Motley Fool, Amazon is putting Hubs in “multi-tenant dwellings like apartment buildings, condos, and complexes.”
Ikea’s acquisition of TaskRabbit is seen as a way to give Ikea customers access to assembly services. But it also may pave the way for local delivery of Ikea products, perhaps producing a new need for delivery drivers.
For a logistics company that serves mostly competitors of Amazon, Deliv is booming. The same-day delivery startup has expanded its services to over 1,400 cities, TechCrunch reported.
As larger items such as appliances and furniture are increasingly being purchased online, the need for more “white glove” delivery services is leading carriers to look at acquiring or partnering with companies that specialize in this area.
DOT’s Private Investment Project Procedures rulemaking seeks to lower the barriers to private participation in infrastructure projects. While the government seeks to reduce barriers, though, states are concerned about reimbursements for projects and that has led to a drop in the number of projects, according to Reuters.
