DC Velocity - June 2019

away from one of them, then your pricing could change and [parcel shipping] could cost you more.” However, Rogerson notes, there are cases where it makes sense to move some traffic to a niche provider. “If the big carrier cannot make the delivery window or promise and Deliv can, then you go with what will satisfy the customer need,” she says.

One of the areas that Rogerson and her colleagues are thinking about is 3-D printing and the potential future impact on current delivery models. In this scenario, the “delivery” is actually a blueprint or “build” instructions for the product sent via e-mail to the purchaser. The customer downloads the instructions to the 3-D printer in the home or business, where the product is then made to order on site. “It could disrupt how we [traditionally] define delivery,” she says.

The promise of 3-D printing notwithstanding, parcel delivery for the foreseeable future remains a function of logistics and dealing with the physical movement of goods. Rogerson notes that proximity is still essential to fast delivery. “That’s why brick-and-mortar facilities still have a role to play,” she says. The “nodes” in the network—whether it be a retail outlet, warehouse, parcel shipping store, or freight terminal—that are closer to the end-user can facilitate the shortest delivery time to the customer.

Is there really sustainable demand for same-day delivery?

For the majority of common consumer orders, “same-day is not a necessity,” Rogerson notes. She cites multiple surveys that show consumers are willing to pay for same-day delivery but that provide little data on actual use. “Shoppers will make tradeoffs between price, choice, availability, and convenience. It’s increasingly important to offer same-day service as part of that mix,” she says.

A contrarian viewpoint is voiced by Satish Jindel, prin-
cipal of industry research firm SJ Consulting Group. “It
is irrelevant,” he says of same-day delivery. “There is a big
difference between waiting for an Uber or Lyft to come pick
you up and waiting for a package. [The vast majority] of all
the packages coming to people’s homes or businesses … sit
on a porch or loading dock. It’s only convenience.”
Businesspeople, he notes, are not spending time moni-
toring a package’s minute-by-minute progress through its
journey. Says Jindel, “You’d probably get fired … for sitting
around looking at your cellphone and tracking a package”
that has probably a 99-percent chance of arriving when
expected anyway.

BLURRED LINES

For logistics firms, the influence of Amazon, the growth of online marketplaces, and the emergence of “crowdsourced” delivery networks are changing how orders are accept-