Granieri says. “Designated receiving areas with less congestion help reduce the overall cost for everyone, and offer environmental bene ts.” Americans, in particular, have grown accustomed to home delivery, making them less likely to embrace solutions such as lockers or pickup at a physical store, which could boost ef ciency. “We got used to receiving packages at our doorsteps, and it’s hard to beat that,” Goodchild notes. “But we are looking at opportunities for alternative services. It probably won’t be in the suburbs but in dense urban markets where home delivery is inconvenient and customers might be willing to try something else.” “Headlines and hype” can accompany some innovative solutions for urban deliveries, such as automation, drones, micro-hubs, and e-bikes, Granieri says. “Promise exists in each of these solutions for a speci c subset of urban deliveries, but none are a cure-all,” he notes. “Freight is a people-driven business, and it will take the right people to manage these challenges and coordinate their solutions. “If you receive freight in an urban environment, you are aware of the many variables that affect how freight is delivered,” he adds. “Whether the delivery comes on a sprinter van from a micro-hub or a Class-8 tractor-trailer, having a person to speak to and receive updates from drastically improves the experience.”
unpredictability about the conditions in each area. Regulations related to drones are a major obstacle for expanding their use in urban logistics. E-bikes have promise, however, as impactful tools in large cities where parking and traf c can be especially dif cult. Urban areas often present obstacles that divert deliveries onto inef cient “unhappy paths,” Bryant adds. However, leveraging data helps prevent future deliveries from following the same inef cient routes. Route optimization software also helps enable delivery drivers to take the most ef cient paths. For Jitsu, that means collecting end-to-end data throughout the supply chain to re ne operations and better handle urban logistics. “If, for example, we get an incorrect access code, we’ve incorporated mechanisms to be able to correct it, and then call up the correct code for the next delivery,” Bryant says. “Or if we’ve got some particularly challenging addresses where drivers may accidentally nd the wrong location, we have ways to dial in that geocode so that the next drop-off can be successful. “We leverage all the data from delivering tens of thousands of packages daily to be able to consistently respond to challenges,” Bryant adds. There is also value in considering alternative plans such as off-hour deliveries. “Many cities provide off-hour parking locations if a receiver is willing to adjust their hours to later than 7 p.m.,”
logistics will never be perfect,” says Granieri. “As a carrier, we can plan for the base case and prepare contingency plans, but in reality, once the dominoes start to fall, plans need to be exible.” “Logistics employees, especially those with experience in urban settings, are accustomed to adapting to the many variables that affect their day: delivery restraints, parking restrictions, suboptimal delivery windows, appointment requirements or drastic changes in traf c patterns at a moment’s notice—all to end up having to pallet jack the freight multiple blocks to the nal destination,” he adds. Ultimately, the biggest challenge is “executing on the plan and staying exible when the plan is thrown out the window, so all parties are as satis ed as possible, day in and day out,” Granieri says. ONGOING INNOVATION EFFORTS In urban logistics, companies are increasingly focused on innovative solutions, particularly tech-driven tools, to streamline the nal mile—or even the last 50 feet—of the delivery process. Drones and other robotics are among the tools being considered. Urban environments are especially dif cult for robotics delivery solutions, owing to inconsistent infrastructure and a general
“ Freight is a people-driven business. It takes the right people to manage urban logistics challenges and coordinate their solutions. ” FRANK GRANIERI COO, Supply Chain Solutions, A. Duie Pyle
January 2025 • Inbound Logistics 129
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