What is Last Mile Delivery?
Last mile delivery covers the journey to recipients, explaining costs, PUDO points, B2C and B2B differences, tracking, and carrier networks.
Last mile delivery is the final stage of the logistics chain — the movement of a parcel or consignment from a regional distribution hub or sorting facility to the end recipient's address. It is the shortest leg of the delivery journey and the most expensive, accounting for more than half of total delivery costs in parcel logistics because consolidated linehaul economics break down completely at the individual address level.
Where does the term "last mile delivery" come from?
Last mile delivery takes its name from telecommunications — where "last mile" described the cost and difficulty of connecting individual homes and businesses to the main network trunk, with the final cable or wire segment serving only one subscriber rather than thousands.
The same economic structure applies in logistics. A linehaul truck covers 500 km making 1–2 consolidated stops — the entire load moves as one unit, cost per kilometre is low, and the vehicle runs continuously. A last mile delivery van in a Belgian or European city covers 80–120 km making 100 or more individual stops per day — each stop requires the driver to leave the vehicle, locate the address, attempt delivery, and manage the outcome. The vehicle spends as much time stationary as moving, and each delivery is unique rather than consolidated.
Last mile delivery is one of the most studied problems in logistics and holds its own entry in supply chain terminology — first-attempt failure rates of up to 25% and a cost share above 50% make it the primary optimisation target for every European parcel carrier.
Why is last mile delivery the most expensive stage of logistics?
A last mile delivery van makes 100 or more individual stops per day across 80–120 km — versus a linehaul truck making 1–2 consolidated stops across 500 km — and that stop density reversal drives a cost share above 50% of total delivery spend.
Three cost drivers determine the expense of any last mile operation. First, stop density: a van making 100 stops per day earns revenue 100 times but incurs the full fixed cost of driver, vehicle, fuel, and insurance once — any reduction in completed stops raises the cost per successful delivery. Second, failed delivery attempts: up to 1 in 4 parcels fails on the first delivery attempt in dense European urban areas — the recipient is absent, the address is inaccessible, or the delivery window conflicts with the recipient's schedule. Third, address-level variables: urban traffic congestion, building access restrictions, parking limitations, and delivery time window compliance add dwell time per stop that does not exist in linehaul operations.
Route planning — the optimisation of stop sequence, vehicle loading, and routing to minimise distance and dwell time per delivery — is the primary operational lever for reducing last mile cost per stop.
What is out-of-home delivery and what is a PUDO point?
Out-of-home delivery is the delivery of a parcel to a PUDO point — a designated third-party collection location such as a staffed parcel shop, retail pick-up point, or automated parcel locker — rather than to the recipient's address directly.
PUDO stands for Pick-up and Drop-off — the industry term for any out-of-home collection infrastructure. A van delivering 50 parcels to one PUDO location makes 1 stop instead of 50 individual home delivery attempts — parcel density per stop approaches linehaul economics and the failed delivery problem largely disappears because the recipient collects at their own convenience. By 2025, Europe had 646,000 active out-of-home delivery points — 462,000 PUDO locations and 184,000 automated parcel lockers (Last Mile Experts, 2025).
The three carrier partners operating PUDO infrastructure in Belgium that Go Trans uses for parcel delivery:
- DPD: DPD Pickup network — staffed parcel shops and lockers — 140,000+ out-of-home points across Europe, with Predict SMS notification confirming a 1-hour delivery window before the driver arrives
- DHL: DHL ServicePoints and parcel lockers — staffed and automated collection locations across Belgium and Europe
- UPS: Access Point network — authorised retail locations for parcel collection across major Belgian commercial areas
Belgium's national postal operator, bpost, runs a separate PUDO network with universal service coverage across all Belgian postal codes.
What is the difference between B2C and B2B last mile delivery?
B2C last mile delivery targets residential addresses where recipient presence cannot be guaranteed — B2B last mile delivery targets business addresses with defined receiving hours, a consistent receiving team, and loading bay access during business hours.
First-attempt failures of up to 25% occur primarily in B2C residential delivery, the consumer side of what B2C means — the recipient works away from home during the standard delivery window, the parcel does not fit through the letterbox, and no secure alternative exists at the address. B2B commercial delivery operates in a different environment: the receiving team is present during business hours, delivery windows are agreed in advance, and loading bay access removes the address-location and access problem that slows residential delivery.
The same residential exposure applies under the dropshipping model, where a supplier ships each consumer order straight to the buyer's home address.
Both B2C and B2B last mile delivery require a proof of delivery — the document confirming the consignment reached the named consignee in the correct condition. B2B requires a signed, timestamped delivery receipt from an authorised receiving contact. B2C increasingly accepts photo confirmation or electronic locker collection confirmation as the delivery record.
How does Go Trans connect to last mile delivery?
Go Trans arranges parcel delivery for businesses and individuals who send a parcel in Europe, through carrier partners DHL, DPD, UPS, and FedEx — each of whom operates its own last mile delivery network from regional depot infrastructure to the end recipient's address or chosen PUDO point.
Go Trans coordinates collection from the sender's address, confirms the carrier and service tier at the point of booking, and issues a tracking reference that covers the consignment from dispatch through the carrier's last mile network to final delivery confirmation. The carrier's last mile infrastructure — DPD Predict notification, DHL ServicePoints, UPS Access Points — operates as the final stage of every Go Trans-arranged parcel consignment. The Go Trans glossary of European freight terminology covers 130+ freight and delivery terms — from last mile delivery and proof of delivery to drayage, demurrage, and freight forwarding — structured as a reference for Belgian and European businesses arranging cross-border shipments.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is it called "last mile" if the delivery distance is often more than one mile?
The "last mile" name comes from telecommunications, not from a literal distance measurement. In telecom, the final cable connecting a subscriber's premises to the exchange was called the "last mile" regardless of physical length — it was the final individual-serving segment whose infrastructure cost could only be amortized over one subscriber, unlike the main network trunk shared across thousands. Supply chain logistics adopted the same term to describe the same economic structure: the final delivery leg serves one recipient per stop rather than a consolidated bulk movement, creating a fundamentally different and more expensive cost profile regardless of the actual distance covered.
What does each failed last mile delivery attempt actually cost?
Each failed last mile delivery attempt costs an average of €14–17 across Europe once redelivery, storage, and customer service are counted — plus the return-to-depot cost if the parcel cannot be left securely. For a carrier processing 1 million deliveries per month with a 10% first-attempt failure rate, that is 100,000 failed attempts per month generating €1.4–1.7 million in costs before any impact on customer satisfaction or repeat order rates. PUDO out-of-home delivery removes most first-attempt failures by decoupling delivery from the recipient's presence at the address.
What is the difference between last mile delivery and final mile delivery?
Last mile delivery and final mile delivery describe the same concept — the final leg of the logistics chain from a distribution hub to the end recipient's address. "Last mile" is the dominant industry term across European logistics and the standard terminology used in carrier networks, parcel tracking systems, and logistics documentation. "Final mile" appears in some B2C and same-day delivery contexts to emphasise the consumer-facing nature of that last leg. Both terms refer to the same operational stage with the same cost structure and complexity characteristics.