What is Last Mile Delivery?

If you’re running an E-commerce business, you’ve likely heard the term last mile delivery being thrown around when it comes to shipping. However, not many people grasp what that actually means. Let’s break it down.

Last Mile Delivery in a Nutshell

Here’s the gist of it. “Last Mile Delivery” describes the movement of goods from a local sorting center to their final destination. More often than not, these sorting centers are USPS facilities. In layman’s terms, “the last mile” is just a metaphor for the final leg of your product’s journey before it lands on your customer’s doorstep. Technically speaking, every product your customers receive cross “the last mile.” That’s not so complicated, right?

More often than not, you’ll find that USPS is the shipping carrier that completes the last mile delivery. Other carriers like UPS and FedEx do their own last mile delivery in many cases. However, even they partner with USPS sometimes to complete last mile delivery. It makes sense if you think about it. After all, USPS is the only carrier that touches every single residential address in the United States every day because of mail delivery for some of their postage products.

Why Last Mile Delivery Matters

With E-commerce continues to grow throughout the world, last-mile delivery is CRUCIAL. If you use in-house fulfillment to fulfill your customers orders, you’re in charge of making sure all your products make it past the last mile and into your customers’ hands. That’s how you build a loyal customer base, after all!

To make sure your products always make it past the mile, it’s critical that you purchase the proper amount of postage…and the best way to do that is to buy postage with shipping software.