Drop-off collection points / Pick-up consolidation
Strong global growth in business-to-consumer e‑commerce has coincided with a looming challenge of efficient last-mile deliveries, particularly in cities. A promising alternative to home deliveries of goods is deliveries to pickup points, also referred to as drop-off collection points, which reduces vehicle-kilometres travelled and costs for last-mile distributions of goods. There are two main types of pickup points: 1) self-service lockers where the parcels are stored and the consumer uses an identifier to access the goods; and 2) service points which are usually incorporated into existing stores or post offices. Service points have been very successful in some cases since they allow greater flexibility for the size of the parcel and method of payment. However, lockers have the advantage of not having time constraints, which can significantly influence consumers' choice of pickup point delivery over home delivery. The location chosen for pickup points is crucial for their success and it is advisable to choose busy areas such as grocery stores or public transport stations, which will allow people to pick up goods on their commuting routes. A survey in Brazil found that 92% of respondents were willing to choose a pickup site instead of home delivery if the shipment cost and delivery time were reduced and if the site was on their daily path. While residents of urban areas are more likely to use pickup points, it is also important to ensure there are enough pickup points in rural areas to avoid increases in emissions from people travelling to cities in order to access this service. A study on Sweden estimated that vehicle-kilometres of trips to pickup points could be reduced by 22.5% if 5% of the pickup points were relocated from cities to suburban and rural areas.
Home deliveries in urban areas tend to generate more traffic than pickup points because they are, by design, less efficient.
Pickup points reduce vehicle-kilometres travelled by eliminating failed delivery attempts and by improving the efficiency of deliveries since there are fewer destinations for shipments. The reduced congestion resulting from use of pickup points translates to lower levels of pollution and CO2 emissions from freight vehicles as well as other vehicles that are inadvertently affected.
A case study in Italy comparing home deliveries to pickup point deliveries estimated the latter method reduced CO2 emissions by 21%.
A comparison of 56 cities in 32 countries across the globe estimated that pickup points can reduce congestion by 36% and emissions by 4%.
A study on InPost lockers showed that pickup points allowed for 600 packages to be delivered during 24 hours, with trucks travelling 70 kilometres (km) total, whereas home delivery would allow for only 60 packages to be delivered and would require 150 km of vehicle movement for the same period of time. The CO2 consumption for the given example would be 1 516 tonnes for InPost lockers versus 32 500 tonnes for traditional deliveries, which means pickup points generated more than 21 times less emissions.
Pickup points have been shown to have the lowest delivery cost of all currently used methods of business-to-consumer delivery. This is mainly due to the optimisation of movements of goods to fewer locations and the elimination of failed home deliveries.
A comparison of 56 cities in 32 countries across the globe estimated that pickup points can reduce delivery costs by 48%.
Pickup points located in or near stores tend to increase the number of customers for the chosen establishment and generate financial benefits for both parties involved. This helps to maintain financial viability of local services, reducing need for people to make car trips to more centralised facilities – hence offers wider transport and environmental benefits. Pickup points also rationalise the return flow of unwanted products – which is substantial for online sales of fashion clothing and other products.
The use of pickup points allows for quicker delivery time.
If the locations of the pickup points are not optimised, this method can potentially lead to increases in vehicle-kilometres and related emissions from consumers using this service (e.g. in the trips they make to the pickup points). This measure tends to perform better in high-density areas where it is possible to have a greater number of pickup stops, close to the end consumer, with very low marginal costs (because there are already stores in place that can assume this function).
ITF (2021) Transport Climate Action Directory – Drop-off collection points / Pick-up consolidation
https://www.itf-oecd.org/policy/drop-collection-points-pick-consolidation
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