Pros and Cons of Routing Approaches in Last-Mile Delivery – Empowered by Lastmily

When it comes to last-mile delivery, choosing the right routing strategy is critical to balancing customer satisfaction, courier efficiency, and operational costs. Different approaches like static routing, regional routing, free routing, and hybrid models each have their own strengths and limitations. Lastmily, as a cutting-edge routing AI platform, provides businesses with the tools, insights, and…


When it comes to last-mile delivery, choosing the right routing strategy is critical to balancing customer satisfaction, courier efficiency, and operational costs. Different approaches like static routing, regional routing, free routing, and hybrid models each have their own strengths and limitations.

Lastmily, as a cutting-edge routing AI platform, provides businesses with the tools, insights, and flexibility to implement these approaches effectively. Lastmily’s powerful algorithms, consulting services, and simulation capabilities ensure businesses can tailor their operations to specific needs while optimizing efficiency.


Static Routing

Description: Couriers are assigned fixed territories with the routing engine optimizing sequences within their static zones. Deliveries and pickups are confined to the courier’s area.

Pros:

  • Strong customer relationships: Couriers are familiar with customers, fostering trust and allowing special accommodations like delivering to neighbors or knowing ideal delivery times.
  • Simpler logistics: Couriers’ familiarity with their assigned areas reduces training requirements.
  • Easier handling of returns to undelivered points, as couriers already know the area.

Cons:

  • Inefficiency: Static routing is rigid and doesn’t adapt well to dynamic demands like on-demand pickups or second-wave deliveries.
  • High operational costs: Back-and-forth trips lead to more kilometers traveled, increased fuel consumption, and wasted courier time.
  • Poor scalability: Couriers are limited to their zones, preventing optimal utilization of resources and reducing the potential to consolidate tasks.

How Lastmily Helps: Lastmily offers route optimization within static zones, ensuring maximum efficiency while addressing courier constraints. Businesses can simulate potential improvements or explore transitioning to flexible models with Lastmily’s consulting support.


Regional Routing

Description: Couriers operate within predefined but overlapping territories. This approach allows for flexible handling of deliveries and pickups across couriers, enhancing efficiency while maintaining relationships with customers.

Pros:

  • Balanced flexibility: Couriers retain their primary areas, maintaining customer relationships, while overlapping zones allow for sharing workloads and adapting to dynamic requests.
  • Reduced backtracking: Flexible territories allow for efficient handling of on-demand pickups, second-wave deliveries, and incompatible time windows.
  • Improved courier utilization: Compared to static routing, couriers can handle more deliveries per trip, leading to cost savings and fewer couriers required.

Cons:

  • Less efficient than free routing, as territorial boundaries still limit some optimization potential.
  • Complex planning: Defining and maintaining overlapping territories requires detailed planning and frequent adjustments for optimal results.

How Lastmily Helps: Lastmily’s platform enables dynamic territory adjustments based on order density, time windows, and delivery demand. Businesses can use Lastmily’s simulation tools to test different regional routing scenarios and identify the most efficient configurations for their operations.


Free Routing

Description: The routing engine dynamically assigns deliveries and pickups to couriers, optimizing the overall fleet’s performance without territorial restrictions.

Pros:

  • Maximum efficiency: Dynamic assignment minimizes driving time, fuel consumption, and operational delays.
  • Optimal utilization: Couriers can handle the maximum possible deliveries per trip, reducing the total number of couriers required.
  • Ideal for scaling operations in high-density urban areas or fast-growing delivery networks.

Cons:

  • Lack of customer relationships: Couriers don’t have fixed territories, which may reduce trust and delivery success rates for customers with special requirements.
  • Operational changes: Depot sorting processes may need to be adjusted to align with dynamic routing.
  • Requires couriers to learn new areas frequently, which could impact efficiency during the transition phase.

How Lastmily Helps: Lastmily’s AI-powered routing optimization ensures seamless integration of free routing into operations, even in complex urban environments. The platform supports depot workflow reconfiguration and provides couriers with app-based navigation tools to adapt to dynamic assignments. Consulting and real-world simulations help businesses assess the feasibility and benefits of adopting free routing.


Hybrid: Regional and Free Routing for On-Demand and Second-Wave Deliveries

Description: Couriers maintain static zones for initial assignments, while free routing principles are applied for dynamic tasks like on-demand pickups and second-wave deliveries.

Pros:

  • Combines the customer rapport benefits of static routing with the efficiency of free routing.
  • Minimizes driving time, fuel costs, and delays for dynamic requests.
  • Allows businesses to scale flexibly without sacrificing customer satisfaction.

Cons:

  • Moderate complexity: Coordination between static and dynamic routing requires sophisticated planning and real-time adjustments.
  • Less efficient than pure free routing or flexible regional routing for large-scale operations.

How Lastmily Helps: Lastmily’s hybrid routing solutions provide real-time adaptability, integrating static zones with dynamic route assignments. With customizable routing rules, businesses can determine the extent of overlap or flexibility based on their unique needs. Lastmily’s consulting team helps design hybrid routing strategies and measure their impact on efficiency and customer satisfaction.


Why Choose Lastmily for Your Routing Needs?

With Lastmily, businesses don’t have to choose a one-size-fits-all solution. Instead, Lastmily provides:

  1. Customizable Routing Strategies: From static to free routing, businesses can adopt the model that fits their goals.
  2. Simulations and Demos: Lastmily enables businesses to test various routing models and evaluate performance through real-world simulations.
  3. Real-Time Adaptability: Lastmily’s advanced AI dynamically adjusts routes in response to traffic, demand, or time window changes.
  4. Consulting Services: Lastmily’s experts work closely with businesses to identify the most effective routing strategies, taking into account operational goals, geographic challenges, and customer expectations.
  5. Courier Tools: With intuitive mobile applications, Lastmily ensures couriers can adapt to routing changes effortlessly, improving their efficiency and satisfaction.

Conclusion

Choosing the right routing approach depends on your business’s specific needs, from maintaining customer relationships to achieving maximum courier utilization. With Lastmily’s AI-powered routing optimization platform, businesses can seamlessly implement static, regional, free, or hybrid routing models. The platform empowers businesses with real-time adaptability, simulation tools, and expert consulting, ensuring every delivery is efficient, cost-effective, and customer-centric.Contact Lastmily today for a customized demo and discover how advanced routing solutions can revolutionize your last-mile delivery operations.