Last mile
The final leg of delivery from a transportation hub to the recipient. Dominates total delivery cost despite covering the shortest distance.
The last mile is the final leg of a delivery — from the closest sortation hub, distribution center, or consolidation point to the recipient’s door, dock, or job site. It typically represents under 10% of total transit distance but 40–60% of total delivery cost.
The economics are dominated by per-stop labor and routing overhead, not per-mile fuel. That’s why last-mile optimization centers on stop sequencing, dwell time, and demand prediction rather than vehicle telematics.