Big and bulky last-mile delivery in the US continues to be a high-growth 3PL segment

Armstrong & Associates, Inc. (A&A), an internationally recognized leader for third-party logistics market information and consulting, releases its latest market research report “Making it Count: Big and Bulky Last-Mile Delivery in the United States”. The National Home Delivery Association (NHDA) and A&A partnered for this study covering the Third-Party Logistics (3PL) Big and Bulky U.S. Last-Mile Delivery Market segment to identify current market size, historical growth and outlook, key providers, customers and verticals served, e-commerce’s role, employment, and other trends. This report details and compares the use of independent contractors versus employee drivers, customer and revenue trends by vertical industry, and the growing use of freight brokerage to source last-mile carrier capacity.

The 3PLs analyzed had last-mile delivery revenues from $7 million to $1 billion and represent approximately 40% of the estimated $9.3 billion U.S. Third-Party Logistics Big and Bulky Last-Mile Delivery Market. A&A estimates the U.S. 3PL Big and Bulky Last-Mile Delivery Market experienced a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18.2% from 2017 through 2021 and will have a CAGR of 11.8% from 2022 through 2025. These projections make Big and Bulky Last-Mile Delivery one of the fastest growing 3PL segments over the next three years.

In this report, last-mile delivery is defined as the transportation of big and bulky shipments (not parcel) from an origin to a destination within the United States where they will be used or consumed. These can be business-to-business (B2B) or business-to-consumer (B2C) shipments. Typically, last-mile e-commerce orders are shipped as small packages and transported by parcel carriers. However, with expanding e-commerce product categories such as furniture and appliances, other last-mile options are growing in significance. Third-party logistics providers with fleets of independent contractors and freight brokerage operations deliver many last-mile orders. In addition, Less-than-Truckload (LTL), Last-Mile, Household Goods, and Truckload (TL) carriers are expanding last-mile services for big and bulky items to accommodate the rapid growth in e-commerce retail sales.

The final transportation leg for an e-commerce order—the last mile—may be short, but it can also be extremely costly. Transportation costs for a shipment from a distribution center or fulfillment center to a customer’s doorstep can account for 30%–40% of the total cost of transportation. Last-mile provider revenue per shipment is low by traditional LTL standards and averages less than $90 per shipment. Total shipment revenue varies depending upon the value-added services performed at the time of delivery. A whole bedroom delivery and setup can generate $250 while a less service intensive shipment may only generate $50.