Implications of collection/delivery points for transport and logistics

Failed first-time home deliveries may result in carrier's repeated delivery journeys and also consumer's trips to retrieve their failed deliveries from the carrier's depot. Home shopping is rapidly becoming a significant generator of logistics activity, and efforts are being devoted to identify the transport and environmental implications of those failed home deliveries. The attended collection/delivery point (CDP) concept is one solution to deal with the first-time delivery failures, using a variety of locations (for example, convenience stores, post offices) as alternative addresses to receive deliveries. Using two databases of households from across Winchester and West Sussex (UK), this article confirms that certain benefits might accrue from using networks of Local Collect post offices, supermarkets and railway stations as CDPs, compared with the traditional delivery method where the carrier may make several redelivery attempts to the home, with the customer making a personal trip to the carrier's depot in the event that these attempts also fail

Quantifying the environmental benefits of collection/delivery points

Using a node-based routing and scheduling package, this paper estimates the environmental impacts of using a local railway station as a collection/delivery point (CDP) for small parcel transactions. This delivery option was compared with a typical existing situation where some customers who suffer a failed home delivery attempt decide to travel to the carrier's depot to collect their goods. The modelled results suggested that, at a 20 per cent take-up level, the CDP method would reduce the carbon monoxide emissions associated with the deliveries by around 20 per cent and other emissions (nitrogen oxide, particulate matter, carbon dioxide and hydrocarbons) by between 13 per cent and 15 per cent, with higher savings at higher take-up levels. The customer mileage attributable to the collection was modelled to reduce by up to 33 per cent. Modest travel savings were also found for the carrie

Dynamic VRP in pharmaceutical distribution—a case study

Dynamic Vehicle Routing Problem, Dynamic Routing Planning, Heuristics, Pharmaceutical Distribution,