Last-Mile Delivery: Own Couriers, Delivery Services or Pickup Points
Basics4 minInnovialabs editorial team
In short
In-house couriers give the most control and speed within one city, delivery services give reach and flexible costs, and pickup points or lockers give the lowest cost per order; most stores combine them.
Which model to choose
The last mile is the trip an order makes from your warehouse or store to the customer. It is the most visible stage for the buyer and often the most expensive. The short answer:
- In-house couriers when orders are concentrated in one city, volume is steady, and service quality and same-day delivery matter to you.
- A delivery service when volume fluctuates, you ship to other regions, or you do not have the capacity to manage people and vehicles.
- Pickup points and parcel lockers when customers are willing to collect the order themselves in exchange for a lower price or free delivery.
In practice most stores use a mix: own couriers in the capital, a delivery service for the regions, pickup points as the cheap option.
Side-by-side comparison
| Criterion | In-house couriers | Delivery service | Pickup points and lockers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost per order | Depends on utilization: cheap with dense flow, expensive with idle time | Per-parcel rate, costs grow linearly | Usually the lowest |
| Control | Full: appearance, script, packaging | Partial, via contract and SLA | Minimal at the final step |
| Speed | Same day is possible | Depends on tariff and zone | Depends on the drop-off schedule |
| Scalability | Slow: hiring, vehicles, shifts | Fast, wide coverage from day one | Depends on the network of points |
| Customer convenience | To the door, in a time slot | To the door or to a branch | Requires a trip, but at a convenient time |
What in-house couriers really cost
Do not compare a courier's salary with a carrier's tariff — they are different things. The real cost per order includes:
- courier pay, including idle time between order waves;
- vehicles: fuel, lease or depreciation, repairs;
- a dispatcher and the time spent planning routes;
- software: courier app, tracking, cash reconciliation;
- losses: returns, damage, failed deliveries.
Own couriers pay off when order density is high: many addresses in one area in a single wave. If orders are few or scattered across the city, every run becomes expensive.
Same-day delivery in a big city
Same-day delivery is first of all a process question, not just a courier question:
- Cut-off time. Orders placed before a certain hour go out today, later ones tomorrow. The cut-off must be honest and visible on the site.
- Stock close to customers. If goods sit in a warehouse outside the city, same day will work only for some orders. Small urban warehouses or a dark store help.
- Waves and routing. Orders are grouped into waves and routes are built by zone. Without routing software couriers lose time in traffic and on return trips.
- Backup capacity. Peak days need a fallback channel: a delivery service or a courier aggregator.
How to assess your situation
- Calculate what share of orders goes to one city and to which districts.
- Look at the spread: orders on a normal day versus a peak day.
- Find out how much customers will pay for speed — let them choose between "faster and pricier" and "slower and cheaper".
- Request rates from two or three delivery services and compare them with the full cost of your own run.
- Check whether pickup points and lockers cover the districts you need.
Common mistakes
- One method for everyone. A customer in the next district and a customer in another region expect different things.
- No integration. If the delivery service is not connected to the site and your back office, managers copy addresses and statuses by hand and customers cannot see where the order is.
- Promises without math. "Delivery in 2 hours" on the site without local stock and free couriers quickly turns into complaints.
- Ignoring returns. Decide upfront who collects a return and how it gets back to the warehouse.