A greener last mile: Analyzing the carbon emission impact of pickup points in last-mile parcel delivery

In the Netherlands, as in many other densely populated countries, home delivery is the dominant way of delivering online ordered parcels. This is mainly because big retail companies offer this delivery option for free. Due to the expansion of e-commerce, home delivery that typically makes use of diesel vans puts increasing pressure on logistics service providers, their employees, traffic, and the environment. Increased use of service points or parcel lockers could relieve some of this pressure, but these delivery alternatives are barely used by Dutch consumers. The goal of this paper is to better understand how consumers can be stimulated to use pick-up points and in particular parcel lockers. To achieve this goal, a stated choice experiment was conducted among Dutch e-commerce consumers, in which they made choices between home delivery, service point, and parcel locker alternatives that systematically varied in costs, delivery moment, and distance. The application of the model to predict choices under a number of scenarios makes clear that even a small increase in home delivery costs together with an expansion of parcel lockers that decreases the distance to the parcel lockers, could severely reduce the choice for home delivery: home delivery is predicted to reduce from 71% to only 7%. This suggests that there is potential for breaking through the dominance of home delivery.

Analysis of Service Efficiency of Parcel Locker in Last-mile Delivery: A Case Study in Norway

The expansion of information and communication technologies has significantly contributed to the growth of e-commerce, with the global market value steadily increasing. A critical element of this ecosystem is the method of product delivery, which has diversified to include home delivery, pick-up points, in-store collection, and parcel lockers. Parcel lockers offer consumers the flexibility to retrieve purchases at their convenience, independent of store hours or home presence, making them an increasingly popular choice. In recent years, urban areas have seen rapid growth in the number of parcel lockers and the entry of new delivery service providers. This paper investigates the development of parcel lockers in the core cities of the Metropolis GZM. It addresses two main research questions: (1) How many parcel lockers are in these cities? (2) How has their number changed across three six-month intervals from October 2023 to October 2024? The study focuses on the five leading parcel locker operators in Poland, presenting data from October 2023, April 2024, and October 2024. Parcel locker density was recalculated per 1,000 inhabitants and per square kilometre, and skewness was also assessed to understand spatial distribution. Findings reveal that the most significant growth occurred between the first and second periods. All core cities experienced an increase in parcel lockers, alongside a shift toward a more balanced market among operators. While minor asymmetries in distribution were detected, the overall layout remains relatively even. This paper may serve as a foundation for further, in-depth research concerning the location of parcel lockers.

To analyse the costs and evaluate the equity, efficiency and feasibility of four strategies to identify poor households for premium exemptions in Ghana's National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS): means testing (MT), proxy means testing (PMT), participatory wealth ranking (PWR) and geographic targeting (GT) in urban, rural and semi-urban settings in Ghana. We conducted the study in 145-147 households per setting with MT as our gold standard strategy. We estimated total costs that included costs of household surveys and cost of premiums paid to the poor, efficiency (cost per poor person identified), equity (number of true poor excluded) and the administrative feasibility of implementation. The cost of exempting one poor individual ranged from US$15.87 to US$95.44; exclusion of the poor ranged between 0% and 73%. MT was most efficient and equitable in rural and urban settings with low-poverty incidence; GT was efficient and equitable in the semi-urban setting with high-poverty incidence. PMT and PWR were less equitable and inefficient although feasible in some settings. We recommend MT as optimal strategy in low-poverty urban and rural settings and GT as optimal strategy in high-poverty semi-urban setting. The study is relevant to other social and developmental programmes that require identification and exemptions of the poor in low-income countries.

The purpose of this study was to assess whether higher roadway speed limits and excessive vehicular speed were contributing factors to increased rural vehicular mortality rates in the State of Alabama. During a 2-year period from January 2001 through December 2002, data were collected from Alabama police crash reports and EMS patient care reports. Police crash reports and EMS patient care reports were linked utilizing an imputational methodology. Vehicular speeds were estimated speeds extracted from police crash reports. Vehicular speeding was defined as estimated speeds greater than posted speed limits. A total of 38,117 reports were linked. Of those, 30,260 (79%) and 7,857 (21%) were injured in rural and urban settings, respectively. The frequency of vehicular speeding was significantly higher in rural (18.8%) than in urban settings (9.4%) (p < 0.0001). At vehicular speeds less than 26 mph, mortality rates for occupants of speeding and nonspeeding vehicles were not significantly different in rural (1.68%, 0.82%) and urban (1.44%, 0.59%) settings (p = 0.78,1.0), respectively. On roads with posted speeds of 26 to 50 mph, mortality rates for occupants in speeding vehicles were not significantly different in rural (3.75%) and urban (2.23%) settings (p = 0.1360). For occupants of nonspeeding vehicles on roads with posted speeds of 26 to 50 mph, mortality rates were significantly greater in rural (0.72%) than in urban (0.35%) settings (p < 0.0032). On roads with posted speeds of 51 to 70 mph, mortality rates for occupants in speeding vehicles were not significantly different in rural (5.80%) and urban (4.95%) settings (p = 1.0). For occupants of nonspeeding vehicles on roads with posted speeds of 51 to 70 mph, mortality rates were significantly greater in rural (1.92%) than in urban (0.94%) settings (p = 0.01). Vehicular speeding occurs with significantly higher frequency in rural settings. This imparts a greater overall vehicular mortality rate. At higher rates of speed, mortality rates for travel above the posted speed limit are similar in rural and urban settings; however, mortality rates for travel within the posted speed limit are greater in rural settings. This suggests factors beyond higher and excessive vehicular speed impart higher rates in rural settings.

The last-mile issue is of great concern in coping with the considerable development of the internet shopping market in China. Several issues arise from home delivery activities for fulfilling internet shopping orders; for example, increased operating costs for handling failed home deliveries, and deteriorating traffic conditions resulting from frequent delivery trips. To improve the logistics efficiency of home delivery operations and solve the problem of delivery failures, pick-up points (PPs) and self-delivery boxes (SDBs) are being implemented in China. This study investigates three home delivery models including the traditional model, the PP model, and the SDB model. Under each model, the carrier’s delivery distance and the customer’s collection distance are calculated. According to the distance, the costs of the three delivery models are compared. To simulate the carrier’s delivery route, an ant colony algorithm combined with genetic algorithm is developed to optimize the delivery route in this research. The research findings are: (1) Both the PP model and the SDB model are capable of reducing the customer’s collection cost significantly, by between 29.1% and 84%, when at least 30% of home deliveries are missed. (2) The SDB model is more favorable in relation to reducing the delivery costs of the express company, by between 67.1% and 71.3% when the proportion of missed home deliveries ranges from 20% to 50%. (3) Among PPs using the post office, convenience store, and subway station, the subway station network is the most effective scheme in relation to reducing the customer’s collection cost, by 84%.

Lately, last-mile issue is of great concerns to cope with the dramatic developments of internet shopping market in China. Several issues arise from home delivery activities for fulfilling those internet shopping orders, e.g., increased operating costs for handing failed home deliveries, and deteriorated traffic conditions due to frequent delivery trips. To improve the logistics efficiency of home delivery operations and solve the problems of delivery failures, pick-up points and self-delivery boxes are being implemented in China. This study investigates three home delivery models including traditional model, pick-up point (PP) model and self-delivery box (SDB) model. Under each model, carrier's delivery distance and customer's collection distance are calculated. According to the distance, cost of the three delivery models are compared. To simulate carrier's delivery route, an inventive ant colony algorithm combined with genetic algorithm (GAAA) is developed to optimize delivery route in this research.

Currently, parcel delivery activities are growing rapidly in the urban area along with the increase in online shopping transactions. This trend has an impact on the deterioration in the performance of the urban transportation system due to the increase of fleet of goods carriers as part of last mile delivery of online shopping. To overcome this situation, many countries have developed a delivery service using a parcel locker. In parcel locker service, consumers collect their shipments from lockers, which are mostly situated in public places, such as train stations, gas filling places, convenience stores, etc., instead of receiving them at their homes using a home delivery service. This service also exists in Indonesia, but its use is still not popular. This study aims to develop a choice model of last mile supply package between home delivery and parcel locker. The development of the model is based on the Binomial Logit Model. The calibration process uses the results of Stated Preference survey conducted to online shoppers who have not used parcel locker. Hypothetical conditions used in this survey represent the cost and location of a parcel locker. Location is represented by the shortest (&lt;1 km), medium (1–3 km) and longest (3–5 km) distance of a parcel locker to the respondent’s home. Given the current cost, the potential demand for parcel lockers is 26%, 17% and 13% for short, medium and long distance, respectively. When the willingness to pay of the respondent is represented by a value whereby both methods will be chosen with the same probability, the parcel locker must offer a cost of 65% and 33%, respectively, of the home delivery option for the condition of short distance and medium distance; whereas the parcel locker cannot compete for long distance condition.

Warfarin is an effective agent in the prevention of stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). However, it requires close monitoring with regular visits to health care facilities. To date, it is unknown whether there is a difference in warfarin utilization and outcomes between urban and rural settings. We used administrative databases to compare warfarin utilization patterns and stroke and major bleeding outcomes in rural and urban settings in a population-based cohort study of patients ≥ 65 years admitted to hospital with a diagnosis of AF in the province of Quebec, Canada, from 1999 to 2007. Patients' postal codes were used to differentiate between rural and urban settings. The cohort comprised 18,198 rural (21.8%) and 65,315 urban (78.2%) patients, with similar mean age of 79 years and a similar burden of comorbidities. Overall, there was marked underutilization of warfarin in both rural and urban settings. Warfarin-filled prescription rates were slightly higher in the rural setting (adjusted OR: 1.16, 95% CI: 1.12-1.20). In multivariable Cox regression analyses, the risk for stroke and major bleeding in rural settings was similar to that in urban settings (stroke: adjusted HR: 1.01, 95% CI: 0.95-1.09; major bleeding: adjusted HR: 1.03, 95% CI: 0.95-1.12). Patients in rural settings were slightly more likely to fill a prescription for warfarin, but they experienced similar stroke and major bleeding rates to their urban counterparts.

Background: As e-commerce expands and delivery services diversifies, understanding the factors that shape consumer preferences becomes critical to designing efficient and sustainable urban logistics. This study examines how perceived walkability influences consumers’ preferences for shopping channels (in-store or online) and delivery methods (home delivery versus pickup points). Method: The analysis is based on structural equation modeling and utilizes survey data collected from 444 residents of Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Results: The findings emphasize the importance of walkability in supporting weekday store visits, encouraging pickup for online purchases and fostering complementarity between different modes of purchase and delivery services. Perceived walkability positively affects the preference to buy in physical stores and increases the likelihood of using pickup points. Educated men, particularly those living in walkable areas, are the most likely to adopt pickup services. In contrast, affluent individuals and women are less likely to forgo home delivery in favor of pickup points. Conclusions: The results highlight the role of perceived walkability in encouraging in-person pickup as a sustainable alternative to home delivery, providing practical guidance for retailers, urban planners, and logistics firms seeking to align consumer convenience with sustainable delivery strategies.

Patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) living in rural settings often have worse clinical outcomes compared with their urban counterparts. Whether this discrepancy is due to clinical characteristics or delays in timely reperfusion with primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI) or fibrinolysis is unclear. To assess process metrics and outcomes among patients with STEMI in rural and urban settings across the US. This cross-sectional multicenter study analyzed data for 70 424 adult patients with STEMI from the National Cardiovascular Data Registry Chest Pain-MI Registry in 686 participating US hospitals between January 1, 2019, and June 30, 2020. Patients without a valid zip code were excluded, and those transferred to a different hospital during the course of the study were excluded from outcome analysis. In-hospital mortality and time-to-reperfusion metrics. This study included 70 424 patients with STEMI (median [IQR] age, 63 [54-73] years; 49 850 [70.8%] male and 20 574 [29.2%] female; patient self-reported race: 6753 [9.6%] Black, 60 114 [85.4%] White, and 2096 [3.0%] of another race [including American Indian, Alaskan Native, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander]; 5281 [7.5%] individuals of Hispanic or Latino ethnicity) in 686 hospitals (50 702 [72.0%] living in urban zip codes and 19 722 [28.0%] in rural zip codes). Patients from rural settings were less likely to undergo PPCI compared with patients from urban settings (14 443 [73.2%] vs 43 142 [85.1%], respectively; P < .001) and more often received fibrinolytics (2848 [19.7%] vs 937 [2.7%]; P < .001). Compared with patients from urban settings, those in rural settings undergoing PPCI had longer median (IQR) time from first medical contact to catheterization laboratory activation (30 [12-42] minutes vs 22 [15-59] minutes; P < .001) and longer median (IQR) time from first medical contact to device (99 minutes [75-131] vs 81 [66-103] minutes; P < .001), including those who arrived directly at PPCI centers (83 [66-107] minutes vs 78 [64-97] minutes; P < .001) and those who transferred to PPCI centers from another treatment center (125 [102-163] minutes vs 103 [85-135] minutes; P < .001). Among those who transferred in, median (IQR) door-in-door-out time was longer in patients from rural settings (63 [41-100] minutes vs 50 [35-80] minutes; P < .001). Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest was more common in patients from urban vs rural settings (3099 [6.1%] vs 958 [4.9%]; P < .001), and patients from urban settings were more likely to present with heart failure (4112 [8.1%] vs 1314 [6.7%]; P < .001). After multivariable adjustment, there was no significant difference in in-hospital mortality between rural and urban groups (adjusted odds ratio, 0.97; 95% CI, 0.89-1.06). In this large cohort of patients with STEMI from US hospitals participating in the National Cardiovascular Data Registry Chest Pain-MI Registry, patients living in rural settings had longer times to reperfusion, were less likely to receive PPCI or meet guideline-recommended time to reperfusion, and more frequently received fibrinolytics than patients living in urban settings. However, there was no difference in adjusted in-hospital mortality between patients with STEMI from urban and rural settings.

BackgroundWith the scale-up of antiretroviral therapy (ART), pre-treatment drug resistance (PDR) appears ≥10% amongst ART-initiators in many developing countries, including Cameroon. Northwest region-Cameroon having the second epidemiological burden of HIV infection, generating data on PDR in these geographical settings, will enhance evidence-based decision-making.ObjectivesWe sought to ascertain levels of PDR and HIV-1 clade dispersal in rural and urban settings, and their potential association with subtype distribution and CD4-staging.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted from February to May 2017 among patients recently diagnosed with HIV-infection and initiating ART at the Bamenda regional Hospital (urban setting) and the Mbingo Baptist hospital (rural setting). Protease and reverse transcriptase sequencing was performed using an in-house protocol and pre-treatment drug resistance mutations were interpreted using Stanford HIVdb.v8.3. Phylogeny was performed for subtype assignation.ResultsA total of 61 patient sequences were generated from ART initiators (median age: 37 years old; 57.4% female; median CD4 cell count: 184 [IQR: 35–387] in urban vs. 161 [IQR: 96–322] cells/mm3 in rural). Overall, the level of PDR was 9.8% (6/61). Of note, burden of PDR was almost doubled in urban (12.9% [4/31]) compared to rural setting 6.7% (2/30), p = 0.352). Fifteen (15) PDR mutations were found among four patients the urban settings [6 resistance mutations to NRTIs:[M41L (2), E44D (1), K65R (1), K70E (1), M184V/I (2), K219R (1)] and 6 resistance mutations to NNRTIs: K103N (1), E138A/G (2), V179E (1), M230L (1), K238T (1), P225H (1)] against two (02) mutations found in two patients in the rural setting[2 resistant mutations to NNRTIs: E138A (1) and Y188H (1)]. The rural setting showed more genetic diversity (8 subtypes) than the urban setting (5 subtypes), with CRF02_AG being the most prevalent clade (72.1% [44/61]). Of note, level of PDR was similar between patients infected with CRF02_AG and non-CRF02_AG infected (9.1% [4/44]) vs. 11.8% [2/17]), p = 1.000). Moreover, PDR appeared higher in patients with CD4 cell count <200 cells/mm3 compared to those with CD4 cell count ≥200 cells/mm3 (14.7% [5/34]) vs. 3.7% [1/27]), p = 0.214).ConclusionsPDR is at a moderate rate in the Northwest region of Cameroon, with higher burden within urban populations. CRF02_AG is the most predominant clade in both urban and rural settings. No effect of HIV molecular epidemiology and CD4-staging on the presence of PDR in patients living in these settings was found. Our findings suggest close monitoring, NNRTI-sparing regimens or sequencing for patients initiating ART, especially in urban settings.

With the scale-up of antiretroviral therapy (ART), pre-treatment drug resistance (PDR) appears ≥10% amongst ART-initiators in many developing countries, including Cameroon. Northwest region-Cameroon having the second epidemiological burden of HIV infection, generating data on PDR in these geographical settings, will enhance evidence-based decision-making. We sought to ascertain levels of PDR and HIV-1 clade dispersal in rural and urban settings, and their potential association with subtype distribution and CD4-staging. A cross-sectional study was conducted from February to May 2017 among patients recently diagnosed with HIV-infection and initiating ART at the Bamenda regional Hospital (urban setting) and the Mbingo Baptist hospital (rural setting). Protease and reverse transcriptase sequencing was performed using an in-house protocol and pre-treatment drug resistance mutations were interpreted using Stanford HIVdb.v8.3. Phylogeny was performed for subtype assignation. A total of 61 patient sequences were generated from ART initiators (median age: 37 years old; 57.4% female; median CD4 cell count: 184 [IQR: 35-387] in urban vs. 161 [IQR: 96-322] cells/mm3 in rural). Overall, the level of PDR was 9.8% (6/61). Of note, burden of PDR was almost doubled in urban (12.9% [4/31]) compared to rural setting 6.7% (2/30), p = 0.352). Fifteen (15) PDR mutations were found among four patients the urban settings [6 resistance mutations to NRTIs:[M41L (2), E44D (1), K65R (1), K70E (1), M184V/I (2), K219R (1)] and 6 resistance mutations to NNRTIs: K103N (1), E138A/G (2), V179E (1), M230L (1), K238T (1), P225H (1)] against two (02) mutations found in two patients in the rural setting[2 resistant mutations to NNRTIs: E138A (1) and Y188H (1)]. The rural setting showed more genetic diversity (8 subtypes) than the urban setting (5 subtypes), with CRF02_AG being the most prevalent clade (72.1% [44/61]). Of note, level of PDR was similar between patients infected with CRF02_AG and non-CRF02_AG infected (9.1% [4/44]) vs. 11.8% [2/17]), p = 1.000). Moreover, PDR appeared higher in patients with CD4 cell count <200 cells/mm3 compared to those with CD4 cell count ≥200 cells/mm3 (14.7% [5/34]) vs. 3.7% [1/27]), p = 0.214). PDR is at a moderate rate in the Northwest region of Cameroon, with higher burden within urban populations. CRF02_AG is the most predominant clade in both urban and rural settings. No effect of HIV molecular epidemiology and CD4-staging on the presence of PDR in patients living in these settings was found. Our findings suggest close monitoring, NNRTI-sparing regimens or sequencing for patients initiating ART, especially in urban settings.

Initiatives to monitor progress in health interventions like sanitation are increasingly focused on disparities in access. We explored three methodological challenges to monitoring changes in sanitation coverage across socio-economic and demographic determinants: (i) confounding by wealth indices including water and sanitation assets, (ii) use of individual urban and rural settings versus national wealth indices and (iii) child-level versus household-level analyses. Sanitation coverage by wealth for children and households across settings was estimated from recent Demographic and Health Surveys in six low-income countries. Household assignment to wealth quintiles was based on principal components analyses of assets. Concordance in household quintile assignment and estimated distribution of improved sanitation was assessed using two wealth indices differing by inclusion or exclusion of water and sanitation assets and independently derived for each setting. Improved sanitation was estimated using under five children and households. Wealth indices estimated with water, and sanitation assets are highly correlated with indices excluding them but can overstate disparities in sanitation access. Independently, derived setting wealth indices highly correlate with setting estimates of coverage using a single national index. Sanitation coverage and quintile disparities were consistently lower in household-level estimates. Standard asset indices provide a reasonably robust measure of disparities in improved sanitation, although overestimation is possible. Separate setting wealth quintiles reveal important disparities in urban areas, but analysis of setting quintiles using a national index is sufficient. Estimates and disparities in household-level coverage of improved sanitation can underestimate coverage for children under five.

Delivering parcels to collection and delivery points (CDPs) is often seen as a better option compared with home delivery. However, if the demand is inhomogeneous, either the parcel locker utilization or the service level (i.e., the number of parcels that can be delivered) is low. Either situation would reduce the financial viability. This paper compares two options to increase the utilization, namely: (i) modular lockers (i.e., numbers of lockers adjusted periodically depending on demand) and (ii) combining parcel lockers with staffed CDPs. The latter has the advantage of a low investment cost of staffed CDPs and a low cost per parcel of parcel lockers. Secondly, the paper calculates the optimal number of lockers at a staffed CDP, assuming that all parcels are placed in the staffed CDP if the parcel locker is full. This method was applied to data collected by a parcel delivery company in London. The advantage of using real world data over one year is that it includes seasonal and daily changes in the parcel demand. The decision support method accounts for parcels not being picked up by customers on the delivery day, returned deliveries, and the net present value (NPV) of the investment. This paper shows that having enough lockers for 100% of all parcels compared with 80% doubles the number of required parcel lockers because of the inhomogeneity of the demand. In addition, combining fixed lockers with staffed CDPs offers greater financial benefits compared with modular lockers in this case study.