6 Advantages of a Final Mile Delivery Partner

The final mile is a crucial step in a product’s journey. Even if the rest of your supply chain is organized and efficient, customers will mostly remember whether or not their package arrived safely, on time, and in line with their expectations.?

In other words, final mile delivery is the most visible part of the process to your customers. And in today’s fast-paced world, customer expectations are at an all time high. To meet customers’ needs, an effective final mile strategy is absolutely essential. With support from the right provider, the final mile can be less of a stressor—and more a key to your success. Here, we explore the six key values in partnering with an experienced logistics provider like USPack.?

1. Timely, safe delivery of products?

First things first: Your customers expect efficient and safe delivery of goods. A damaged, broken, or delayed product is what consumers will remember most about your brand—even if the rest of your supply chain is functioning like a well-oiled machine.?

Meeting customers’ delivery expectations requires expertise and experience. USPack has more than 30 years of bringing delight to the front doors of customers for some of the country’s most well-known brands. Packages arrive intact and on-time. For those items requiring special care, we offer White Glove Delivery & Installation; and for outsized large items, there’s USPack’s Big & Bulky Solutions. We know that one size literally does not fit all, which is why USPack has a hard-earned reputation for custom built logistics solutions for every customer.

2. Strategic location

An effective final mile partner should have a delivery radius that meets your business’s needs. Look for a provider with a sweet spot that’s wide enough to cover a critical mass of your customers, but also close enough to you to be responsive for pick-ups.?

As a final mile carrier with capabilities within a 125-mile radius of the country’s most active metro areas, USPack’s multi-carrier network ensures packages get where they need to be, when they need to be there. Our final mile experience includes everything from national retailers to regional suppliers to local businesses.

3. Add-on value beyond driving capabilities

Your final mile partner’s value extends beyond simply driving a vehicle. It includes offering assistance post-delivery, like assembling furniture, installing appliances, or putting office equipment where it needs to be. Our white glove service is ready to provide almost any “over the threshold” customer service experiences our brand customers require.

For medical and pharmaceutical industries in particular, this also means ensuring medical specimens travel safely and patients receive their medications on time and in compliance with HIPAA and OSHA standards. Now more than ever, efficient final mile delivery is far more than delivering a product—it’s giving patients timely access to life-saving medications and devices.?

At USPack, we have a long and impressive history of working closely with leading pharmaceutical companies, medical centers, regional pharmacies, specialty pharmacies, labs, and device manufacturers to identify and implement the most cost-effective solutions to ensure patient needs are met and delivery expenses are controlled.

4. Brand ambassadorship

Your last mile logistics provider essentially represents your brand on your customers’ doorsteps. For this reason, it’s important that they act with integrity and exemplify the standards you set for your own teams.?More so than any specific customer service protocol that might be requested, final mile providers know from day 1 that their deliveries are interfacing with customers and not simply moving pallets from warehouse to warehouse.

It's a difference in starting mindset.

Each sale you make is hard-won, and earning repeat business through word-of-mouth means the last touch needs to be a positive one. The values of a final mile delivery provider who embodies your brand are many: they build long-term repeat connections with your customers, adhere to safety checklists, and present a clean and attractive image.

5. Real-time visibility into the delivery process

In today’s data-driven economy, providing real-time access into the status of packages and deliveries is expected. But you need more if you’re going to grow and control costs. A final mile provider is also a data provider, with insights and data analytics to optimize routes and product margins.

At USPack, we work closely with our clients to design Adaptive Delivery Solutions that align with your specific business goals. From agile integration and real-time tracking tools to business intelligence and forecasting capabilities, our Adaptive Delivery Driven Intelligence (ADDI) software suite ensures that customers get speed, efficiency, and accuracy in the final mile—fueled by data.?

6. Reasonable pricing without sacrificing other benefits

Despite being the last step in the journey, the final mile can account for more than 53% of the total shipping costs.?

While every business needs to control costs, we understand that final mile is a strategic investment for your brand and not just the fulfillment of an order. Final mile is the final impression you leave on a customer and will affect their buying tendencies for years to come. It’s an opportunity to create life-time customers. Understanding the value of good final mile service, USPack offers reasonable pricing but we are mainly focused on qualify of service, something that can never waiver. If a provider’s price point seems too good to be true, do your due diligence to make sure their entire offering is both true and sustainable. Your research will help to ensure you aren’t getting short-term, aggressive pricing that suddenly vanishes—or that you are sacrificing other key benefits.?

Ready to partner with a final mile provider?

The best final mile delivery provider? The one that hits on all key value pillars: delivers packages on time and intact; is strategically located; adds value; represents your brand; leverages data; and offers sustainable pricing. Contact USPack to learn why, for more than 30 years, companies from enterprise to local consider us the best in final mile logistics.