Comparison of Time-Area Requirements of Parcel Lockers vs. Home Delivery: A Cyber-Physical System of Last Mile Delivery

Last mile delivery is seen as the most expensive part of the supply chain, and causes significant external effects (e.g. pollution, land use, noise). Therefore, much research has been devoted to finding alternative vehicles to deliver parcels such as drones and cargo bicycles and to finding alternative delivery locations such as parcel lockers. Parcel lockers are seen in most simulation studies as the most sustainable option. However, most of these studies ignore that customers might drive a car to pick up parcels. Also, parcel lockers require space 24/7 whereas a delivery van only requires a parking space for a few minutes while the parcel is handed over. However, during home delivery more space is required for the delivery van while driving due to the increased vehicle kilometer traveled compared with delivery to parcel lockers. The contribution of the study reported in this paper is a simulation tool to evaluate different parcel delivery strategies and customer movements based on real parcel delivery trip data and statistics about the parcel receiving habits. Secondly, the study uses the resulting data to compare the Time-Area requirements of home delivery and parcel lockers.