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Urban Freight Lab

Research Keyword: Common carrier parcel lockers

Common carrier parcel lockers are secure, automated, self-service, and open for delivery from fall carriers and delivery firms (“common carrier”). These systems create density to reduce trips, dwell time, and errors.

Presentation

Improving Delivery Efficiency and Understanding User Behavior through Common Carrier Parcel Lockers

 
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URL: https://metrans.org/inuf_2022-papers_presentations
Publication: 9th International Urban Freight Conference, Long Beach, May 2022
Publication Date: 2022
Summary:

Common-carrier parcel lockers have emerged as a secure, automated, self-service means of delivery consolidation in congested urban areas, which are believed to mitigate last-mile delivery challenges by reducing out-of-vehicle delivery times and consequently vehicle dwell times at the curb. However, little research exists to empirically demonstrate the environmental and efficiency gains from this technology.

In this study, we designed a nonequivalent group pretest/post-test experiment to estimate the causal effects of a common-carrier locker in a residential building in downtown Seattle, WA. The causal effects are measured in terms of vehicle dwell time and the time delivery drivers spend inside the building, through the difference-in-difference method and using a similar residential building as a control.

The results showed a statistically significant decrease in time spent inside the building and a small yet insignificant reduction in vehicle dwell times.

Authors: Dr. Andisheh RanjbariCaleb DiehlDr. Giacomo Dalla ChiaraDr. Anne Goodchild
Recommended Citation:
Andisheh Ranjbari, Caleb Diehl, Giacomo Dalla Chiara, and Anne Goodchild (2022). Improving Delivery Efficiency and Understanding User Behavior through Common Carrier Parcel Lockers. 9th International Urban Freight Conference (INUF), Long Beach, CA May 2022.
Student Thesis and Dissertations

Examining the Effects of Common Carrier Lockers on Residential Delivery

 
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URL: http://hdl.handle.net/1773/47716
Publication Date: 2021
Summary:
In recent years, e-commerce has dramatically increased deliveries to residential areas. The rise in delivery vehicle activity creates externalities for the transportation system, including congestion, competition for parking space, and emissions. Common carrier lockers have emerged as a way to manage these effects by consolidating deliveries, but they remain largely untested in the United States. This thesis examines the effects of a common carrier locker placed in a residential building in downtown Seattle, Washington. An experimental design with on-street data tests the effect of the locker on dwell times and time that delivery people spend in the building. Data collected by the locker provider gives insight into the e-commerce behavior patterns of residents. Finally, a simulation model was constructed to obtain the optimal configuration of box sizes in similar lockers. The results show that the locker had a statistically significant effect on time spent within the building, but not on dwell times or curb productivity. However, dwell times for similar vehicles in this sample decreased somewhat. The simulation demonstrated that time-based policies and flexible locker designs can prove to be effective strategies for managing demand.

 

 

 

 

Authors: Caleb Diehl
Recommended Citation:
Diehl, Caleb. (2021). Examining the Effects of Common Carrier Lockers on Residential Delivery. http://hdl.handle.net/1773/47716. University of Washington Master's Thesis.
Technical Report

The Final 50 Feet of the Urban Goods Delivery System: Pilot Test of an Innovative Improvement Strategy

 
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URL: http://hdl.handle.net/1773/44473
Publication: Pacific Northwest Transportation Consortium (PacTrans)
Publication Date: 2019
Summary:

This report presents a pilot test of a common carrier smart locker system — a promising strategy to reduce truck trip and failed first delivery attempts in urban buildings. The Urban Freight Lab tested this system in the 62-story Seattle Municipal Tower skyscraper in downtown Seattle.

The Urban Freight Lab identified two promising strategies for the pilot test: (1) Locker system: smaller- to medium-sized deliveries can be placed into a locker that was temporarily installed during the pilot test; and (2) Grouped-tenant-floor-drop-off-points for medium-sized items if the locker was too small or full (4-6 floor groups set up by Seattle Department of Transportation and Seattle City Light).

Users picked up their goods at the designated drop-off points. Flyers with information on drop-off-points were given to the carriers. UFL researchers evaluated the ability of the standardized second step pilot test to reduce the number of failed first delivery attempts by (1) Collecting original data to document the number of failed first delivery attempts before and after the pilot test; and (2) Comparing them to the pilot test goals.

Authors: Haena KimBarbara IvanovDr. Anne Goodchild
Recommended Citation:
Goodchild, A., Kim, H., & Ivanov, B. Final 50 Feet of the Urban Goods Delivery System: Pilot Test of an Innovative Improvement Strategy. (2019)
Report

The Final 50 Feet of the Urban Goods Delivery System: Common Carrier Locker Pilot Test at the Seattle Municipal Tower

 
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Publication Date: 2018
Summary:

This report provides compelling evidence of the effectiveness of a new urban goods delivery system strategy: Common Carrier Locker Systems that create parcel delivery density and provide secure delivery locations in public spaces.

Common carrier locker systems are an innovative strategy because they may be used by any retailer, carrier, and goods purchaser, and placed on public property.  This contrasts with branded lockers such as those operated by Amazon, UPS, and FedEx that are limited to one retailer’s or one carrier’s use. Common carrier lockers use existing smart locker technology to provide security and convenience to users.

The Common Carrier Locker System Pilot Test in the Seattle Municipal Tower was uniquely designed for multiple retailers’ and delivery firms’ use in a public space. In spring 2018, a common carrier locker system was placed in the 62-floor Seattle Municipal Tower for ten days as part of a joint research project of the Urban Freight Lab (UFL) at the University of Washington’s Supply Chain Transportation & Logistics Center and the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT), with additional funding from the Pacific Northwest Transportation Consortium (PacTrans).

This report demonstrates common carrier lockers’ potential to reach both public and private goals by reducing dwell time (the time a truck is parked in a load/unload space in the city) and the number of failed first delivery attempts to dense urban areas. This research provides evidence that delivering multiple packages to a single location such as a locker, rather than delivering packages one-by-one to individual tenants in an urban tower increases the productivity of public and private truck load/unload spaces.

The concept for this empirical pilot test draws on prior UFL-conducted research on the Final 50 Feet of the urban goods delivery system. The Final 50 Feet is the term for the last segment of the supply chain. It begins when a truck parks in a load/unload space, continues as drivers maneuver goods along sidewalks and into urban towers to make the final delivery, and ends where the customer takes receipt of the goods.

The UFL’s 2017 research documented that of the 20 total minutes delivery drivers spent on average in the Seattle Municipal Tower, 12.2 of those minutes were spent going floor-to-floor in freight elevators and door-to-door to tenants on multiple floors.  The UFL recognized that cutting those two steps from the delivery process could slash delivery time in the Tower by more than half—which translates into a substantial reduction in truck dwell time.

Authors: Haena KimDr. Ed McCormackDr. Anne GoodchildBarbara Ivanov
Recommended Citation:
Urban Freight Lab (2018). The Final 50 Feet of the Urban Goods Delivery System: Common Carrier Locker Pilot Test at the Seattle Municipal Tower.
Report

Evaluation of Sound Transit Train Stations and Transit-Oriented Development Areas for Common Carrier Locker Systems (Final Report)

 
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Publication Date: 2018
Summary:

The rapid expansion of ecommerce has flooded American cities with delivery trucks, just as those cities are experiencing booming population growth. Retailers need a more efficient, reliable, and cost-effective way to deliver goods in increasingly crowded urban environments. For their part, cities like Seattle want to minimize traffic congestion, both sustain quality of life for residents and ensure a smooth flow of goods and services.

Common carrier parcel lockers hold tremendous potential for streamlining the urban goods delivery system and addressing these challenges. This research study explores the viability of providing public right of way for common carrier lockers at or near transit stations in Seattle, a ground-breaking step toward improving freight delivery in the city’s fast-growing urban core.

Authors: Urban Freight Lab
Recommended Citation:
Supply Chain Transportation & Logistics Center. (2018) Evaluation of Sound Transit Train Stations and Transit Oriented Development Areas for Common Carrier Locker Systems.