Lunch & Learn with Burges Visiting Professor Paul Buijs
October 29 at 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
From “I can wait” to impact: Turning consumer patience into more sustainable ecommerce delivery
Presented by Visiting Burges Professor Paul Buijs, Associate Professor, University of Groningen (Netherlands)
Wednesday, October 29, 2025
12 noon – 1 p.m.
In person: More Hall, Room 110
Online: Zoom link
RSVP required.
The Visiting Burges Professorship and lecture is brought to you by Steve and Sylvia Burges and lunch is hosted by the Urban Freight Lab.
Abstract: Do we really need every online order tomorrow, or even today? Often not. Many consumers are willing to accept later delivery when it the option is presented well. This talk explores how that flexibility can be turned into measurable sustainability gains.
This presentation shares ongoing empirical work that quantifies willingness to wait: how many people will delay, by how much, and under what conditions. We test communication strategies and choice architecture to see what actually persuades consumers.
Second, I discuss modeling of what e-commerce sellers and delivery companies can do with the extra time: smoothing workloads across days, concentrating stops to increase delivery density, or skipping low-yield routes. Each lever has distinct effects on distance traveled, fleet use, and emissions.
Finally, I connect consumer behavior with operational strategies to estimate the realizable potential under different contexts. We close with practical playbooks for e-commerce sellers, delivery companies, and cities on how to design checkout choices and delivery policies that translate “I can wait” into a more sustainable last mile.
About the speaker: Dr. Paul Buijs explores how stakeholders are both affected by — and can contribute to — the transition to more sustainable logistics systems. His research spans a wide range of domains, from urban delivery networks to heavy road freight, and considers sustainability through multiple lenses, including carbon emissions, livability, and economic inclusivity. Current topics include how logistics can adapt to evolving urban environments, how urban planning can reduce the sector’s footprint in cities, how to accelerate freight transport decarbonization, how emerging ecommerce delivery and return models impact CO2 emissions, and how to ensure the shift to green urban logistics is equitable for all. Dr. Buijs has a MSc in Industrial Engineering and Management and a Ph.D. in Sustainable Logistics, both from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands.