First Mile Shipping

How First Mile Shipping Works

The delivery process can be broken down into two-three steps, depending on whether you are shipping domestic or international:

1. First Mile Shipping: The manufacturer or supplier distributes an item to a warehouse, terminal, or transporter.
2. Middle Mile Shipping: The item is transported to a port of entry (or B2B), which then transfers to a warehouse or fulfillment center. This step is mainly for international or cross-country shipments.
3. Final Mile Shipping: A delivery vehicle takes the item from the warehouse or fulfillment center to the customer.

First Mile shipping is the first step in the process, taking newly-created products and transferring them to either a warehouse for storage or a transporter to ship the products across borders (or across the country). The steps go something like this:

1. Manufacturers finish developing their products.
2. The products are packed together into large, palletized bulks. They are usually not branded during this step, saving that job for fulfillment centers or warehouses with packaging services.
3. The products are scanned and processed for delivery.
4. The products are either shipped to a warehouse to be registered and stored, a fulfillment center to be prepared for a customer, or a transporter to be shipped across land or sea.

When retail owners order products for their businesses, they only order a certain amount. They have to balance inventory levels with customer demands while avoiding shrinkage (or a loss in inventory due to reasons outside of sales) or overabundance of products. They must also anticipate when their inventory levels will run low because ordering and receiving more products takes time.

That’s why First Mile shipping is so crucial to retailers. Products must get to the warehouses in time to satisfy customer and retailer demand. This can be difficult, considering how time-consuming and expensive transportation can be, especially if shipping overseas. However, if retailers consider First Mile shipping while managing their inventories, product flow will be smooth, and deliveries can be efficient. If First Mile shipping is ineffective, then the rest of the supply chain will be negatively affected.

What Is Final Mile Shipping?

Final Mile shipping (or Last Mile shipping) is the opposite of First Mile shipping and the most well-known step in the delivery process. Final Mile revolves around the customer, beginning when they order an item and ending when the product is handed to them. Here’s a summary of how it works:

1. A customer orders an item.
2. The item is picked, packed, and sent from the warehouse to a distribution center.
3. A fleet manager (or the fleet’s software) creates a delivery route based on the customer’s location, scheduled arrival time, and the driver’s fuel consumption.
4. The item is scanned. Tracking information is sent to the customer.
5. The customer’s item is delivered to them.
6. The delivery driver creates Proof of Delivery (POD) by signing a document or taking a picture of the item.

Both First Mile and Final Mile shipping revolve around getting items from one place to another, aiming to reach customers. However, First Mile transports bulk-sized, unbranded pallets of the same products to be stored and used later, while Final Mile delivers individual, branded packages to fulfill customer orders.

However, the main difference is how influential the two steps are. While those outside logistics know Final Mile better since it is the process they are directly involved in, First Mile shipping makes Final Mile possible in the first place. It’s not as understood as Final Mile; however, it is a vital step in the delivery process and something retailers should be more familiar with if they wish to optimize their business operations.