UTTRI associated faculty Professor Matthew Roorda, Chair of the Smart Freight Centre, was interviewed along with other experts in a discussion of the costs of “free” deliveries to online shoppers in “Free shipping? There is no such thing.”
“Clearly, every aspect of shipping has a cost, and in particular the last mile of business-to-consumer deliveries is one of the most expensive parts of the supply chain,” said Professor Matthew Roorda, Canada Research Chair in Freight Transportation and Logistics at the University of Toronto Transportation Research Institute (UTTRI).
“We see small vans that are making special trips with few packages to meet customer demands. This has a monetary cost that eventually translates into the cost of the product.”