Crowdshipping applies the concept and technology of crowdsourcing to the personalized delivery of goods, and takes multiple forms. For example: individuals sign up to a crowdshipping platform and deliver goods from a drop shipment hub for a fee. This option seems to be of most interest for people on low incomes, those in-between jobs, and seniors; they are looking to augment their incomes. Other examples include: when a buyer takes their in-store-bought purchase home, they also deliver goods ordered online to addresses on their way home; a person drops off deliveries on the route of their daily commute; an overseas air traveler takes a package with them on their flight and hands it off to a receiving person at the airport.
For crowdshipping to succeed, there are three key issues to be addressed: trust in the system; compensation for the delivery person; and the business model.
From the demand perspective, trust is the biggest factor in acceptability of the service: the reputation of the delivery person is a big variable; and the risk/trust balance becomes more significant as the value of the goods increases. Another factor is the price; it has to be competitive to traditional delivery services.
On the supply side, the question remains: how sustainable crowdshipping is as a business? Higher compensation for the delivery person leads to more trips being made. But passing on this cost to the buyer risks making crowdshipping less attractive compared to traditional shipping. And it is not yet known whether dynamic pricing, i.e. charging a higher price for peak or unsociable times, could form part of the business model.
Further research will help to understand these three issues better: and how crowdshipping, along with other delivery options, such as autonomous vehicles, and traditional delivery models, could be integrated to make home deliveries more efficient and sustainable.
“Even a small detour puts off commuters from taking on deliveries, unless additionally compensated.”