12


LAST MILE CARGO THEFTS


the supply chain to the storefront, and losses are clearer to account for in each stage of the process. Whereas if an individual customer has a package stolen, that customer will typically complain to either the company it purchased the product from or the final delivery service that was ostensibly responsible for delivering the item. The customer will most likely lodge the complaint with customer service personnel and not necessarily security or loss-prevention personnel and, in most cases, the company will often quickly send another replacement package in order to retain the customer’s loyalty. Often, such thefts are registered as simply isolated customer complaints.


So, a “last mile” cargo theft would be the loss of that shipment as it travels from the final distribution center to the storefront.


An analysis of BSI and TAPA last mile theft data reveals several significant trends;


•


In 2019, thieves involved in last mile thefts most frequently stole goods from mixed loads, highlighting the degree to which vehicles that are a part of the eCommerce supply chain are affected by the problem


• Tobacco products and food and beverages were among the most targeted goods, maintaining a trend seen in 2018 too


•


In 2019, thieves participating in last mile theft most commonly pilfered goods from vehicles, representing about 46% of all recorded incidents


•


In around 26% of incidents, thieves stole the entire vehicle


• Most cases, however, involved intrusion into vehicles


•


In 21% of these crimes, thieves used violence or the threat of violence to carry out thefts


•


In some 15% of crimes, some form of Deception was another common tactic


With the growth in eCommerce, the definition of “last mile” is shifting. Companies still send shipments to a distribution center, which in turn may ship those loads, broken down by country or region, to further distribution centers before delivering the individual product directly to the end customer. In this instance, thefts can occur not only while shipments are in-transit via delivery vehicles but also from the customer’s doorstep.


An increase in the volume of packages traveling directly to consumers has led to numerous stories of theft. Each holiday season, media outlets report on outbreaks of this brand of “last mile” theft with so-called ‘porch pirates’ - both individuals and gangs of thieves - opportunistically stealing packages from doorsteps. The scale of the problem is hard to quantify. Given the sporadic nature and the way that these thefts are typically reported, it is difficult to accurately gauge the scope and value of these types of “last mile” losses.


In the traditional logistics model, packages are generally tracked and controlled through


Who is responsible for last mile delivery?


Your company Your logistics provider Subcontracted delivery services Other


19% 32% 39% 10%


Does your company have internal measures for gauging what percentage of goods lost comes from “at/post-delivery” incidents


YES 35%


NO 65%


The following are a list of internal measures that our respondents have in place to gauge what percent of goods lost comes from “at/post-delivery” incidents:


• Incident reporting and databasing • Percent loss ratio • Monthly carrier follow up and analysis • Liability of loss terms • Procedures and work instructions • Annual incident analysis • Deviation management process • Statistics • Data capturing •


Incidents tracking on each leg of the supply chain and report to PSI


• Measurement of lost shipments from scanning data from carriers


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28