Burq bets on last-mile orchestration as retailers diversify carriers

Product / Tech

โดย FreightWaves·

Summary · why it matters

Burq, a last-mile delivery technology company, is betting that enterprise retailers will pay for an orchestration layer that coordinates a growing bench of regional carriers, 3PL cross-dock networks, gig courier platforms, and private fleets. Jake Stein, who joined Burq four months ago to run retail growth after four and a half years at Uber, told FreightWaves that 55% of retailers now use carriers outside FedEx, UPS, and the U.S. Postal Service, and more than a third are actively moving volume away from the two national giants. Stein said Burq's system monitors orders after they leave a retailer's order management system, and can reassign a package to a different courier if a provider fails to pick it up within a set threshold, such as nine minutes. Alternative carriers moved 2.6 billion parcels last year, up 13%, while UPS and USPS volumes each fell 8.3%, according to the article. Stein expects autonomous delivery to grow for repeatable deliveries, though drone use cases will remain limited by weight, complexity, and signature requirements.