The Last Mile: Managing Driver Helper Dispatching for Package Delivery Services
研究了包裹递送公司如何通过将路线分为“无助手”和“有助手”两部分来优化司机助手调度，降低承运成本，并通过数值实验和敏感性分析验证了方法的有效性。
Hiring seasonal driver helpers is one widely used approach by parcel delivery companies to deal with increased home‐delivery volumes during peak seasons. Nonetheless, driver helper‐related issues have not received much attention in academic research. This study investigates how driver helpers can be utilized in the most effective way by parcel delivery companies. We show that by separating a parcel delivery route into two sub‐routes, namely “no‐helper” and “with‐helper” routes, the utilization rates of driver helpers can be improved, and the carrier cost be reduced considerably. Three main contributions of this study are as follows. First, based on costtrade‐off insights, we develop a new mathematical model for the last‐mile distribution problem, which we call the Driver Helper Dispatching Problem. Second, using this mathematical model, we perform a series of numerical experiments to identify the conditions under which the proposed “split‐route solution” works most or least effectively. Finally, we perform sensitivity analyses to investigate the impact that changes in model parameters, such as fuel cost, would have on study results.