Crowdsourced Delivery: A Dynamic Pickup and Delivery Problem with Ad-Hoc Drivers

32 Pages Posted: 3 Feb 2016 Last revised: 7 Sep 2016

See all articles by Alp Arslan

Alp Arslan

Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) - Rotterdam School of Management (RSM)

Niels Agatz

Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) - Rotterdam School of Management (RSM)

Leo Kroon

Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM)

Rob Zuidwijk

Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) - Rotterdam School of Management (RSM); Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM)

Date Written: September 5, 2016

Abstract

The trend towards shorter delivery lead-times reduces operational efficiency and increases transportation costs for internet retailers. Mobile technology, however, creates new opportunities to organize the last-mile. In this paper, we study the concept of crowdsourced delivery that aims to use excess capacity on journeys that already take place to make deliveries. We consider a peer-to-peer platform that automatically creates matches between parcel delivery tasks and ad-hoc drivers. The platform also operates a fleet of backup vehicles to serve the tasks that cannot be served by the ad-hoc drivers. The matching of tasks, drivers and backup vehicles gives rise to a new variant of the dynamic pick-up and delivery problem. We propose a rolling horizon framework and develop an exact solution approach to solve the various subproblems. In order to investigate the potential benefit of crowdsourced delivery, we conduct a wide range of computational experiments. The experiments provide insights into the viability of crowdsourced delivery under various assumptions about the environment and the behavior of the ad-hoc drivers. The results suggest that the use of ad-hoc drivers has the potential to make the last-mile more cost-efficient and can reduce the system-wide vehicle-miles.

Keywords: crowdsourced delivery, pickup and delivery problem, ad-hoc drivers

Suggested Citation

Arslan, Alp and Agatz, Niels A.H. and Kroon, Leo and Zuidwijk, Rob A., Crowdsourced Delivery: A Dynamic Pickup and Delivery Problem with Ad-Hoc Drivers (September 5, 2016). ERIM Report Series Reference, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2726731 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2726731

Alp Arslan (Contact Author)

Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) - Rotterdam School of Management (RSM) ( email )

P.O. Box 1738
Room T08-21
3000 DR Rotterdam, 3000 DR
Netherlands

Niels A.H. Agatz

Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) - Rotterdam School of Management (RSM) ( email )

P.O. Box 1738
Room T08-21
3000 DR Rotterdam, 3000 DR
Netherlands

Leo Kroon

Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM) ( email )

P.O. Box 1738
3000 DR Rotterdam
Netherlands

Rob A. Zuidwijk

Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) - Rotterdam School of Management (RSM) ( email )

P.O. Box 1738
Room T08-21
3000 DR Rotterdam, 3000 DR
Netherlands

Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM)

P.O. Box 1738
3000 DR Rotterdam
Netherlands

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