Fast shipping can get products into the hands of the consumer very quickly, but MIT Sustainable Supply Chain Lab Director Josué C. Velázquez Martínez says that it comes at the cost of increased carbon emissions.
Fast shipping can really create a huge mess in all of this,” Velázquez Martínez says. Choosing an earlier delivery date might mean that your item is transported by airplane, which emits huge amounts of CO2. The trucks making these rapid deliveries also aren’t likely to be full, and drivers could be making multiple trips to your neighborhood on the same day.
“In general, anybody that is in logistics and supply chains agree that having one or two or three days more to deliver is always better,” Velázquez Martínez says. More time for deliveries makes planning, inventory replenishment and distribution “way more efficient, which in turn also reduces the amount of fuel and energy that you require to serve your customers.”