CHICAGO — Last mile costs continue to rise. On Thursday, FarEye released new research putting that cost into perspective using survey data.
The survey found median last-mile costs rose 12 percent in 2026, matching the increase operators saw a year ago. Six in 10 operators reported increases above 10 percent, and one in five reported increases above 20 percent.
Eighty-eight percent of operators said delivery cost is growing as fast as revenue or faster. Only one in eight operators is creating operating leverage. FarEye CEO and co-founder Kushal Nahata presented these findings Thursday at the Last Mile Leaders America event in Chicago.
"We thought probably it's an anomaly, it's not in double digits, but we saw that again this year as well," Nahata said. "So now it's probably the new normal that our delivery costs overall are increasing by almost double digits year on year."
The survey gathered more than 3,000 data points from U.S. delivery operators in the first half of 2026. Control figures are based on the 41 operators who answered the control question. Fleet-mix figures are based on 84 operators.
#percent
The survey found median last-mile costs rose 12 percent in 2026, matching the increase operators saw a year ago. Six in 10 operators reported increases above 10 percent, and one in five reported increases above 20 percent.
Eighty-eight percent of operators said delivery cost is growing as fast as revenue or faster. Only one in eight operators is creating operating leverage. FarEye CEO and co-founder Kushal Nahata presented these findings Thursday at the Last Mile Leaders America event in Chicago.
"We thought probably it's an anomaly, it's not in double digits, but we saw that again this year as well," Nahata said. "So now it's probably the new normal that our delivery costs overall are increasing by almost double digits year on year."
The survey gathered more than 3,000 data points from U.S. delivery operators in the first half of 2026. Control figures are based on the 41 operators who answered the control question. Fleet-mix figures are based on 84 operators.
#percent
2 hours ago
