Last-mile delivery is more complex than ever, and consumer expectations are rapidly evolving. Jake Stein, VP of Retail Growth at Burq and former Uber Direct leader, explains why reliability is now more important than speed for customer satisfaction. Discover how retailers can leverage hybrid models and AI-enabled platforms to meet these shifting demands, optimize costs, and expand their delivery reach across various sectors like grocery, pharmacy, and more.
Delivery reliability has surpassed speed as the second-most important factor for consumers choosing a shipping option, trailing only price, according to Jake Stein, Vice President of Retail Growth at Berk, an AI-enabled last-mile platform. Stein cited McKinsey research showing that speed, once ranked second, has fallen to roughly fifth place in consumer delivery priorities — a shift he said carries direct consequences for retailers that have not yet diversified their carrier networks.
The finding matters for shippers, brokers, and carriers because it reframes where last-mile investment delivers the highest return. Rather than bidding on faster windows, Stein argued, merchants stand to gain more by guaranteeing that a stated delivery promise — even a two-day window — is actually met.
“It used to be, you know, price then speed,” Stein said. “Now speed is down about number 5, and reliability or accuracy of the delivery is number 2 after price.”
“If you’re paying a lot for a specific speed delivery and it doesn’t go well, you’re a lot more disappointed than if it’s perhaps free and doesn’t go well.”
Stein, who previously worked at Uber Direct, said the experience there showed him that even a platform with strong global supply and heavy U.S. and Canada presence leaves gaps for individual retailers. His case for a multi-provider, or hybrid, model rests on three pressure points: supply shortfalls from a single vendor, system outages, and performance degradation. Connecting via API to dozens of providers, he said, forces the primary carrier to compete on cost and flexibility while giving merchants a fallback network.
Delivery choice is also a conversion lever, Stein said. Retailers that show only standard or next-day shipping risk cart abandonment from shoppers who want same-day, a two-hour window for high-value items requiring proof of delivery or a PIN code, or simply want to match their purchase urgency to a service level they trust. “If the retailer doesn’t offer all of those particular shipping options in that particular buying experience, they’re going to go somewhere else,” he said.
For retailers looking to rethink their delivery strategy, Stein recommended starting with behavioral data — tracking whether customers are drilling into shipping-options pages, selecting faster tiers, or abandoning carts entirely. A platform layer that surfaces those signals can identify, for example, that a specific customer abandoned checkout because a desired service level was not offered, giving merchants a data-backed case for adding it to their e-commerce or app experience. On autonomous and drone delivery, Stein was measured. He said drones will eventually create meaningful cost advantages — citing prescription drop-offs as one near-term use case — but that regulatory hurdles around airspace control will slow adoption. Autonomous ground vehicles face a different challenge: most current deployments still require the customer to retrieve the package from the vehicle rather than receiving a doorstep delivery, which he said falls short of what consumers are actually paying for in convenience-driven last-mile services.
- McKinsey data cited by Berk’s Jake Stein shows delivery speed has fallen from No. 2 to roughly No. 5 in consumer priorities, with reliability now ranked second only to price.
- Berk’s multi-provider, API-connected hybrid model lets retailers tap dozens of carriers to fill supply gaps, drive cost competition, and meet varied service-level demands.
- Stein says drone delivery will arrive but take time due to airspace regulation, while autonomous ground vehicles face a steeper hurdle because most still require customers to retrieve packages themselves.
Speaker 1 [0:00] Let’s get into that with Jake Stein. He is the Vice President of Retail Growth at Berk. Berk is an API or an AI-enabled last-mile platform. Jake, welcome to FreightWaves Today.
Speaker 2 [0:14] Thank you so much for having me. Nice to meet you.
Speaker 1 [0:16] Yeah, nice to have you. Now, you were at Uber Direct, which is obviously a major player in the logistics industry. Tell us a little bit about what experience you took from Uber Direct and what you’re doing right now in terms of last mile?
Speaker 2 [0:32] Absolutely. Uh, you know, Uber Direct was a great place to learn about the, the entire ecosystem that drives, you know, last mile delivery, whether it be same day or on demand or next day. Um, an exceptional team, a really broad reach, uh, in terms of their supply globally, you know, obviously with heavy presence in the US and Canada. And tons of retail, grocery, restaurant, pharmacy, you name it, you know, already using that platform. But one of the things that I found was an opportunity really was generally in the retail space, most of the retailers don’t have a single vendor or a single supplier. And even though Uber has a great reliability and great reach, There’s always opportunity for there to be creating competition and improving on your reliability and getting potentially better cost, greater coverage. And really the only way to do that is generally either by building infrastructure to allow that yourself by connecting to multiple providers or working through a platform that already has access to tons and tons and tons of supply across the globe. And that’s really where I decided to make the change because I felt like I could help merchants do better in that last mile space by connecting to a platform that had the opportunity for them to fill the gaps.
Speaker 1 [2:00] Now, Jake, when we talk last mile, you know, a lot of times in our world we’re talking to transportation companies, it’s home delivery, it’s furniture. But I think what you’re talking about is the DoorDash, Instacart world of food delivery and grocery delivery. Is that the way we should be thinking about last mile in your, in your world?
Speaker 2 [2:19] Well, I think the way you think about it includes that in my mind, right? So last mile is really anything getting to the customer, right? So it could be from a DC or from a hub or from a 3PL or from a store. Um, so really any— that all is encompassed in last mile. And there are great gig providers for that, but you also have, of course, in-house fleets and, uh, you know, national carriers and, you know, couriers, parcel providers. So Really, all of that encompasses last mile in my mind.
Speaker 3 [2:47] So you talked a little bit earlier, you alluded to the benefits of having more than one partner or delivery provider when you get to scale, and you just mentioned that hybrid model. Can you walk us through what that looks like and the benefits of it?
Speaker 2 [3:03] Sure. It’s essentially instead of only calling on one provider to do your delivery, And they may still be your preferred provider, but you have lots of other options at the time that the delivery or shipment is being created. So that way, if there’s no supply available, if that system for that provider is down, or if, you know, their performance has dropped, then you have the opportunity to tap into a broader network of providers. It challenges that initial provider to perform better, to potentially have better costs and be more flexible. And you get a chance to then connect via API to dozens and dozens of different providers based on, you know, wherever your delivery needs may be.
Speaker 3 [3:51] So then how does your customer or a retailer or a pharmacy or whoever it is that ultimately is decide which type of provider to go to, and how does your platform help with that?
Speaker 2 [4:01] I think a lot of it depends on what service levels they want to offer. And in today’s environment, it’s not just about the service levels they want to offer, it’s likely the service levels they need to offer. Because just like how for any given retailer or even online marketplace, having strong selection is a huge conversion driver, so is having choice in delivery. So it’s not just having, you know, 5-day shipping or next-day shipping, but also having the ability perhaps to get it same day by the end of the day or on demand or over a very specific 2-hour window because it’s a you know, a high-value item that might need, um, you know, proof of delivery or a signature or even a PIN code at arrival. Um, so I think it’s not just about which carrier it’s really about, or which platform. It’s really about the SLA that they want to provide. And that gets complicated because you may want to orchestrate more across more than just the gig providers. You have your own fleet, you have carriers, and, uh, that you also want to be able to orchestrate across. And you need a system that can really spend the time in analyzing, okay, I’m going to offer these SLAs and it’s going to come from this choice of nodes. And then you need to decide which mode you want to go on and you need the AI intelligence to help you do that.
Speaker 3 [5:20] So I want to talk a little bit about some of the cost and profitability pressures. Certainly retail, grocery are seeing those in their own business. And then when you add in delivery and all of the things that Walmart has done, I imagine cost pressures, which I’ve said it publicly before, my household—
Speaker 1 [5:38] You’re a big Walmart. What do they call that?
**Speaker 3** [5:41] Walmart Smile? I use the Walmart Plus.
**Speaker 1** [5:43] Walmart Plus.
Speaker 3 [5:44] My household would, if I’m being honest, have set up— Would not operate without it. It would not operate without it. We get our groceries delivered every week. There’s always something that I’ve forgotten that I need in an hour, the kids have to have for school the next day. But that being said, I imagine it creates cost pressures for others, and certainly when it comes to delivery and retail and groceries and all of that. What are you seeing there? Where are the cost pressures coming from? How is that affecting delivery? Um, and what does that look like from a, a margin pressure percentage? Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2 [6:14] I mean, you know, whether it’s Walmart Plus or the, you know, Amazonization of, you know, consumer demand, expectations are really high. But there’s been— I don’t think the expectations are remaining just on improved speed. The expectations are shifting a bit more towards, or a lot more towards reliability. And I think that’s where, yes, there’s cost pressure primarily on the speed side, but if a customer is willing to have, let’s say, a 2-hour, a 2-day delivery window, um, or a 2-day promise, as long as it’s coming when they say the provider or the merchant says it’s going to come, that is generally a place where customers Price is always going to be number one in the delivery choices, but it’s shifted. You know, even McKinsey stated in reports that, you know, it used to be, you know, price then speed. Um, now speed is down about number 5, and reliability or accuracy of the delivery, um, is number 2 after price.
Speaker 3 [7:15] So I think where people had to change their expectations, I think that’s just during COVID obviously is when all of this exploded.
Speaker 2 [7:25] And because the demand for speed was so high, it wasn’t easy to do super well, right? And there’s only so much supply out there. So if, if you’re paying a lot for a specific speed delivery and it doesn’t go well, you’re a lot more disappointed than if it’s perhaps free and doesn’t go well. So I think as that has left somewhat of a taste in consumers’ mouths that like, yeah, I might be paying for speed, but I might not always get it, that reliability starts to creep in, or that lack of reliability starts to creep in more, where customers are willing to say, I know when I’m going to get it, regard— instead of having to pay for speed that I may not necessarily get.
Speaker 1 [8:06] I mean, it makes sense. Same-day delivery, or within the next couple of hours, is— it’s a choice between, do I go to the store? Can I go? Do I have the time? If you’re a busy mom like Julia’s, you’re like, I need this in the next couple of hours, my kids’ assignments in the morning, or hey, dinner.
Speaker 3 [8:23] Or hey, watch, put your shoes on and get in the car.
Speaker 1 [8:24] Yeah, I have other things I need to do. We keep you busy here. And the question is, that’s where reliability’s there. I would rather know, like you said, if it’s 2-day, I can sort of tolerate that it’s gonna come between a window sometime today. But if it’s same day, if it’s a food delivery or a grocery delivery, You need it then. Like, like that’s, that’s frankly most people order their groceries or food at the last minute.
Speaker 2 [8:50] So that same, that buying experience is different with, for the same customer depending on what’s going on. Right. 100%. Right. So that’s why, as I mentioned earlier, I think the delivery choice is pretty critical because you should give them the choice of what they want, because it might be that they need it now, or it might be, you know, and they’re willing to pay $15 to get it in the next 2 hours. Or it might be that they’re fine getting it in 2 days as long as it actually comes.
Speaker 1 [9:19] Yeah, I needed some batteries this weekend and I just didn’t have— it was like one of those really weird batteries and I needed it right then. And, you know, I was with my younger children and didn’t want to pack them up and go to Walmart to do it because I inevitably, frankly, and you can spend $300 on whatever other random stuff. That’s the point. Yes. You take the kids to Walmart, they want to hit the toy aisle. I’ll pay the $15 delivery.
Speaker 3 [9:41] I took mine to Target. On Saturday? Speaker 1 [9:43] Because it’s cheaper than what my kids would drag out of the store, and I didn’t want to deal with the meltdowns.
Speaker 3 [9:48] Yeah, but I think you’re right, the option, right? Am I okay to get it in a 2-hour window tomorrow? Am I going to pay a little bit to get it in 3 hours and pay a little bit more to get it in an hour?
Speaker 1 [9:56] I mean, the convenience is there. Sorry, Jake, what were you saying?
Speaker 2 [9:59] I was just gonna say, and if the retailer doesn’t offer all of those particular shipping options in that particular buying experience, they’re going to go somewhere else.
Speaker 1 [10:08] Well, it’s all top of wallet, top of delivery. If I’m starting to get— I mean, it’s one of the— I think Amazon’s big advantage. I was talking to a retailer in aviation, Sporty’s, which is like the number one retailer in general aviation. I was having this conversation with their president this past weekend at Oshkosh. I’m a pilot. I buy a lot of stuff from Sporty’s. It has everything I’d ever want. The problem is occasionally I’m like, hey, I need something. I’ll just go to Amazon. Because it’s already delivering to my house and it’s easy and it’s in a, you know, I can buy 15 things there.
Speaker 3 [10:41] And so add to Wednesday’s delivery. It’s a disadvantage.
Speaker 1 [10:44] It is. It’s a disadvantage for non— these smaller boutique retailers competing against the majors, because if you’re already buying things, you’re like, I’m just going to go ahead and add it.
Speaker 3 [10:54] So if a retailer is thinking about, all right, I need to rethink my delivery strategy for some of these reasons, where should they start? What should they do?
Speaker 2 [11:04] I think they’re going to have to look first to what your customers are telling them, right? I mean, what is it? Has there been a change in behavior with what they’re currently offering? Are they people buying less standard shipping and buying more increased speed, or is it the opposite? So I think that’s important, but really getting the data is super critical and having a layer in your system that can read all of those signals. What is the consumer clicking on in your page in terms of Are they going deep into the shipping options section? Are they abandoning the cart because, you know, they only see standard shipping or maybe next-day shipping, but they want something faster or vice versa? You need to start with getting an understanding of the data. And really, that’s as simple as having a platform that can read it, right? And tell you back, okay, this customer abandoned the cart because you didn’t have X. If you had X, perhaps that customer would have converted. And then you could start offering that hopefully on your e-com or your app and then follow the data.
Speaker 1 [12:09] All right, Jay, I gotta ask one last question before we go. We could spend the next 30 minutes talking to you, but we don’t— we can’t do that. But drones and autonomous delivery, where are we at in that cycle? I know there’s been some tests, Zipline.
Speaker 2 [12:21] There’s a lot of tests going on. And I think that there’s absolutely space for it. It’s gonna take time. There’s a lot of obviously regulatory rules that apply in airspace control and things like that, there’s going to be a lot of space for speed and honestly a huge space for cost, right? I mean, as they start to become more, you know, commoditized, it’s a lot cheaper to drop off, you know, prescription in your backyard than to have somebody deliver it. Um, I definitely think there’s space. The autonomous delivery vehicles is going to be tougher. Yes, you probably have some experience with them today where you still have to go out and get it out of the vehicle. But that’s not what the convenience that you’re— that a lot of people are paying for. They just want it right on their doorstep. So there needs to be a bridge, and there’s companies looking at that. I think that’ll take longer, but drones, it’s going to happen. It’s just going to take a little bit of time.
Speaker 1 [13:10] Well, Jake, we’re going to have you back to talk about that. That’s a totally different deep conversation. Thank you so much for coming in and joining us today on Freightways Today. We’ll be right back after these messages. We’re going to talk about why this recovery isn’t what it seems with Blake Ezell. He’s the Vice President of Customer Success and Support at IntelliTrends. He’s going to talk about freight market.
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