Description
Armstrong & Associates, Inc. (A&A) and The National Home Delivery Association (NHDA) collaborated on this study to analyze the Third-Party Logistics (3PL) Big and Bulky U.S. Last-Mile Delivery Market. The study identifies the current market size, growth potential, and outlook, as well as key providers, the customer base, the verticals served, estimated route costs, and average stops by geography. It also examines employment trends and other relevant factors.
This report details and compares the use of independent contractors versus employee drivers, customer and revenue trends across different industries, and the increasing reliance on freight brokerage to secure last-mile carrier capacity. To conduct the study, we used two separate surveys and publicly available information. The surveys were distributed to NHDA members and other U.S. last-mile delivery third-party logistics providers (3PLs). The 2025 last-mile delivery revenues of the 3PLs analyzed range from $1.5 million to $1.2 billion, representing 33% of the estimated $10.63 billion U.S. Third-Party Logistics Big and Bulky Last-Mile Delivery Market.
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Big and Bulky Market Segment Defined; Market Overview
- Figure 1. U.S. 3PL Big and Bulky Last-Mile Delivery Market (Gross Revenue)
- Market Growth Drivers, Trends, and Outlook
- Macro Context: U.S. Goods Trade and Durable-Goods Demand
- Employment Trends and Use of Independent Contractor Trucking Capacity
- Figure 2. Owner Operator / Independent Contractor Drivers as a % of Total
- Figure 3. Independent Contractor Turnover in 2025
- Figure 4. Use of Owner Operator / Independent Contractor Drivers
- Table 1. Owner Operator / Independent Contractor Drivers versus Employee Drivers
- Figure 5. Driver Support / Installer Labor Type as a Percent of Total
- Figure 6. Use of Freight Brokerage over the Next 2-3 Years
- Service Offerings and Execution Capabilities
- Figure 7. Service Areas Ranked by Expected Increase in Importance
- Table 2. Anticipated Technology Adoption in Big and Bulky Last-Mile Delivery
- Customer Trends and Revenue by Vertical Industry
- Figure 8. 3PL Big and Bulky Last-Mile Deliveries by Commodity / Industry – 2025
- Figure 9. 3PL Big and Bulky Last-Mile Gross Revenue by Commodity / Industry ($US Millions) – 2025
- Operator-Reported Growth Outlook by Commodity
- Figure 10. Commodity Demand Outlook, Next Three Years
- Figure 11. Average Length of Shipper Relationships
- Operator-Reported Risk Outlook
- Figure 12. Greatest Risks to Big & Bulky Last-Mile Operations Over Next 3 Years
- Operator-Reported Structural Outlook
- Figure 13. Structural Changes Reshaping U.S. Big & Bulky Last-Mile Delivery
- Route Cost Economics by State
- Figure 14. Average Last-Mile Delivery Route Costs by State
- Table 3. Average Route Costs and Stops Per Route by State
- The Competitive Last-Mile Delivery Landscape
- Figure 15. Select 3PL Last-Mile Delivery Gross Revenues – 2021-2025
- Table 4. Recent M&A Activity in U.S. Big & Bulky Final-Mile Delivery
- Table 5. NHDA Last-Mile 3PL Members
- Summary
This report is part of A&A’s premium market research Expert Information Service (E.I.S.). (Note: This report is downloadable as an Adobe PDF file with a single user license.)
