27 January 2026
Why the last mile bunches after four in a market town
School traffic, a closing high street, and a retailer who will not take a delivery after 16:30 land on the same hour. The sheet usually pretends they do not.
Market towns in Britain still concentrate deliveries on a short high street with limited rear access. After four, buses, parents, and the last grocery van compete for the same kerb. A planned six-minute drop becomes fourteen without anyone ‘driving badly’.
Retailers who print a 16:30 close on the booking portal rarely mention that the back door is chained at 16:10. The missed window then sits on the courier’s report. An inquiry that photographs the chain — with the depot’s permission — is more useful than another lecture about sat-nav.
School-run corridors deserve their own overlay. A round that looks tidy in July will not hold in term time if it crosses the grammar school gates at 15:20. Winter timetable checks exist for this reason; a summer sheet is not a winter sheet with darker weather.
When two rounds from the same depot both finish in the same pedestrian zone, they bunch even if each sheet looks reasonable in isolation. Multi-depot comparison is the wrong instrument here; the fix is usually staggering the second van by twenty minutes, which only shows up if you chart actual kerbside time, not planned minutes.
We still meet planners who are told to ‘add a drop’ to an already late afternoon. The honest chart shows the added drop stealing the window of the original last store. That is an uncomfortable drawing. It is also the one a regional manager can take to the retailer.