Meeting the drivers behind last-meter delivery

We sat down with the people who know delivery best: the drivers themselves.

Meet Sander, Michael, Stijn, Max, and Jay. Five delivery drivers, with experience ranging from just three months on the road to over four years. Different routes, different rhythms, but a shared, first-hand view of what last-mile delivery actually feels like.

We spoke with them to understand what really happens once the route starts. Not what the system shows, but what the job demands.

Why we started with last-mile delivery drivers

Most delivery conversations start with metrics: speed, success rates, delivery windows.

We started somewhere else.

We wanted to hear what delivery drivers themselves talk about when they're not being measured. What they enjoy. What surprised them in their first months. And what makes a delivery day feel smooth or exhausting.

Because driver experience doesn't just affect retention. It affects every delivery on every route.

What the drivers told us

One thing became clear early on: drivers don't describe their job purely in terms of logistics.

They talked about what they actually enjoy: driving, autonomy, and especially the people they meet. They talked about the first months on the job: learning by doing, making mistakes, building confidence through repetition. And they talked about customer interaction, and why a short, clear interaction often matters more than pure speed.

As Mika, who's been driving for a year and a half, put it:

“For elderly customers, your arrival can be the highlight of their day. For us, it’s just one address.”

It's a clear reminder that delivery isn't just movement. It's contact.

The human side of route optimization

While systems focus on optimization, drivers experience delivery as a sequence of small, human moments.

A clear greeting at the door. A quick explanation from a customer. A familiar face on a recurring route.

Max described returning to a familiar address. The elderly woman recognized him: "Oh, you found it in one go this time." Two weeks later, when he came back as a newly appointed trainer with a trainee, she told him, "You're doing well, young man."

Those moments don't show up in delivery operations dashboards, but they shape how drivers experience their work and how smoothly deliveries unfold.

Where the system stops and the guesswork begins

The gaps become visible when drivers talk about finding addresses.

Sander, three months into the job, described it clearly:

"The system shows me one clear point. After that, you're on your own. That's where the gap is."

That moment, between parking and reaching the door, is where delivery intelligence ends and driver intuition begins. Through apartment complexes. Past unmarked buildings. Into pedestrian zones where vehicles can't follow.

Max, who's been driving for eight months, described arriving at a location after being left searching. "Where exactly do I go?" he said. "Sometimes I have to call a customer and ask: “Hi, where's your house actually located?"

Even when you've reached the right street, the last meters can take the longest.

Why this matters for delivery operations

Understanding what drivers value helps explain something critical:

Efficiency isn't only about speed. It's about confidence, clarity, and human connection.

Drivers who feel comfortable with their route, their customers, and their decisions move differently than drivers who are constantly second-guessing.

That difference compounds. Drivers who second-guess every stop take longer. They make more calls to dispatch. They're more likely to mark a delivery as failed. Not because they can't find it, but because they don't trust what they're seeing.

Over time, that shows up in higher stress and lower driver retention, inconsistent delivery times, increased failed delivery rates, and more customer service contacts.

Jay, who's been in last-mile delivery for over four years, described the frustration:

"When things go wrong because of something I can't control, like the navigation being incorrect, it costs me my break time."

The logistics workforce doesn't fail because they lack effort. They fail when the information they're given doesn't match what they see in the field.

The Narmin perspective

These conversations reinforce a core belief at Narmin:

Delivery systems shouldn't just optimize movement. They should support the people doing the work.

That starts by listening. Before designing, measuring, or improving anything.

Because if the goal is better last-meter delivery, the path forward isn't more pressure on drivers. It's better address clarity and route planning built on what actually happens in the field.

What we'll be sharing next

Over the coming weeks, we'll dive deeper into what the drivers shared, including:

• How delivery drivers actually plan routes and find addresses.
• The unwritten knowledge that makes delivery operations work.
• What makes an address easy or impossible to locate.
• How drivers handle time pressure and failed deliveries.

Each insight comes directly from the road, and the drivers themselves.

Watch the first video

The first video in this series introduces the drivers themselves. More conversations, observations, and insights will be shared.

Because if we want to improve last-mile delivery, we need to start with the people who live it every day.