The Last Mile Lens featuring Matt Hertz, Founder of Third Person – PART 1

Conversations with the leaders transforming e-commerce, logistics, and the supply chain.

The final leg of an online order can make or break the entire customer experience. For retail and e-commerce brands, delivery isn’t an afterthought; it’s integral to their brand promise.

Yet navigating the logistics landscape is anything but simple. With thousands of 3PLs and last-mile carriers in the market, brands are left navigating a maze of service options and maps, technical integrations, and lofty performance claims.

To unpack what brands should really be looking for in partners, we sat down with Matt Hertz, founder of Third Person. With over 15 years of experience working at the intersection of brands and logistics providers, Matt has seen firsthand what separates partners that look strong on paper from those that actually perform once volume ramps.

In Part 1 of our conversation, Matt shares how brands and 3PLs should approach selecting a last-mile partner, from common evaluation mistakes to how pilots should really be structured.

When retail and e-commerce brands, and 3PLs, too, evaluate last-mile partners, what assumptions do they tend to make early in the process?

Matt: Brands often look at coverage maps and assume that if their customers are technically in the zone, the service level will be the same across carriers. Take a Nashville to Columbus, Ohio map, for example. It might show up as a Zone 3 across multiple carriers, including FedEx, UPS, UniUni, OnTrac, or the postal service. So the assumption becomes: a Zone 3 is a Zone 3. 

But that’s not actually true. Each carrier’s network is different, which means transit times and service levels can vary quite a bit. Unfortunately, brands are often undereducated about what coverage and service actually look like. This is where the fallacy begins. 

Brands also tend to focus on the wrong part of the integration process. They assume that if an API exists, whether through ShipStation, EasyPost, or another platform, their integration will be instant and everything will run smoothly. In reality, the challenge isn’t software integration; it’s the physical handoff of getting a package from the 3PL’s dock to the carrier’s sortation hub. 

Every carrier handles that first mile or handoff a little differently, and it’s something I always encourage brands and 3PLs to evaluate closely when comparing providers.

What’s the difference between a last-mile partner that looks strong on paper and one that actually performs once volume ramps?

Matt: I always say logistics is really the business of exception management. Ninety-seven-plus percent of the time, things are going to go well and operate within the SLA. It’s that 3% where the trouble happens, where exception management and triage become really important.

Everyone looks like a rock star when the address on the label is correct, the weather across the country is sunny, and the gate code is provided through the API for a residential building.

The last-mile partners that really stand out are those who handle those messy two or three percent of scenarios well. Maybe it’s a super rural delivery, or there’s some nuance to how the package needs to be delivered. That’s where real operational strength shows up.

The other piece of this is data and visibility. A lot of carriers still send out paper or PDF invoices and weekly spreadsheets. The carriers gaining traction are those who provide real-time visibility to both shippers and their customers. They’re the ones identifying and triaging those issues in the 3% swiftly, and ideally before a customer even knows something’s gone wrong.

There’s a catch here, though. Even big players have a lot of technology, but the visibility and functionality they offer shippers can sometimes lag behind modern expectations. This is where smaller, emerging carriers have an opportunity to differentiate themselves by offering tech that resonates with modern shippers.

How should brands or 3PLs structure pilots or early test volumes to learn something meaningful about a last-mile provider?

Matt: I find that in early tests, most brands send their cleanest, easiest volume to a new partner just to validate that they’re real. That usually means something like straightforward residential deliveries. No gates. Parking right in front of the house. It’s fairly safe, and there’s no porch piracy.

If you give a last-mile carrier a thousand deliveries like that, of course, they’re going to achieve close to 100% perfection. Therein lies a mistake brands and 3PLs make. If I were at the tail end of an RFP and testing a few carriers, I’d give them a true sampling of your actual distribution.

You’re going to have some difficult zip codes, regions, and cities. You’re also going to face different weather patterns. Don’t just test when it’s a beautiful sunny day, but also when storms are brewing in the next week or two. Send them that rural apartment complex where there’s no concierge or one with a doorman in New York City, and see how they triage those situations. 

The other issue is that pilots are often too short. Many tests run for a week or two, but extending that to 30 days allows brands and 3PLs to test more nuance and variables while also evaluating performance across a full billing cycle, not just a small testing range. 

Coming soon: In Part 2 of The Last Mile Lens conversation with Matt, he breaks down the metrics that actually matter in last-mile delivery, why partnerships break down after contracts are signed, and the key internal question brands should answer before committing to a provider.

Check out The Last Mile Lens series for more conversations with the leaders shaping the future of e-commerce, technology, logistics, and supply chain. As always, reach out to learn more about our last-mile delivery offerings to hello@uniuni.com.