Behind the Scenes, this Logistical Change Reduces Truck Traffic, Cuts Emissions, and Increases Transparency for UC Davis Customers

Trick question: What is the best-known address at UC Davis, and have you been there?

If you answered One Shields Avenue, you’re right! That’s the only mailing address recognized by the U.S. Postal Service for deliveries to the Davis campus. But where exactly is One Shields Avenue located?

If you ask Jen Carmichael, director of Logistics in UC Davis Supply Chain Management, she’ll tell you that’s the address that gets mail and packages to the UC Davis “bubble.” But what comes next — getting those packages from the edge of campus to your office or lab — is what’s known as the “last mile.”

And for UC Davis, that last mile has been getting shorter and smoother.

Pilot project expands

In July 2024, UC Davis Supply Chain Management launched its Last Mile Initiative as a pilot project to begin making deliveries for Fisher Scientific, a major supplier for UC Davis, to buildings, offices and labs on the Davis campus. The year-long pilot project was a success, with about 19,000 same-day deliveries. 

Same-day deliveries on campus have been expanding, and UC Davis drivers currently deliver about 400 packages each day. 

This September, the project expanded to include deliveries for the office supplier ODP, which is the parent company of Office Depot, another major campus supplier. Other vendors are also discussing handing over their last-mile deliveries to UC Davis drivers, including a certain online retail giant. 

Leaders of the Last Mile Initiative see it as a win-win-win for campus, as it’s efficient, increases safety, reduces greenhouse gas emissions, and brings revenue to campus.

“Logistics happens behind the curtains, so when it all works well, nobody notices,” Carmichael said. “This work is advancing the things we care about at UC Davis — safety and sustainability in particular.”

How UC Davis deliveries work

For the Last Mile Initiative, UC Davis signs contracts with suppliers to consolidate their campus deliveries through Central Receiving, which is physically located in the Hopkins complex west of Highway 113.

From there, packages are:

• Checked into the AggieLogistics system, which notifies recipients their packages are en route.
• Loaded onto UC Davis delivery vehicles for same-day delivery (99.6% are delivered within hours).
• Confirmed by photo when dropped off, giving recipients proof and visibility.

“When we started this process, some folks assumed we’d be slower or lose stuff,” Carmichael said. “But we’re actually faster than Fisher deliveries used to be. We’ve also increased transparency for the customer. You can see when we make a mistake — and we do, sometimes. But we keep chipping away at improvements.”

Benefits of fewer vehicles on campus roads

In its first year making Fisher Scientific deliveries, the initiative produced measurable results:

• 8.8 tons of carbon emissions were avoided.
• 99.6% same-day delivery rate.
• Four times more packages per stop (average 12 packages per stop now, instead of three).
• $38,000 in additional revenue in the first year ($2 per package)

By consolidating deliveries, the university reduces the number of vendor trucks entering campus and replaces them with fewer, employee-operated vehicles. These UC Davis drivers have specialized campus access, standardized safety training, and routes optimized for efficiency.

Each vehicle from Logistics “goes out full and comes back full,” delivering packages and storehouse orders while collecting recyclables, outgoing mail, toner cartridges, batteries, and shredded paper for the return trip.

What’s next on the road ahead

With the addition of ODP deliveries, Supply Chain Management continues refining its processes and tracking data through AggieLogistics. The team hopes to add more campus vendors to their last-mile delivery process this year, with help from strategic sourcing contacts. 

Her team recently met with Amazon representatives and intend to begin last-mile deliveries for Amazon on a building-by-building basis by 2026, starting with buildings near busy pedestrian and bike traffic first.

Carmichael, who was honored earlier this year with the UC Davis FOA Innovation Award, also serves as president of the University Logistics and Supply Chain Association with representatives from more than 40 universities. She sees UC Davis as part of a trend toward consolidating last-mile deliveries.

In the future, her team also has an eye on a system of conveyer belts with a camera tunnel. But through it all, they want deliveries to continue smoothly, with these changes staying behind the scenes.  

“Our success depends on our campus customers having faith in our team,” Carmichael said. “For example, we know mail stop numbers in campus addresses might not look useful right now, but they’re key to our strategic plan. The road might be a little bumpy, but we’re moving carefully because we know it’s paramount to not compromise teaching or research goals along our way.