For today’s online shopper, the expectation is instant gratification. A new outfit arrives the same day; the latest smartphone appears by the following morning. But when that same shopper buys an exercise bike or a new propane grill, that expectation shatters. Suddenly, delivery options dwindle, costs soar and the convenient world of e-commerce is replaced by a waiting game measured in days or weeks.

To the consumer, however, the difference between a t-shirt and a treadmill isn’t important. They want the things they purchase online to arrive fast and on their terms, regardless of item size, and retailers are feeling that pressure.

The big and bulky bottleneck

For retailers, oversized goods break the modern logistics model. These items can’t be sorted by automated systems, they disrupt efficient workflows built for standard parcels, and they demand manual handling that diverts labor and inflates fulfillment costs. You simply can’t move a mini fridge on a conveyor belt designed for a laptop, and that incompatibility creates a massive bottleneck in the last mile.

As a result, most last-mile delivery providers charge a premium to deliver big and bulky items — if they’ll accept them at all. These issues cause more than one-third of retailers surveyed by Roadie to restrict oversized item delivery. 

Segmenting inventory in this way not only frustrates customers but also leaves revenue on the table for the retailer. When sellers opt to skip delivery of oversized items to avoid the risk of a poor delivery experience that might damage the customer relationship, they simply trade one frustration for another instead of addressing the customer’s true concerns.

Oversized delivery gets a new set of rules

Rather than trying to force large or awkwardly shaped items into parcel delivery pipelines, retailers need a delivery model that has been purpose-built for oversized goods. To that end, Roadie has been rapidly building out a new the last-mile solution since mid-2024 with the RoadieXD™ platform, which combines the nation’s largest local same-day delivery network with an expanding network of cross-dock locations strategically positioned in major metropolitan markets. 

The value prop to retailers is simple: Why choose between fast and efficient when your customers demand both? Retailers only need to drop less-than-truckload (LTL) or full truckload (FTL) trailers at one of these cross-docks, where goods get sorted, staged and routed for delivery within hours. This model is a game-changer for big and bulky deliveries, as it reduces complexity, lowers costs and puts delivery times on the same level as standard parcel delivery. Retailers using the RoadieXD™ model can deliver items up to 200 pounds and 12 feet in length in their original condition, including pallets, in about seven hours from the time they’re received at a cross-dock.

The Roadie network of cross-dock facilities has exploded in footprint as more retailers gain access to the services they need to streamline big and bulky deliveries and demand more. RoadieXD™ already includes 30+ active cross-dock facilities, with the most recent expansions including Detroit, Indianapolis, Nashville, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Austin, Baltimore/DC, Tampa, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, San Francisco/Oakland, Houston, San Diego, and Las Vegas. 

Just over a year after launching, the RoadieXD™ solution now reaches 65% of the U.S. population with same-day delivery for oversized goods. This is a significant achievement, as providing fast, effective, affordable delivery for big and bulky items at this scale would not have seemed possible even just a few years ago.

“It’s same-day delivery, at scale, even for big stuff,” said Marc Gorlin, Founder and CEO at Roadie. "It’s hard to believe we just launched RoadieXD™ a year ago. This kind of rapid expansion is only possible in an environment with huge demand. Retailers have been looking for a solution that enables them to reach customers fast, even outside of urban cores, and RoadieXDTM enables that with minimal complexity.”

In the year since RoadieXD™ launched, the program has added more than 65,000 new drivers and produced some impressive results, including:

• 98%+ on-time delivery rates
• 7.22-hour average delivery time

These metrics are market signals, and explosive growth demonstrates pent-up demand for a better solution. For big and bulky items, speed and scale don’t have to come at the expense of reliability.

Why retailers need better oversized delivery capabilities now

Delivery optionality is a hot topic right now, and more retailers are figuring out how to give shoppers more options at checkout. As more companies master same-day delivery for parcel-sized items, those retailers that can provide the same offerings for large and heavy purchases will gain a competitive edge. Retailers that can expand those capabilities into suburbs and secondary markets will be at an even greater advantage.

The last mile is getting heavier, and retailers that are content with the status quo risk being left behind. The question is no longer if you can offer fast delivery for oversized goods, but how. With RoadieXD™, retailers can transform their biggest delivery challenge into their new competitive advantage.

Find out more about how the Roadie platform is enabling a transformation in same-day delivery at www.roadie.com.