Final mile delivery has become one of the most critical points in the customer experience. It is no longer just the last step in the supply chain; it is the moment when a brand’s promise is either fulfilled or broken. As expectations around speed, visibility, flexibility and reliability continue to rise, shippers are under growing pressure to rethink how they approach final mile operations.
In this final mile podcast with Talking Logistics, host Adrian Gonzalez speaks with Nate Browne, Senior Vice President of Final Mile at Werner, and Meg Meurer, Vice President of Final Mile Sales at Werner, about what separates final mile leaders from the rest. Their conversation explores how final mile has evolved from a transactional delivery function into a strategic extension of the brand experience — and why the companies succeeding today are taking a more integrated, customer-centric approach.
Top Five Takeaways from the Discussion
- Predictability matters as much as speed.
While fast delivery remains important, customers increasingly value reliability and accurate delivery windows just as much as speed. - Final mile cannot operate in a silo.
The most successful shippers are integrating middle mile, truckload and final mile operations to improve efficiency, scalability and customer experience. - Driver experience directly impacts customer experience.
Investing in driver training, engagement and recognition leads to stronger customer satisfaction and better brand representation in the home. - Technology is essential — but people and process still drive success.
Visibility tools, real-time updates and seamless integrations matter, but operational discipline, communication and culture remain foundational. - The best final mile partnerships are strategic, not transactional.
Shippers increasingly need scalable, safety-focused partners that can support long-term growth while protecting brand reputation.
Throughout the discussion, Nate and Meg share practical insights on customer expectations, network design, multimodal solutions, operational best practices and the evolving role of final mile in modern supply chains.
Learn more about Werner’s Final Mile solutions.
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Talking Logistics Podcast | Full Transcript
Adrian Gonzalez:
Hello, everyone. Welcome to Talking Logistics, where we have conversations with thought leaders and newsmakers in the supply chain and logistics industry. It’s my great pleasure to welcome today’s guests: Nate Browne, Senior Vice President of Final Mile at Werner, and Meg, Vice President of Final Mile Sales at Werner. Today, we’re going to talk about final mile excellence: what separates the best from the rest.
As I’ve written many times on Talking Logistics, the final mile is not simply the last step in the delivery process. It is also the final moment of truth — where the customer experience is either won or lost for many companies. But delivering on that promise is getting harder. Expectations for speed, visibility, flexibility and reliability continue to rise, while operational complexity keeps growing.
So, what separates final mile leaders from the rest? That’s the main question we’re going to unpack in today’s episode. I’m excited to welcome Nate and Meg to the program to share their insights and advice. Nate, Meg, welcome to the program.
Nate Browne:
Thanks. It’s great to be here with you, Adrian.
Meg:
Thank you.
Adrian:
As I was reflecting on this topic, I realized that when I first started in the industry — which was 27 years ago, and every time I do the math I shiver a little bit — final mile really wasn’t in the spotlight. It wasn’t something people talked much about. Fast forward to today, and certainly over the past decade, and especially over the past five years, it’s become a front-burner issue.
So, Nate, maybe as a way to level set the conversation, how has final mile evolved over the years, and why is it becoming more critical for companies today?
Nate:
I think you alluded to it in your introduction: the expectation of speed. People often call it the Amazon effect, but I think consumers have simply evolved. There is now a strong expectation around speed.
Final mile is also a very expensive part of the delivery process and the broader supply chain. So, speed has probably changed the most. Technology is maybe 1B right behind it. People want visibility. They want predictability. When they order something, they want to know when they’re going to get it, and they want that information in real time. Alongside that, expectations of our capabilities have changed. It used to be sufficient to deliver a piece of furniture with a professional delivery team that was courteous, treated the customer well, set up the furniture and left.
Today, delivery teams and the delivery process are critical to helping customers get repeat business. It’s about going through a delivery checklist, making sure the customer understands what to expect, and giving them an opportunity to express concerns — or hopefully satisfaction — during the delivery. Final mile has really been elevated over the past several years. Those are challenges we’re certainly up for, but it is definitely different. And that’s true across the supply chain, not just final mile.
Adrian:
I think the expectation for speed has certainly increased. I remember in the consumer world when you would order something and it would say, “Please expect six to eight weeks for delivery.” I show that to my kids sometimes when I see old magazines. Now, if that were your promised lead time, you’d probably be out of business.
But the other aspect is reliability. Some customers want speed and visibility, but others weigh reliability more. They may be fine waiting five days, but if you tell them it will arrive on Friday, May 15, between noon and 2 p.m., they expect it to arrive on Friday, May 15, between noon and 2 p.m. Meg, anything to add from your perspective on how final mile has changed?
Meg:
I would add that we’ve seen a migration from most of our portfolio being primarily B2C to now seeing a lot more opportunity in the B2B space as well. We’re frequently mixing multimodal solutions with middle mile, full truckload, dedicated solutions and final mile to drive efficiencies and speed to the consumer.
Whether it’s LTL conversion or speed to market, there is a lot of opportunity to drive efficiencies by pairing dedicated middle mile capabilities with final mile solutions. We’re seeing that blend with many customers in our pipeline, as well as new customers we’ve added over the last 12 to 24 months.
Adrian:
That’s a great point because at the end of the day, we all go home and become consumers. We all have expectations around speed, reliability, quality and visibility. It was only a matter of time before those expectations carried over into B2B transportation and logistics.
Meg, I’ll stick with you. You probably talk to a lot of shippers in your role. What are some of the most common misconceptions or mistakes you see shippers make when it comes to final mile operations?
Meg:
Often, when we start a conversation, it’s because a shipper is trying to solve a near-term or immediate need in their network. That often results in a more transactional solution, such as an agent-based opportunity, a nationwide agent network or a co-mingled solution where assets, resources and real estate are shared with other shippers. But if it’s a longer-term need and they’re solving a larger problem, it takes more diligence on both sides — the shipper side and the carrier side — to create the right solution. That might mean dedicated capacity or dedicated assets for a single shipper or account.
Those solutions require a deeper look at cost and operational considerations, but they generally drive better performance, whether that’s reliability of the driver teams, on-time performance, claims performance or overall customer experience. That’s when we become a true extension of the shipper’s brand. That’s a major theme we hear from shippers today. They want to know about soft skills training. They want to understand what kind of training drivers go through because, as Nate mentioned, we’re often the last leg of the customer experience. That can help shippers earn repeat business.
Adrian:
So, the biggest mistake shippers can make is taking too short-term or myopic a view. The companies doing it best are not only solving an immediate problem, but also stepping back and asking how they can design the whole operation end to end for long-term success.
Nate, anything you would add?
Nate:
I’d double down on something you mentioned earlier. We talk about speed, and it absolutely is important, but predictability is just as important. Speed does not always trump predictability, and it shouldn’t. Customers want to reach consumers quickly, especially in retail, but they also want to be extremely predictable. Final mile is expensive, and it gets more expensive when you don’t do it right the first time — if the customer isn’t home, if things are rushed, or if everything isn’t aligned.
The other thing Meg touched on is that there is always a middle mile component to final mile. That’s our foundation as a truckload business. Being in final mile gives us a good view into what middle mile excellence looks like. Customers often focus heavily on final mile, but the ones who do it best think more globally. They ask, “How do I tie my middle mile network into final mile? Can I be more efficient from both a cost and service perspective if I do that?”
Adrian:
That’s a great point. So often in this industry, whether we’re talking about technology or business processes, we think in silos. But final mile does not exist in isolation. What happens before it ultimately impacts final mile performance.
Nate, building on that, what does great final mile performance look like today? How should shippers measure it?
Nate:
The table stakes are on-time performance. That’s core to what good looks like. Beyond that, it’s customer experience. Did you get it there when you said you would? Was the feedback from the customer positive? For our customer base, that leads to repeat sales. If you have a happy customer in an in-home or white glove experience, they’re often going to become a repeat customer.
From a KPI perspective, customer experience is right at the top. Customers also want to know that your driver teams have the right processes. We talked earlier about checklists. Are we going through what’s important to the customer? Are we getting the consumer’s feedback right away?
We’ve all had deliveries. In the first five minutes after it’s over, you remember everything and can give fresh feedback. If you wait until the next day, you’re probably not taking the survey, or you may forget details. So, walking customers through the steps of service and the checklist while the experience is fresh creates the best opportunity for continuous improvement. Training and process also matter. Customers care about how drivers are trained and what process they go through to make sure the customer is taken care of the right way. For us, great final mile performance is about partnership and collaboration around what that specific delivery experience should look like.
Adrian:
I love the concept of partnership, and the fact that partnership is not just between you and your client. It also includes the end customer receiving the delivery and incorporating their feedback into the continuous improvement process.
As I said earlier, delivery is the final moment of truth. A company may do everything right in the sales process, pricing and customer acquisition, but one bad delivery experience can damage everything. Meg, anything to add on what great looks like?
Meg:
I would say a happy driver equals a happy customer. We spend a lot of time making sure our drivers are happy and enjoy coming to work every day. We celebrate our drivers often. We have Final Mile Fridays every Friday, where we recognize best-in-class driver teams. When drivers are excited to come to work, that helps the customer experience.
Adrian:
I love that. We did some research a couple of years ago that linked driver satisfaction with customer experience. It makes sense, but the data supported it too. That leads to my next question. When shippers evaluate final mile partners, what are the most critical capabilities or criteria they should look for?
Nate:
We’ve touched on a few already. First, how does the provider’s network overlay with the problem the shipper is trying to solve? That comes down to collaboration and understanding what the customer is trying to accomplish.
Technology is also important. In final mile, everything is real time. Customers want to know how you can fit into their process and technology without requiring them to make exceptions to do business with you. Being seamless on the tech side matters. But talent and people are equally important. This is a people business. The more comfortable a customer is with your culture, your process, your go-to-market approach and your startup process, the more comfortable they become doing business with you and growing with you.
Technology is beneficial when used correctly, but without talent and process underneath it, technology becomes inefficient. Talent and process have to be on point all the time.
Adrian:
Technology is a critical component, especially for visibility, updated ETAs and mobile devices. It has been one of the key enablers in raising the bar for final mile. But as you said, the non-technology components — especially drivers and the broader organization — continue to play a critical role.
Another point you made earlier is partnership. The most successful relationships are those where company cultures align and where there is alignment around metrics, continuous improvement and what matters most. Nate, can you share a customer example that shows how improving final mile operations made a measurable impact on the business?
Nate:
We have some good examples in our network of companies that really understand their consumers. I think there’s a correlation between winning in final mile and winning as a business.
A few years ago, we worked with a retail customer where we were primarily shipping appliances. They approached us and said they had growing e-commerce demand going through their warehouse network and asked whether we could support some of that demand through the appliance network. At first, the question was, “You want to ship a box of nails with a refrigerator? How is that going to work?” But ultimately, it was increased volume, and it was a customer listening to its consumer. They looked at their middle mile network and realized there was demand for other products on a next-day basis. If they didn’t have a full load of appliances, why couldn’t 10% of that shipment be e-commerce?
It worked. We’ve seen that demand grow, and that customer has grown with us over the last several years. It’s a great example of understanding the consumer, working with your supply chain partner and creating a solution that is a win for them, a win for us and ultimately a win for the consumer.
Adrian:
That’s a great example. In retail, once e-commerce started growing, omnichannel became a major challenge. Many retailers had separate e-commerce and store operations, which created inefficiencies. Your example shows the importance of partnership and taking a more holistic view. Instead of simply saying, “We deliver appliances,” you looked at the broader e-commerce challenge and found a way to create efficiency across the network.
Meg, as we wrap up, if you had to give shippers one or two practical actions to improve their final mile operations over the next six to 12 months, what would they be?
Meg:
I would build on what Nate just said. We’ve been talking a lot about multimodal solutions, but even more broadly, customers are coming to us and saying they want to condense their carrier base and drive internal efficiencies. That may span beyond middle mile and final mile. It might include one-way truckload, inbound and intermodal solutions. A shipper may ask whether we can handle an entire region because they’re trying to reduce the number of carriers their teams manage internally.
So first, I would say shippers should make sure they are partnered with carriers that have comprehensive capabilities. Second, especially in light of the current regulatory environment, they should make sure they are working with an established carrier that puts safety at the center of driver hiring, onboarding and compliance protocols. Safety, stringent carrier onboarding and compliance are incredibly important when thinking about scalability and multimodal solutions.
I would also add that shippers should look for partners with a strong balance sheet and the ability to scale. We meet with customers who say they really like their small regional carrier because they provide great communication and service, but that carrier may not have the capital to scale with them into four additional markets over the next two years. Having a partner that can deploy capital, whether for real estate or equipment, is very important.
Adrian:
Great points. Nate, anything to add?
Nate:
I would add to Meg’s point about safety and compliance. Customers need to understand the security and compliance aspects of their carrier network, including on the final mile side. Final mile is often a non-CDL job, so when you read headlines, they are usually about CDL carriers. But it would be naive to think those issues don’t also apply to final mile. It’s a different driving job. Commercial CDL drivers generally aren’t going into customers’ homes. But we treat those driving jobs very similarly from a security and compliance perspective.
The other point I’d add is collaboration and strategy. We are most successful with our customers when collaboration is at the forefront. Both organizations come to the table and talk about how to solve problems and how both sides can win. The customers that do that well are the ones that win. And when they win, we win too.
Adrian:
That ties back to the final mile being the last moment of truth. At the end of the day, the customer is entrusting their final mile partner with their brand reputation. If something goes wrong with a delivery, the consumer is probably going to blame the retailer or brand. That’s why it’s so important to understand the responsibility that comes with these relationships.
Nate, Meg, as I always say at the end of these episodes, we’ve only scratched the surface. We could probably talk for another hour about different dimensions of final mile. We didn’t talk much about technology, but we talked a lot about the human side of final mile, which is arguably just as important, if not more important in many ways. Thank you both for taking the time to join me today and share your insights on final mile delivery.
Nate:
Appreciate it, Adrian.
Meg:
Thanks for having us.
Adrian:
And thank you to everyone who joined us. If you’re watching this episode on demand, either on the Werner website or on Talking Logistics, and you have a question or comment for Nate or Meg, feel free to post it there. I’m sure they’ll be happy to respond. Thanks again for joining us, and I look forward to seeing you on a future episode of Talking Logistics. Have a great day.
