Human or Robot? Evidence from Last-Mile Delivery Service
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arXiv
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| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Preprint |
| Published: |
2025
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| _version_ | 1866908538943569920 |
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| author | Li, Baorui Ma, Xincheng Han, Brian Rongqing Tang, Daizhong Fu, Lei |
| author_facet | Li, Baorui Ma, Xincheng Han, Brian Rongqing Tang, Daizhong Fu, Lei |
| contents | As platforms increasingly deploy robots alongside human labor in last-mile logistics, little is known about how contextual features like product attributes, environmental conditions, and psychological mechanisms shape consumer preference in real-world settings. To address this gap, this paper conducts an empirical study on consumer choice between human versus robot service, analyzing 241,517 package-level choices from Alibaba's last-mile delivery stations. We identify how product privacy sensitivity, product value, and environmental complexity affect consumer preference. Our findings reveal that consumers are significantly more likely to choose robot delivery for privacy-sensitive packages (11.49%) and high-value products (0.97% per 1% increase in value), but prefer human couriers under adverse weather conditions (1.63%). These patterns are robust to alternative specifications and controls. These results also underscore that delivery choices are shaped not only by functional considerations but also by psychological concerns, highlighting the need for context-aware service design that aligns strategies with consumer perceptions. |
| format | Preprint |
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arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2509_11562 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Human or Robot? Evidence from Last-Mile Delivery Service Li, Baorui Ma, Xincheng Han, Brian Rongqing Tang, Daizhong Fu, Lei General Economics Economics As platforms increasingly deploy robots alongside human labor in last-mile logistics, little is known about how contextual features like product attributes, environmental conditions, and psychological mechanisms shape consumer preference in real-world settings. To address this gap, this paper conducts an empirical study on consumer choice between human versus robot service, analyzing 241,517 package-level choices from Alibaba's last-mile delivery stations. We identify how product privacy sensitivity, product value, and environmental complexity affect consumer preference. Our findings reveal that consumers are significantly more likely to choose robot delivery for privacy-sensitive packages (11.49%) and high-value products (0.97% per 1% increase in value), but prefer human couriers under adverse weather conditions (1.63%). These patterns are robust to alternative specifications and controls. These results also underscore that delivery choices are shaped not only by functional considerations but also by psychological concerns, highlighting the need for context-aware service design that aligns strategies with consumer perceptions. |
| title | Human or Robot? Evidence from Last-Mile Delivery Service |
| topic | General Economics Economics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.11562 |