what is the last mile 
the last mile describes the short geographical segment of delivery of communication and media services or the delivery of products to customers located in dense areas last mile logistics tend to be complex and costly to providers of goods and services who deliver to these areas understanding the last miledelivery of telecommunications and media content is instantaneous and very fast for physical products to the perimeter of a densely populated area imagine a trunk line leading to the edge of a city or metropolitan area the branches and leaves must then spread out across the tightly packed buildings and streets to serve customers working and living there the edge of the city to the customer inside the city is the last mile communications and media providers inclusive of broadband cable satellite and wireless spend heavily to upgrade old delivery systems and build out new networks to ensure adequate bandwidth for consumers hungry for data and streaming capabilities on their televisions desktop computers and mobile devices it takes time for these service providers to implement technology solutions for the last mile problem due to the rapidly changing nature of technology these solutions are at risk of being obsolete or not state of the art upon completion last mile logisticslast mile logistics for product delivery have become a central focus for retailers in the e commerce era our instant gratification society demands fast delivery of products ordered online retailers that can achieve this at low or no cost to the customer have competitive advantages amazon utilizes third party services and its own fleet of vehicles to deliver packages to its customers over the last mile to compete other retailers are investing more in setting up distribution centers as close as possible to metropolitan zones and then contracting with ups usps fedex and local courier services to perform last mile delivery services in urban areas deliveries to retail stores restaurants and other merchants in a central business district often contribute to congestion and safety problems making the last mile even more challenging to execute the last mile problem and cryptocurrenciesthe last mile problem has reemerged in the past few years in the context of cryptocurrencies in particular the last mile in this case refers to when a cryptocurrency such as bitcoin is used in a cross border payment such as a remittance the recipient of the bitcoin must find a way to exchange it for local currency in order to use it thus while crypto transactions can provide a quick efficient and cost effective way of sending remittances the last mile problem still stands in the way in many less developed countries 