Role and potential of a trusted vendor certification program to foster adoption of unassisted off-hour deliveries

The paper describes the research conducted by the authors regarding the willingness of receivers of supplies to accept unassisted off-hour deliveries (UOHD)—deliveries made during the off-hours without staff from the receiving establishment present at the time of delivery—from vendors certified by a Trusted Vendor Certification Program (TVCP). The main intent of the TVCP is to certify vendors as worthy of trust to conduct UOHD in a way that is both community friendly and that does not put the receiving establishment at risk. To this effect, the authors collected attitudinal data from a sample of 450 receivers from two different metropolitan areas, who were asked whether or not they would be inclined to accept UOHD if the vendors are certified as “trusted vendor” by a TVCP. The paper conducts descriptive analyses of the data and estimates behavioral models to gain insight into the industry sectors and establishment types that are the most inclined to accept UOHD if a TVCP program is created.