E-Commerce Impacts on Oregon Household Level Deliveries, Trips, and VMT

Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) faces a combination of declining revenues from traditional sources like fuel taxes due to electric vehicle (EV) adoption, fuel-efficient vehicles, and potential travel patterns changes (e.g., telecommuting). In addition, maintenance and operation costs have seen large increases due to inflationary pressures. In this context, ODOT needs to innovate its revenue models to ensure the long-term sustainability of the transportation system. A potential innovation is the introduction of an e-commerce deliveries fee. This type of fee could be a sustainable long-term source of revenue because: (a) The last two decades saw a rapid growth of e-commerce sales, both in the US and Oregon. This trend gained further momentum during the global pandemic. According to e-commerce sales reports released by the US Department of Commerce, e-commerce sales accounted for approximately 7% of total retail sales in 2015 and 16% of total retail sales in 2024 (US Department of Commerce, 2024). (b) Long-term growth is expected to remain strong due to demographic changes, new generations will be more used to online-shopping, and also because retailers are continuously expanding their online offerings and products. Although an e-commerce deliveries fee may seem appealing there is no study or data available that can assess the financial impact for households and potential equity implications. The lack of data and studies in this area prompts several questions, including: (1) What type of households across the state are likely to pay more e-commerce delivery fees? (2) For households, how significant will the fees be in relation to the value of the products being delivered or other transportation related fees? (3) How would this fee impact households across the state, i.e. in rural vs urban areas? (4) What is the potential equity impact of this fee for lower income households? This project is a necessary first step that will provide valuable insights to understand the impacts of an e-commerce delivery fee in terms of equity and potential revenue at the household level.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Contract Numbers:

  SPR 875

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Federal Highway Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Managing Organizations:

  Oregon Department of Transportation

  355 Capital St NE MS42
  Salem, Oregon  United States  97301
• Project Managers:

  Bagwell, Matt

• Performing Organizations:

  Portland State University

  P.O. Box 751
  Portland, OR  United States  97207-0751
• Principal Investigators:

  Figliozzi, Miguel

• Start Date: 20231001
• Expected Completion Date: 20260331
• Actual Completion Date: 0

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Delivery service; Electronic commerce; Equity; Fees; Households; Revenues
• Geographic Terms: Oregon
• Subject Areas: Finance; Freight Transportation; Planning and Forecasting;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01964194
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Oregon Department of Transportation
• Contract Numbers: SPR 875
• Files: RIP, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Aug 28 2025 2:25PM