Parcel carrier Veho is rolling out an innovative AI-enabled delivery option that gives price-sensitive e-commerce brands the ability to save on shipping costs by trading day-definite delivery for more open-ended delivery windows at a lower rate.

The technology, if it works as advertised, would shift the current paradigm of moving parcels through regional or super regional networks on a first-in, first-out basis and make Veho one of the first independent couriers to flex transit speeds up or down to improve its own efficiency while still providing a reliable home delivery experience for customers, much like legacy carriers FedEx and UPS operate.

FlexSave is aimed at shippers that want to preserve free shipping for consumers without sacrificing margin in the face of steadily rising prices for last-mile delivery, Veho announced on Tuesday. In exchange for giving Veho more leeway and accepting a guaranteed range of days instead of a guaranteed delivery day, shippers can reduce shipping expenses.

The seven-year-old company relies on 85,000 crowdsourced drivers who use their own vehicles, instead of independent van companies like many competitors, and a tech platform that matches packages and drivers for delivery. It has been aggressively expanding its footprint and now provides last-mile delivery to nearly 60 markets for retailers such as Macy’s, Lululemon, Sephora, Hello Fresh and Stitch Fix, as well as logistics providers such as Flexport, ShipBob, ShipHero and Stord.

The New York-based carrier said it has developed a proprietary technology platform, called MaestroAI, that orchestrates parcel movements by prioritizing fulfillment, batching and routing decisions in real time based on each parcel’s special service-level requirements. Every route each day will be dynamically built based on a seller’s tolerance for shipments to roll to the next day. Purchases that aren’t urgent and don’t need to arrive on a particular day can be set aside at the local distribution center until there is enough density to better fill delivery vehicles or long-haul trucks connecting cities, resulting in higher asset utilization and more efficient routes. The lower cost of delivery enables Veho to pass on savings to retailers.

FlexSave will be available to qualifying shippers in the first quarter, with broader availability later in 2026, Veho said.

Management says FlexSave is a start towards giving shippers more control of their own shipping parameters, with tailored pricing, rather than having to accept standard carrier conditions. Ultimately, shoppers will have more choices during checkout.

“The parcel delivery industry is still operating on a model built for a very different era of

commerce,” said Neel Madhvani, chief product officer at Veho, in a news release. “MaestroAI introduces a better way of delivering parcels — one designed for modern e-commerce, where cost, timing, and customer experience have to be optimized together. FlexSave is the first delivery option that makes this possible.”

FlexSave will be available for both Ground Plus (one-to-five day delivery) and Premium Economy (two-to-eight day delivery) products. That means a Ground Plus service level agreement could add a couple more days to the delivery window, while Premium Economy might take nine or 10 days.

With Premium Economy, shipper savings will mostly come from optimizing the middle mile, as MaestroAI decides which parcels to place on the truck and which to hold at the hub for later transport, Veho explained in an email. MaestroAI can also pull a package forward if there are other packages going to the same address and that would reduce cost. Or, if an entire last-mile route is made up of FlexSave parcels, MaestroAI might push the whole route back a day if it thinks there are meaningful savings on the driver marketplace because the supply of gig workers will be greater.

The delivery feature allows Veho to better compete with ultra-low cost carriers, such as UniUni, SpeedX and Gofo, while providing a better delivery experience. Veho says it will provide upfront transparency about deferred shipments and in-transit visibility through proactive delivery updates, photo delivery confirmation and live support.

Veho operates nine regional sort and delivery centers and 48 last-mile delivery facilities. (Image: Veho)

E-tailers are squeezed between the expectations set by Amazon for fast, free and reliable delivery and legacy carriers annually raising rates about 6% per year — and more recently tacking on a bevy of surcharges that serve as profit centers. To maintain profit margins, brands are forced to choose between charging for shipping, and risk losing most customers, or offering cheap, low-quality delivery often results in a poor customer experience, customer churn and an erosion of their brand reputation, according to Veho and parcel industry analysts.

“FlexSave is just the first step toward flipping the script on delivery pricing and putting brands in control of how delivery is offered at checkout,” said Veho co-founder and CEO Itamar Zur, in the announcement. “In the future, MaestroAI will create new options for e-commerce [shoppers] they did not have before, such as customizing transit time and delivery windows, and even giving [them] the option to speed up or slow down their delivery. With MaestroAI, brands will be able to balance shipping costs, speed and customer expectations, and strategically use delivery to increase checkout conversion, brand loyalty and long-term growth.”

“The ever-increasing shipping rates have put brands in an impossible ‘catch 22’: pay hefty, unsustainable shipping fees, or bear the cost of slow and low-quality delivery that erodes the customer trust,” said Veho co-founder and CEO Itamar Zur, in the announcement. “FlexSave gives brands and logistics leaders a new, better path: a highly-cost effective delivery that keeps the brand promise intact.”

Madhvani joined Veho in October, after previously holding executive positions in supply chain management at three major companies (Chewy, Copart and Staples) with a mandate to create products e-commerce brands can sell as a differentiated service that enhances their merchandise and makes delivery feel like an extension of their brand. The focus would be on designing service levels, optional features and other products that help sellers improve customer relationships and bring better value, he said at the time.

FedEx and UPS already have shipment management technology that offers brands and consumers flexible shipping options. Both offer free versions and paid subscriptions. Free versions have limited ability to affect the delivery, but provide notifications, tracking and other features.

UPS My Choice, for example, allows customers to get packages delivered to a UPS shipping station, different address or to a neighbor, request delivery within a two-hour window and add delivery instructions for the driver, often for an upcharge.

With FedEx Delivery Manager, customers can redirect a package from a residential destination to retail pickup locations, like a Walgreens or FedEx Office store, free of charge, where someone else can also be authorized to pick up the package. The technology also allows recipients to virtually sign in advance for a package that requires authorization for proof of delivery. Recipients can also save delivery instructions for drivers.

Most online sellers currently modulate delivery speed by using different carriers for different services to optimize costs instead of the carrier slowing or accelerating transit, said Ben Emmrich, founder and CEO of Tusk Logistics, in a phone interview.

“Shppers are faced with a complex carrier environment where costs are rising quickly, their resources, bandwidth and tooling are limited, and the path to lower cost per unit needs to go through either more effective carrier negotiations, carrier diversification or a combo of the two. It’s hard to be a Shipper in 2026.

Independent carriers are very good at meeting standard service level commitments, but on-time performance, delivery speed and quality tend to slip as they scale up their networks. Emmrich said Tusk Logistics provides the infrastructure for shippers to find and use alternative carriers nationwide, essentially creating a virtual network with multiple carriers, and then monitoring performance and adjusting volumes to balance for cost and quality.

Click here for more FreightWaves stories by Eric Kulisch.

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