CarParts.com reported $1.8 million in adjusted EBITDA for Q2 2026, the highest quarterly result since Q3 2023, according to CEO David Meniane on a Seeking Alpha earnings call. The recovery hinges on A-Premium, the company's wholly owned last-mile delivery subsidiary, which is approaching a $50 million annual run rate and targeting 300,000 packages delivered.
The move is vertical integration at the most expensive inch of e-commerce. CarParts built A-Premium to handle its own final-mile handoff for heavy, awkward auto parts — bumpers, hoods, exhaust assemblies — that typically destroy margin when handed to a third-party carrier. By owning the trucks and the route density, the company converts a variable cost into a fixed asset that improves with volume. Meniane framed the EBITDA result as proof that fulfillment scale now underwrites profitability across the parent business.
The mechanism is route density compounding. Every additional package on an existing route drops the per-unit cost of delivery. At 300,000 packages, A-Premium reaches a threshold where the fixed cost of a driver, truck, and fuel spreads thin enough to beat both UPS and regional LTL rates on bulky goods. The subsidiary also opens a second revenue line: CarParts can sell last-mile capacity to other sellers of oversized product, turning the delivery network into a standalone profit center. The EBITDA gain reflects both internal margin capture and early third-party revenue.
A small physical-product brand lifts the same play by treating fulfillment as product, not overhead. Start with a single metro where you already ship volume — say, 50 orders a month to greater Austin. Hire a contract driver on a per-route basis, not salary, and batch deliveries into one weekly run. Charge customers a flat $15 white-glove fee for scheduled delivery, positioned as premium service. Your cost per stop falls to $8-10 once you hit 20 stops per route, and you pocket the spread. Document the unit economics in a simple spreadsheet: cost per mile, stops per route, revenue per delivery. Once one city works, clone the model to the next metro with sufficient order density.
The key is owning the customer communication. Send the delivery confirmation, the driver ETA, the post-delivery photo. That direct touchpoint — absent when you hand off to FedEx — creates repeat purchase lift because the customer associates your brand with reliability, not the carrier. CarParts proved the EBITDA equation at 300,000 packages; you prove it at 20 stops per week in one city, then scale the route density from there.
The broader pattern is fulfillment as moat. Once a brand controls last-mile at scale, competitors cannot easily replicate the cost structure or the customer experience. CarParts turned a logistics line item into the engine of its EBITDA recovery, and smaller brands can run the identical play by starting hyper-local and expanding only after the first route clears profit.
The takeaway
Own last-mile delivery in one dense metro, batch orders into weekly routes, and convert fulfillment from cost center to margin and moat.
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