Portuguese 
English 
Spanish 
6 min of reading 
25 comments 
With Record Investment of R$ 34 Billion in 2025 and the Purchase of Kangu in 2021, Mercado Livre Accelerates Intermediary-Free Model, Tests Extra Shipments, Pressures Traditional Mercado Livre Carriers and Anticipates a Gradual Transition That Could Redesign Earnings and Logistical Risks of Aggregated Drivers in 2026
In 2021, when it acquired Kangu, and again in 2025, when it announced R$ 34 billion in investments in Brazil, Mercado Livre made it clear that it wants more control over its own logistics network. In this context, Mercado Livre carriers are at the center of the debate about the future of freight in 2026, especially for aggregated drivers who currently depend on the classic route model.
Since then, the company has been increasing direct contact with drivers through extra shipments and tests with its own fleet management in selected regions. The question that arises among aggregators and fleet owners is straightforward: to what extent will this advancement of the own operation reduce the space for traditional Mercado Livre carriers and affect the finances of those who deliver packages every day.
How Mercado Livre Carriers Work Today
To understand what could change, it’s essential to remember how the system was set up. For years, those who wanted to work as aggregated drivers did not speak directly with Mercado Livre.
-
A new Brazilian shopping center worth R$ 400 million will be built in an area equivalent to more than 4 football fields, featuring 90 stores, 5 cinemas, a supermarket, a college, and parking for 1,700 cars, potentially generating 3,000 jobs.
-
Larger than entire cities in Brazil: BYD is building a 4.6 km² complex in Bahia with a capacity for 600,000 vehicles per year, but the discovery of 163 workers in conditions analogous to slavery has shaken the entire project.
-
With an investment of R$ 612 million, a capacity to process 1.2 million liters of milk per day, Piracanjuba inaugurates a mega cheese factory that increases national production, reduces dependence on imports, and repositions Brazil on the global dairy map.
-
Brazilian city gains industrial hub for 85 companies that is equivalent to 55 football fields.
The process involved, above all, Mercado Livre carriers, who acted as a bridge between e-commerce and the drivers.
In practice, Mercado Livre hired a carrier, which in turn recruited the aggregated driver. Initially, only drivers with their own vehicles were allowed.
Later, carriers that provided vehicles and hired delivery people to work in the company’s cars emerged.
The central point was always the same: there was intermediation, a link between the aggregated driver and Mercado Livre’s main operation.
How Money Flows Between Mercado Livre, Carrier, and Driver
The second step is to understand the payment flow.
Mercado Livre carriers are paid per route completed and then pass a portion of this amount onto the driver, also per route.
There are very few cases of payment per package delivered, but the predominant rule continues to be remuneration per closed route.
If a delivery person receives, for example, R$ 250 to complete a route, it is because Mercado Livre paid the carrier a higher amount for that same trip.
The carrier receives the total, pays the driver, deducts its own operating costs, and keeps what’s left.
This is the classic function of Mercado Livre carriers: managing routes, drivers, and operational risks, capturing the margin that remains between what comes in from e-commerce and what goes out to the aggregator.
Why It Makes Sense to Cut the Intermediary in Logistics
From a business perspective, the calculation is simple.
If every private company seeks to increase profit, the obvious solution is to eliminate intermediaries that consume margin without being indispensable in technology or in the relationship with the end customer.
In the case of logistics, this means taking direct management of drivers and routes.
With the purchase of Kangu in 2021, Mercado Livre began dealing directly with partner commercial establishments, which function as agencies and pick-up points.
In practice, it transformed this network into a sort of own carrier, integrating physical points, technology, and drivers into the same ecosystem.
The more routes are pulled into this structure, the less the dependence on traditional Mercado Livre carriers tends to be.
The Role of Kangu and the Experience of Other Platforms
The idea of cutting intermediaries is not new in the sector.
Shopee had already implemented a similar model with the Onfleit modality, in which the company itself manages drivers directly.
In about six months, this modality came to account for more than half of the platform’s deliveries, reducing the share of outsourced carriers, although without eliminating them completely.
In the case of Mercado Livre, Kangu plays a similar role.
By connecting physical stores, pick-up points, and drivers, the company builds its own network that allows Mell, as it is called in the sector, to act less as a customer of Mercado Livre carriers and more as a direct competitor of this service.
Each route internalized in this own model represents one less freight in the portfolio of partner carriers.
Extra Shipments as a Laboratory for Direct Communication with Drivers
The extra shipments are another clear sign of change.
In this modality, Mercado Livre deals directly with the driver, without the intermediation of a carrier.
The route comes through the app, the value is displayed, and the driver decides whether to accept it or not. It is a practical laboratory of what a broad operation would look like without Mercado Livre carriers in the middle of the process.
In recent months, this direct-line logic, which previously focused on extra shipments, has also been expanded to the aggregator model.
Instead of relying solely on the scale of a carrier, Mercado Livre is starting to test ways to summon drivers, create routes, and control performance indicators directly through its own technology.
This opens space to adjust remuneration, goals, and routes in real-time, without sharing decisions with intermediaries.
Will Mercado Livre Carriers End in 2026
The doubt circulating in groups of drivers and fleet owners is whether this movement means the end of Mercado Livre carriers in the short term.
From the analysis of the sector itself, the most realistic answer today is that they should not disappear all at once, especially in 2026, but will have their space gradually reduced.
Shopee, even after a few years of Onfleit, still maintains partner carriers, albeit in smaller volume, but still present.
In the case of Mercado Livre, the presence of these companies is still very strong and plays an important role in regions where the Mell infrastructure does not reach with the same efficiency.
The scale of the operation, which still sometimes relies on Correios, means that any abrupt rupture in Mercado Livre carriers poses a risk of disorganization throughout the logistics chain.
Why Changes Need to be Gradual in Mercado Livre Logistics
With a chain that involves hubs, distribution centers, partner agencies, pick-up points, Correios, and different modalities, any adjustment directly impacts all ends at the same time, from major centers to smaller municipalities.
That’s why, even with a hunger for profit and control, Mercado Livre tends to make changes in stages, and not in one abrupt cut with Mercado Livre carriers.
In practice, this means replacing specific routes, testing pilot cities, increasing the weight of extra shipments and Kangu, and only then moving towards a broader reduction of contracts with carriers.
For the aggregated driver, the transition may bring gains in some regions, with direct negotiation, but also greater pressure in others, where competition for routes and control of goals by the e-commerce will become stricter.
What Could Happen to Aggregates’ Income Starting from 2026
In the short term, the impact on the finances of aggregated drivers is expected to show up unevenly.
Where the own operation is dominant, the trend is that Mercado Livre will capture a share of the margin that currently belongs to Mercado Livre carriers, which could result in value adjustments, higher productivity targets, or specific bonuses for critical routes.
In areas with complex operations or seasonal demand, carriers should continue to serve as an important buffer, absorbing risks and organizing fleets for Mell.
In these scenarios, aggregated drivers can continue negotiating directly with business owners, rather than handling everything through Mercado Livre’s app.
The difference is that, the more extra shipments and Kangu’s structure consolidate, the less bargaining power Mercado Livre carriers will have when discussing freight and transfers with the platform.
In the end, what is shaping up for 2026 is not an instant extinction of carriers, but rather a scenario in which Mercado Livre chooses, route by route, where it is worth keeping the intermediary and where it is more profitable to take direct management of drivers.
In your opinion, if Mercado Livre could choose between paying less by internalizing routes and keeping Mercado Livre carriers as partners, which model should prevail to not harm the aggregated drivers who rely on that income?
Qualquer mudança é válida para tirar das transportadoras as negociações sobre frete e km rodado.
Pensando como patrão, internalizar rotas, óbvio. Não conheço nenhum comerciante que **** deixar de ganhar mais para manter um setor que pode ser desativado sem dar prejuízo. Se todos estivessem no lugar do ML fariam o mesmo.
O mercado livre deve fazer igual a Shopee, não ter mais tranportadora e sim o frete deve ser tratado direto com o dono do caminhão,sendo assim não terá mais problemas com a sua logística.
É lógico que o valor do frete negociado tem que ser bom,para que o agregado faça um serviço de qualidade.