Quote:
Originally Posted by
solipsism 
I hate when they do that. I have two solutions for these delivery companies.
- I'm guessing they have to scan in everything individually but not use a relative system where you put into a container and then a single scan of that container at a new location updates every intem within.
- I hate having to wait all day for a package that needs to be signed. I figure they are put on the trucks in the relative order they are delivered and I know the shipped data is on their website within a couple minutes of delivery so why not use a backend system that gives you ever-shrinking approximation of the likely time it will get delivered using a sliding window setup.
Apple:
Ordered on: Mar 12, 2010 at 05:35 AM PDT
Shipped on: Mar 31, 2010 via UPS
UPS:
Status: Billing Information Received
Shipped To: ANTIOCH, CA, US
Shipped/Billed On:04/02/2010
Here's my current status:
LOUISVILLE, KY, US\t04/03/2010\t12:42 A.M.\tIMPORT SCAN
CN\t03/31/2010\t7:21 A.M.\tBILLING INFORMATION RECEIVED
I like most things about UPS but their tracking,
Your suggestions are interesting:
Let's assume that for scheduled large pickup batches such as these, before pickup Apple electronically provides UPS with the:
--Batch#, Pallet#, Traveler#, Pkg#, Signature required, Cubes, Weight, zip, scheduled delivery date (plus a lot of other detail) for each package
--Each batch consists of thousands of individual packages, palletized acording to zip code and devivery date;
This is the "billing info received"
Once UPS has this "billing info" it can fan-out the delivery, processing and tracking requirements and match it with its schedules (pickup, depots, sorting/sub-batching, loading/unloading, flights, trucks... down to the destination depot.
At this point (before anything has left the shipper), tthere is enough information for UPS to post individual tracking info with:
--expected arrival date and latest delivery time on that date. (in case of the iPads, this is the same for all non-rural orders)
They also can compute best/worst delivery times for normal orders based on weather, history, hub traffic, location, etc.
You leave the destination depot detail scheduling. to the local depot traffic manager.
Then, the shipping process begins... with ever diminishing batches, sub-batches being scanned, processed, rebatched, schedule-adjusted, new-fan-out, at each point along the planned/adjusted route.
The Traveler# is a push-down stack of numbers, generated in transit, that ideneifies groups of packages as they lose their batch identity abd gain new ones.
So, as the days dwindle down to a precious few. the schedule/progress info becomes more accurate.
All the while. the traffic manager at the destination depot is monitoring his expected receipts/disbursements and refining his schedule for space, personal, vehicles.
As his "likely" schedule emerges he can use the Traveler# fan-out to batch post refined expected/worst delivery time-- your sliding window.
This could be posted daily (or hourly, when we get to the short strokes). UPS could even offer an option to IM the deliveree as the schedule changes or solidifies.
Mmmm... Scan, Fan. Schedule, Post, Process, Repeat.... even I could write a program to do that on an iPod (with the help of the cloid)
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