The Last 50 Feet: The Delivery Problem
from the new-delivery-technologies dept
There are lots of stories about logistics problems of e-commerce companies, but how about logistics problems at the customer’s end? Getting the package to the customer. Here’s an article about a company that is trying to create smart boxes (larger than a mailbox and including some serious computer smarts) for accepting package deliveries when customers aren’t home. There are some cool ideas in there, but it seems like a fairly expensive proposition to build and install all these boxes.
Comments on “The Last 50 Feet: The Delivery Problem”
Their next product, "Front Porch 2000"....
Why does this seem like an overly complicated solution to a fairly basic problem (nobody home to sign)? What kind of company is going to have few enough employees to need this, and yet be able to afford it?
The situation for selling this to consumers is even worse. Normally I just have things shipped to work. There are only a few situations where this isn’t practical (if I had firearms shipped to me under my federal firearms licence, for instance, I wouldn’t have them shipped to work). But there’s no way I’m having a dog-house sized mailbox stuck on my lawn for the few times when I receive packages.
Jon