Related topic - - -
A couple of days ago, I received a shipment from Amazon that was delivered to the door by the Amazon delivery service (not UPS or USPS). The truck pulled up in front of the house, and I watched the driver spend at least ten minutes sorting through and arranging packages in the back of the truck before he brought the box to the door. Then, the truck sat in front of the house for anther 5-10 minutes while the driver continued to shuffle and arrange packages.
I understand that 'Last mile delivery' is the most difficult part of any shipping process. That's why many vendors choose USPS, and also why companies like Amazon and UPS partner with USPS for 'last mile service' - USPS is required to deliver to every address in the country, while other deliver services only deliver upon demand, so 'last mile' is baked into their DNA. . And while there are occasional errors, for the most part USPS does a very good job of 'last mile' delivery. USPS has a clear advantage and in my opinion, they should charge Amazon, UPS and the others for taking on that responsibility.
But if Amazon or UPS insists on doing the 'last mile', then I would think that they would have implemented some automation to organize and simplify that process. Specifically -
- They dispatch a group of trucks to deliver to a specific set of addresses - presumably with the addresses grouped together so that multiple trucks are not crossing paths as they make deliveries. I don't know if they do this, but I would think that they would have a GPS system that is programmed to optimize the route taken by each truck to minimize the miles driven, and that would be updated daily to reflect the actual addresses that they are delivering to. They have a computerized database listing the packages and delivery addresses - all it would take is to link that to a GPS system to optimize routing. Incidentally, I think UPS may have something like this - part of the lore surrounding UPS is that they consciously route their trucks in a way that avoids left turns since left turns tend to introduce delays along the way.
- The antics of the Amazon driver in shuffling through the packages on his truck were absolutely silly and unnecessary. Why are packages placed on trucks in the order in which they are to be delivered? USPS does that - so why can't Amazon? Again, the addresses are in their computer, so why don't they just get their act together to use that information to simplify the task they have to do?
FedEx is different in that their core service is
overnight delivery, while UPS and Amazon's core service is merely 'fast' delivery' The only practical way for FedEx to assure overnight delivery is to do it themselvs - but that also means that their delivery is strictly 'upon demand' which means that coordinated optimized routing and package sorting has to be part of their process.