3 ms·

Although automation could certainly be implemented to some extent here, note that on city routes the carrier will often use this form when not near their vehicl

Although automation could certainly be implemented to some extent here, note that on city routes the carrier will often use this form when not near their vehicle (flats fit in the bag). There are several options for body-worn thermal printers, but durability of the device and output might be a problem. These cards are printed on pretty heavy stock and are really very sturdy. As far as body-worn printing of adhesive labels, I'm not aware of any product for that. Thermal print (on thermal paper, not thermal transfer printing) tends to fade very easily in sun or rain and would also be a problem.

ygra 11y ago
DHL does that (in Germany at least). The delivery people have combined scanner/printer things that thermal-print on adhesive labels. So if they didn't find you and you need to pick up a package, you get a card in the mailbox with a printed slip on top of it which says where you can pick it up as well as the opening hours of that shop (which is a great improvement to before when the opening hours weren't listed). When you give them a package (you don't have to bring it to the post office, you can give it to delivery people as well), they scan the label and print you a receipt (which also has the tracking number on it so you can track it). The nice thing about that is that adding new features to the print-out (e.g. the opening hours mentioned before) is just a software update. Some delivery services here also give you very accurate tracking with a delivery window that's just 15 minutes or so and you get the option to re-route the package online if you know you're not present during that time – or tell them to drop it off in a certain place (I have asked for non-fragile things to just thrown on our balcony in the first floor before; it's secure enough and I'd rather have a package instead of having to wait for redelivery or pick it up), or let them deliver to a neighbour. All in all I think there are numerous possible improvements here and not all of them revolve around designing a better form that may be obsoleted by some of the better options.
- alizauf 11y ago
  I completely agree that any online option or specific printed labels would be better than a generic card.
BinaryIdiot 11y ago
This is a solve-able problem. First, we need to gather data regarding the frequency of leaving these notes. I suspect this is practically exceptional given the required costs associated with requiring a signature (only anecdotal but even more expensive purchases I've made almost never need a signature). Once you collect data that's your baseline for the printer's reliability. It must work at a minimum that many times per delivery route (in practice it probably doesn't). There are dozens of options for small, portable printers that are relatively inexpensive. So even before you start custom designing a more reliable printer get the costs of purchasing them in bulk and pilot them in an area attached to mail carrier bags. Fading / inking coming off would be an edge case; the vast majority of these notes are going to be basically warnings that you need to pick up your package or asking them to redeliver it and you have a very limited amount of time to do this before it gets sent back. Packages have barcodes, have the printer scan that to instantly generate an appropriate label. It's not the easiest thing in the world but I could put together a pilot for this inside of a week with proper USPS API access. Get into a fast iteration cycle, increase reliability of printers and prints, automate changing of ink and paper upon delivery route completion through some docking mechanism. I almost want to just start building this thing, ha!

ygra 11y ago

DHL does that (in Germany at least). The delivery people have combined scanner/printer things that thermal-print on adhesive labels. So if they didn't find you and you need to pick up a package, you get a card in the mailbox with a printed slip on top of it which says where you can pick it up as well as the opening hours of that shop (which is a great improvement to before when the opening hours weren't listed). When you give them a package (you don't have to bring it to the post office, you can give it to delivery people as well), they scan the label and print you a receipt (which also has the tracking number on it so you can track it). The nice thing about that is that adding new features to the print-out (e.g. the opening hours mentioned before) is just a software update. Some delivery services here also give you very accurate tracking with a delivery window that's just 15 minutes or so and you get the option to re-route the package online if you know you're not present during that time – or tell them to drop it off in a certain place (I have asked for non-fragile things to just thrown on our balcony in the first floor before; it's secure enough and I'd rather have a package instead of having to wait for redelivery or pick it up), or let them deliver to a neighbour. All in all I think there are numerous possible improvements here and not all of them revolve around designing a better form that may be obsoleted by some of the better options.

alizauf 11y ago
I completely agree that any online option or specific printed labels would be better than a generic card.

BinaryIdiot 11y ago

This is a solve-able problem. First, we need to gather data regarding the frequency of leaving these notes. I suspect this is practically exceptional given the required costs associated with requiring a signature (only anecdotal but even more expensive purchases I've made almost never need a signature). Once you collect data that's your baseline for the printer's reliability. It must work at a minimum that many times per delivery route (in practice it probably doesn't). There are dozens of options for small, portable printers that are relatively inexpensive. So even before you start custom designing a more reliable printer get the costs of purchasing them in bulk and pilot them in an area attached to mail carrier bags. Fading / inking coming off would be an edge case; the vast majority of these notes are going to be basically warnings that you need to pick up your package or asking them to redeliver it and you have a very limited amount of time to do this before it gets sent back. Packages have barcodes, have the printer scan that to instantly generate an appropriate label. It's not the easiest thing in the world but I could put together a pilot for this inside of a week with proper USPS API access. Get into a fast iteration cycle, increase reliability of printers and prints, automate changing of ink and paper upon delivery route completion through some docking mechanism. I almost want to just start building this thing, ha!