[PLUG-TALK] Recycling with IT, Re: Amazon shipping ...

[Paul Heinlein]

On Tue, 19 Feb 2019, Keith Lofstrom wrote:

> Imagine a reusable form of the Amazon shipping bags; the bags won't 
> have printed labels, instead a permanent QR code and an RFID tag, 
> which is associated online with "need-to-know" metadata when the bag 
> is filled and shipped.
>
> When the recipient empties the bag, it goes back to the mailbox for 
> collection and return, cleaning and reuse. This is mostly a data 
> infrastructure problem.

It's also a shipping-infrastructure issue.

Return-shipping using private shipping companies like Fedex would I 
suspect significantly increase consumption of fossil fuels by those 
companies, especially in sparsely populated rural and suburban areas, 
since they'd have to make more stops in order to pick up return bags 
(unless, I guess, you only returned a shipping container when you're 
expecting another delivery).

The most efficient way to return the "bag," would be via US Mail. If a 
decent percentage of the container returns could be handled by the 
local letter carrier, then the return costs could approach the 
marginal cost of US Mail. It would be efficient (in both fuel and 
labor) by virtue of taking advantage of the daily routes already in 
place. Assuming a fair shipping rate, it would also go a long way to 
help the finances of the postal service.

-- 
Paul Heinlein
heinlein at madboa.com
45°38' N, 122°6' W