gps goes postal: could help solve usps delivery woes
This new device was commissioned by the United States Postal Service in order to hunt down some of the inefficiencies in their mail delivery process. Developed by California’s TrackingTheWorld, the gadget is slipped inside of a letter, and tracks the precise journey of an individual piece of mail.
The LetterLogger is small enough to be concealed inside of a standard #10 business envelope, yet contains sophisticated GPS and motion-sensing technology which can record every movement along the letter’s travels. Not only can it record the precise position and timing of each location, but its motion sensors can detect the amount of time when the letter is sitting still, which could help ferret out wasted time during the delivery process.
They should slap one of these directly on every mail carrier too. I wouldn’t be surprised to see some delays at the neighborhood bar, donut shop and strip club.
[via Engadget via NaviGadget]
categories: gps + navigation strange + wonderful
tags: gps letter mail miscellany motion sensor navigation postal satellite shipping tracking usps
November 24th, 2007 comments (3): stumble it! digg it! by: technabob
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Just for your information postal carriers have a device they carry with them on the route called a MSP Scanner. They scan when they leave the office and every 45 minutes they have bar codes in the mailboxs they scan. They a they have a lunch scan and a scan when they finish lunch. They scan at the end of the route and when they return to the office they scan back in for completion of route. I believe they have no time to go to the strip club as you suggest or the local bar. The postal service tracks the daily times of all carriers evryday on the job.
Do you think it can track every time we get chased by a dog, have to give directions to a lost motorist, Check up on Aunt Mae to see if she’s broken her hip, or when we find your dog eight blocks away. If you want to find waste, I suggest you find some management types at their three hour lunch, until then, get a life…
Gary, I could not have said it better myself. I am one of those carriers who would rather be home than sitting somewhere having a long lunch. We all know there are those carriers who like to waste time one way or another in order to prolong their day. You are correct though about some management personnel. I loved the job 10 years ago when I started. As the delivery model has changed, (DPS letters, FSS flats, circulars, spurs) all being run separately on the side, I find myself being frustrated wondering what idiots are making these decisions to have us take the mail to the street as we are now required. I understand that these multi-million dollar machines are being used to sort the mail so we don’t have to. If they would allow us to put everything into one bundle for delivery (even for cluster boxes), the little extra time we would spend in the office would be outweighed by the less time we would spend on the street. Maybe I am out of my mind for thinking this way but I have about 20 (12 slot average) cluster boxes on my route and the time saved by placing one bundle in each slot instead of sorting and sticking 60-70 separate pieces would save a lot of time on the street. Let me know if I am wrong for thinking this way. I love walking into businesses and having the owner standing there watching me sort the mail in front of them. I feel like an idiot when that happens but there is nothing I can do about it. Just wanted to add my two cents.