Group Shipment Optimization via Recipient Segmentation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Companies face high shipping costs when trying to deliver packages to a group of recipients by the same date, especially when some recipients are significantly farther away, leading to unnecessary expenses due to the need for expedited shipping methods.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that optimizes shipping costs by identifying 'outlier' recipients who can receive their shipments a day late while the majority receives theirs on time, offering cost-saving options by selecting a less expensive shipping method for the majority and a more expensive method only for the outliers.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the company ships by the shipping method that has the least risk of missing the delivery date for the farthest recipient, then all recipients receive shipments on time, but the company incurs high shipping costs
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the recipient group into two subsets: those who receive shipments within the first time period and those who receive shipments within the second time period. This segmentation allows the company to apply different shipping methods to different groups, using expedited shipping only when necessary and standard shipping for others, thereby reducing overall shipping costs while maintaining delivery reliability for the majority
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the delivery time parameter for different recipient subsets. By allowing the second subset to receive shipments in a longer time period (second time period > first time period), the company can select less expensive shipping methods for this group, directly addressing the cost-reliability contradiction by adjusting the time parameter
2Loss of energy
If the company chooses a slightly longer shipment method for all recipients, then shipping costs are reduced, but outliers receive shipments late
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides recipients into subsets based on their delivery requirements, identifying outliers who need expedited shipping versus those who can accept standard shipping timelines. This segmentation ensures that cost reductions from using longer shipment methods do not compromise delivery guarantees for recipients who require timely delivery
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies different shipping service qualities to different recipient subsets locally. Instead of applying a uniform shipping method to all recipients, the system tailors the shipping approach to each subset's specific needs, providing expedited shipping to outliers and standard shipping to others, thereby optimizing both cost and reliability locally for each group
Data Source
AI summary
A method and system to provide optimizing shipping costs that can help arbitrate between a precise solution at an unreasonable cost and a reasonable solution at a very reasonable cost. In one aspect, a method includes: receiving data related to delivering shipments to a set of recipients at separate addresses; generating a first shipping option to deliver shipments to a first sub-set of the recipients within a first time period, and to deliver shipments to a second sub-set of recipients within a second time period that is greater than the first time period, shipments to the second sub-set of recipients being a greater distance than shipments to the first sub-set of recipients, the first shipping option provides a cost of shipping savings relative to shipping to all of the recipients within the first time period; and presenting the first shipping option in a user interface to a user for selection.