How UPS Delivers Faster Using $8 Headphones and Code That Decides When Dirty Trucks Get Cleaned (technologyreview.com)

With Amazon's imminent plans to launch a low-cost package delivery service, UPS is about to face intense competition from a company with top customer-tracking capabilities and even artificial-intelligence expertise. To tackle it, the company is turning to advances analytics. From a report: In 2016, it began collecting data across its facilities. Today there are about 25 projects based on that data, grouped under the acronym EDGE (which stands for "enhanced dynamic global execution"). The program has sparked changes in everything from how workers place packages inside delivery trucks in the morning to how the vast army of temporary hires that UPS recruits during the busy holiday season are trained. Eventually, data will even dictate when UPS vehicles get washed. The company expects to save $200 million to $300 million a year once the program is fully deployed.

[...] Another project tells seasonal workers where to direct the outbound packages that UPS vehicles pick up throughout the day and bring to the company's sorting facilities. UPS hires nearly 100,000 of these workers from November through January. Typically, these people would need to memorize hundreds of zip codes to know where to place parcels, but last winter UPS outfitted about 2,500 of them with scanning devices and $8 Bluetooth headphones that issue one-word directions, such as "Green," "Red," or "Blue." The colors correspond to specific conveyor belts, which then transport the packages to other parts of the building for further processing.

Comments

obligatory, by now

[sheramil]

http://marshallbrain.com/manna1.htm

Re:obligatory, by now

[CODiNE]

Definitely. However in the book the owners of the Manna systems network them and share data. Wouldn't that put them at a competitive disadvantage, it would also most likely be illegal given how little you can ask former employers about workers.

But yeah, headsets with indoor mapping via WiFi... machine learning managing fast food supplies and routines... it's getting VERY doable these days.

Re:obligatory, by now

[rtb61]

They never will. Reality corporations are basically psychopathic dicks. They will never service all areas unless forced to, focusing all efforts on the most profitable locations and then competition and greed will always create cabals to eliminate that competition and hugely inflate profits margins. This would kill town after town and well, you can see the problems.

This is exactly why government needs to do essential services because more uniform provision of service across the community ensuring a more distributed society across the country, run on a more fair basis.

Of course with US politics the way it is, entering it from the outside seems more like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?..., if there is a greedily stupid way of doing things badly the US will find it.

Re: obligatory, by now

[c6gunner]

It's so cute when someone thinks private industry will pass on cost savings to consumers.

Check out the price of a 70" 4k LED TV in 2015 vs now. Let me know what you find.

Re: obligatory, by now

[ShanghaiBill]

It's so cute when someone thinks private industry will pass on cost savings to consumers.

If they are in a competitive industry, they have no choice. If they don't pass on the savings, their competitors will. For instance, when grocery stores can cut costs, they pass nearly all savings along as lower prices. Tech companies are protected from competition by IP laws, so they pass on far less. You can only buy an iPhone from Apple.

when gas was ~$4/gallon and both FedEx and UPS raised their rates claiming it was because of higher fuel costs? When gas fell to ~$2/gallon, did you see them lower their rates?

This is an example of "implicit collusion". That is what you get with a duopoly. More market participants make that much harder.

Re: obligatory, by now

[GameboyRMH]

It's like when people think giving companies a tax break will mean all their employees will get a rise in their wages.

Naivety is so cute.

And it's so easy to fool them with crumbs. Like when Trump organized the current redistribution of wealth to the 1%, companies gave about 3.3% of the money they received from corporate tax breaks to workers as one-time bonuses, and most workers lapped it up - "5 stars, would cut taxes for the ownership class again!" they thought. They even got offended when someone pointed out that 3.3% is crumbs.

It's almost difficult to blame the 1% for playing these people like the fools they are for every penny they're worth. Almost.

Half-way finished.

[Gravis Zero]

This is just the halfway point between human based systems and total automation. Right now, the computers are the brains and the humans are the brawn. After they have the brains part worked out, they'll start replacing the brawn with robots. If they are this far advanced into automation then they are already working on the robotic component.

Re:Half-way finished.

[JaredOfEuropa]

I wouldn’t worry about robotic overlords. Not if their conquest depends on Bluetooth.

Re:Half-way finished.

[Immerman]

You've got that a bit wrong there: as you say, the computer is already the brains, AI is good enough. Humans are already the brawn - which means that to replace us, they need automated brawn of comparable utility. And human hands and bodies are impressively nimble and versatile. It's robotics that aren't good enough yet, but they're advancing rapidly.

Re:Half-way finished.

[Antique Geekmeister]

If I may? I do understand computers. Many of the concerns about AI are not from designed or evolved malice on the part of the AI. It's from excessive trust in a system that responds in nanoseconds and may have enormous power, power that was granted them by accident or because of excessive trust in a fallible architecture.

Re:Had a lot of bad UPS experiences

[93 Escort Wagon]

I haven’t had this problem with either UPS or FedEx.

Amazon delivery, on the other hand... a couple weeks ago, I had to return a package that had been thrown into the grass inside a fenced yard (not for the first time). It was out there a couple days because the Amazon delivery driver had recorded “handed directly to a neighbor” - some of my neighbors have odd hours, so it takes a while to make contact with all of them. I finally happened to notice a small yellow corner of an envelope poking up amid a bunch of tall grass..

I’ve had Amazon drivers stuff boxes into trees (“left in a secure location”, the delivery note said - thank God the imbecile actually took a delivery photo that time!); in the grass; sitting in the rain, right underneath a laminated 8”x11” sign stating “please deliver packages to the back door”; all sorts of ridiculous locations. I’ve complained every time, and been told each time that I can’t exclude Amazon delivery from my options.

I’ve had Prime for years... but, after the latest debacle, I cancelled all my subscribe and save deliveries and am spending the next ten months (till renewal time) exploring alternatives to Amazon. There are certainly a number of companies trying to get into that space...