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FedEx Sees Blockchain as 'Next Frontier' For Logistics (bloomberg.com)
Convinced that blockchain is on the brink of transforming the package-delivery business, FedEx is testing the technology to track large, higher-value cargo. From a report: "We're quite confident that it has big, big implications in supply chain, transportation and logistics," Chief Executive Officer Fred Smith said at a blockchain conference in New York. "It's the next frontier that's going to completely change worldwide supply chains." Blockchain uses computer code to record every step of a transaction and delivery in a permanent digital ledger, providing transparency. The ledger can't be changed unless all involved agree, reducing common disputes over issues like time stamps, payments and damages. FedEx's interest in blockchain and the Internet of Things are part of the company's strategy to improve customer service and fend off competition, Smith said.
Ah, trust problems and FedEx....
A few years ago I sold a car part online. Shipped it off and a couple weeks later I got an stressed-out email from the buyer asking where his purchase was.
Checked tracking... it had gotten to a FedEx facility in Ohio and within a few days of my shipping it and was never seen or heard from again.
FedEx made me wait (what seemed like forever to the buyer) so they could investigate before they'd pay the insurance claim on a lost package.
Waited, waited, waited. Finally they got back to me saying it had been delivered in July. Trouble is, I shipped my package in August (and the date I generated the label and all the tracking before it disappeared indicated this).
It was a shockingly long and tedious argument with their agent saying it was delivered and me trying to figure out whether they used a souped up Delorean or a Tardis or what to deliver it a month before I shipped it.
In the end they finally paid out the insurance claim on the lost package, but they made the experience so completely terrible that I've never shipped with FedEx since.