Both UPS and FedEx have tens of thousands of couriers roaming the world to pick up and deliver packages, making millions of stops per day. Thus, it’s no surprise that the majority of their wireless efforts focus on their courier operations. Their challenge is to use wireless to speed up the process to improve customer service. To do this, both UPS and FedEx are providing new wireless handhelds to their couriers, as well as exploring ways to use wireless technologies in other equipment.

Saving Time at FedEx

The company’s new PowerPad device uses a Bluetooth radio to send package information?scanned during pickup?and frees the courier from having to dock the handheld in order to activate the data transfer, which shaves off about 10 seconds per stop. The PowerPad alone will save the company $20 million per year among the 40,000 couriers, says FedEx’s Ken Pasley, director of wireless systems development at FedEx Services, the company’s logistical arm.

FedEx’s PowerPad also has infrared connectivity, which FedEx uses to send lock and unlock signals to the 50,000 drop boxes it visits each day. This eliminates the issue of managing keys. Nevertheless, FedEx also hopes to save couriers’ time by switching to Bluetooth, a wireless technology that does not require couriers to line up the PowerPad’s infrared aperture with the drop box’s. However, Bluetooth’s power consumption complicates this effort, according to Pasley, since its utilization would require couriers to change drop box batteries more frequently.

The company would also love to skip drop boxes that are empty, so it is testing the reliability of Bluetooth to transmit a package detection signal to an approaching courier. But, there is a risk that a drop box that signals it is empty actually has a dead battery, which would cause a courier to neglect packages and jeopardize FedEx’s promise to deliver packages on time.

In about a year, FedEx will add 802.11b radios to its PowerPad terminals, mostly to keep up with Microsoft’s operating system evolution and the improved processing power of the Intel XScale processor that will debut at that time. A specific function is yet to be determined for 802.11b in those terminals, but true to its overall technology strategy, FedEx would rather have the technology in place before it’s needed than lose ground to competitors later.

Couriers do more than pick up and deliver packages; they also answer questions and take orders for replacement supplies such as labels and packing boxes. FedEx would like to take advantage of that customer face time to offer more services and reduce the time needed to do so. Thus, FedEx may develop information look-up and retrieval systems that would enable couriers to answer questions at the customer site on packaging rules or export regulations, as well as order supplies. Today, the courier has a thick manual that is usually left in the truck.