WO2003023641A1

WO2003023641A1 - Delivery system and method

Info

Publication number: WO2003023641A1
Application number: PCT/AU2002/001037
Authority: WO
Inventors: Grant Morrison; Iain Brown
Original assignee: P2P Community Pty Ltd
Priority date: 2001-08-03
Filing date: 2002-08-05
Publication date: 2003-03-20

Abstract

The present invention relates to a delivery system and method arranged to facilitate the pick-up and delivery of freight from a pick-up point to a delivery destination. The delivery system provides 'job' information to local service providers, such as a taxi companies, who have a usual 'primary' transport function (in the case of taxi companies this is transporting people). The local service provider can choose to take the 'job' and, during or in between carrying out their primary function, can pick-up the freight item and deliver it to a designated destination.

Description

DELIVERY SYSTEM AND METHOD

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a delivery system and method arranged to facilitate the pick up and delivery of goods from a pick-up point to a delivery destination, and, particularly, but not exclusively, to a delivery System and method for dealing with pick-up and delivery in the local pick-up area or delivery area for the local leg of international or inter-state freight.

Background of the Invention

There are a number of known systems which are presently available for facilitating transport and delivery of goods from origin to destination. Together, the presently available systems provide means by which goods may be moved from origin to destination world wide, nationally or within a more local area (eg. city wide or state wide) . Such systems include those provided by national postal services, Global Integrators, Combination Carriers, Freight Forwarders and local couriers (including local postal services) . Global Integrators include large international or state wide national courier operators, who aim to provide a "door-to-door" service. Such a service includes long distance transport, such as air transport, rail freight or ship, together with a local pick-up and delivery legs to ensure that the freight is picked up from the point of origin and delivered to the final destination. Air transport is usually utilised, to facilitate express delivery.

A major problem experienced by such operators is the fact that up to 60 percent of costs for pick up and delivery of an item accumulate in the local pick up and delivery legs . Long-haul transport is relatively efficient. For example, using air transport to transport freight from port to port inter-state or internationally is relatively reliable, cost effective and also easy to monitor (e.g. to enable monitoring of the location of an item in transit) . The large costs and problems arise in the local pick-up and delivery legs from port to destination (delivery) or from location of origin to port (pick-up) . It is in the local legs, therefore, that "door-to-door" service providers such as the global integrators experience their major problems and costs.

Service providers such as the Combination Carriers (e.g. airlines) and Freight Forwarders (the traditional consolidators and movers of bulk cargo) in fact avoid providing a local pick-up and delivery service. More and more customers, however, are demanding a seamless one stop service from all service providers, so there is a great incentive for even the Combination Carriers, Freight Forwarders, and other pick-up and delivery service providers to provide full local pick-up and delivery legs, and therefore face the associated costs and problems.

There are presently a number of ways in which local pick up and delivery is addressed. The current models suffer from the problems of having large fixed costs (because of the necessity to, for example, employ delivery fleets) , fixed fleet sizes (it is difficult to vary the size of fleets to meet periodic variations in demand) and are supply-driven models (eg. extent of service is determined by the service provider rather than by the customer) . The door-to-door service provides, such as the global integrators, may provide their own local transport fleets in addition to global and national transport systems such as air and sea freight. The provision of dedicated local transport fleets results in high fixed costs (cost of vehicles and personnel) . Another problem arises because employed personnel will generally only be able to be employed for relatively inflexible hours . This generally means that the local pick-up and delivery fleets will only be able to provide pick-up operations and delivery operations at specific times in the day. Customers may therefore be required to be available to enable pick-up and delivery within fairly rigorous time windows . It may not be convenient for all the customers to make themselves available in those times. From a customer service point of view, therefore, the use of employed dedicated local transport fleets is not optimal. Other solutions for local pick up and delivery involve utilising the local post office's services or local courier companies (again requiring expense and utilising fleets of vehicles and employees with inflexible work hours) , or requiring the customer themselves to pick up and deliver. As discussed above, service providers such as Combination Carriers and Freight Forwarders are limited in their business because they must utilise one of these unsatisfactory methods.

Another requirement, particularly for express services, is a customer's requirement to be able to track the status of a freight item (i.e. to be aware of its location in transit at any particular time so that they can estimate time of delivery, or estimate a time when they may need to attend a port to pick up the item) . Unfortunately, presently available services do not provide efficient systems for tracking freight status. Further, the presently available (albeit inadequate) tracking systems are not pro-active, and require the customer to make inquiry as to status eg. by phoning into the service provider or logging onto a web site, and do not provide information to the customer without prompting.

Generally, therefore, a customer cannot tell where in transit a particular item is. Although they can usually be advised that the item has been picked up, it is more difficult to provide information on where the item is in transit and when they are likely to receive it. Some carriers provide Web sites which enable a customer to look up status of a delivery. The information presently provided is limited, however. In particular, there is very little ability to provide detailed information on status during the local pick-up and delivery legs. The problems discussed above relating to the inflexibility of dedicated local pick-up and delivery fleets or the absence of any dedicated pick-up and delivery fleet, lead to items not being delivered on time (which is particularly fatal from a customer service point of view for service providers touting an "express" service) or not being delivered at all. Some services have been known to experience a failure rate (failing to deliver on time and failing to deliver altogether) of up to 50%. This is obviously unacceptable. Because of all these problems, customers are not provided with an efficient service, and despite the fact that there are huge volumes of transactions, service providers are confounded by high operating costs which result in extremely low profit margins.

Summary of the Invention

In accordance with a first aspect, the present invention provides a method of facilitating pick-up and delivery of goods to a destination from a pick-up location, comprising the steps of providing a first system arranged for coordinating pick-up and delivery of goods, the first system providing a first message over a communications network, the first message including information on pick-up location and delivery location of goods, to a local service provider organisation which has an existing infrastructure for carrying on of a separate, primary transport function, so that a local service provider may pick-up and deliver the goods on the basis of the pick-up and delivery information, as a secondary transport function.

Preferably, the method also includes the step of the first system being operated by a third party service provider. The delivery and pick-up information may therefore be provided as a service operated by a separate party to the local service provider eg. an organisation whose function is purely to provide the pick-up and delivery information service.

There may be a plurality of local service providers . Preferably, the local service providers are local service provider organisations such as taxi companies, for example. A taxi organisation's primary transport function is to pick-up and deliver people, not goods.

The local service provider is preferably associated with a second system, and the first system communicates with the second system by way of the communications network. In the case of a taxi company, for example, the second system may be the taxi company's communication system (for communication with the drivers) .

Preferably, the first system is a system which has been specifically designed to process information relating to the pick-up and delivery of goods. The first system preferably includes a database for logging a plurality of "jobs" (each job concerning a pick-up and delivery operation) . Preferably, the system is automated and is arranged to automatically receive job information and provide job information, via the database.

Preferably, the system includes a communications interface to enable communications with the local service providers. The communication's interface may include means enabling communication in accordance with communications protocols conforming to the local service provider's communications system.

The first system is preferably arranged to provide lists of jobs relating to the pick-up and delivery of a plurality of items of goods. Preferably, a plurality of jobs may be provided to a local service provider in the form of a manifest, to enable the local service provider to pick-up and deliver a plurality of goods in a consolidated operation.

Preferably, the method also includes the steps of liasing with a first freight carrier, whereby the pick-up and delivery information can include as a pick-up or delivery location a freight carrier depot or drop-off or pick-up point.

The freight carrier may be a global integrator, freight forwarder or combination carrier. The first system may include a communications interface for communicating with a freight carrier communications system.

The method preferably also includes the step of the first system providing goods location tracking information, enabling the customer to track the location of goods items in transit. The method further includes the step of monitoring the location of an item of goods in transit whereby to enable provision of the goods location tracking information. Preferably, the step of monitoring the location of the goods includes the step of monitoring the location of the local service provider who is transiting the goods .

Preferably, the method includes the further step of providing information on pick-up time and/or information on delivery time to a customer, to enable the customer to be available at the appropriate time. Preferably, the customer may specify the time that they will be available and the method is arranged to enable that time to be specified to the local service provider carrying out the pick-up and/or delivery. The customer can therefore, in this advantageous embodiment of the invention, specify when they want the item to be delivered. The delivery pick-up is therefore "customer driven", in contrast to prior art systems .

The method of the present invention enables the utilisation of local service providers, such as taxi companies, local courier companies, even take away food delivery services , that have a primary transport function (ie. carrying out their primary purpose such as ferrying passengers, delivering food) to carry out the secondary function of delivering freight, particularly in a local area from pick-up point to delivery point (door-to-door) . Under utilised service providers earn revenue for performing a secondary function and can therefore be more fully utilised. Further, the under-utilised service providers can earn as much or as little revenue for performing the secondary function as they want to and as is convenient for them. They will earn incremental revenue, for incremental effort. A taxi driver, for example, may continue to ferry passengers whilst carrying goods from the pick-up point to the delivery destination. Preferably, the pick-up and delivery information includes information on a time "window" during which pick-up and/or delivery may take place. As long as the pick-up and/or delivery take place within this time window, the local service provider can carry on with their primary operation. The method also has the advantage that it provides a convenient process by which freight organisations, such as global integrators, may dispense with the high costs of maintaining their own local transport fleets for door-to- door delivery. Further, combination carriers and other freight organisations that do not have their own local transport fleets are able to compete with the organisations presently able to provide a door-to-door service, by utilising the method of the present invention. The method preferably includes the further step of providing revenue to local service providers on the basis of delivery or pick-up jobs carried out. Preferably the revenue may be provided in the form of "reward" points, that the local service provider can exchange for goods or services with organisations recognising the reward points. The organisations may include telecommunication service providers .

Preferably a further advantage of the invention is that it provides an instantaneous and variable pick-up and delivery fleet and variable cost model where there is no need for heavy up front investment (the delivery fleet already exists, as it is a fleet that already has a primary transport function) . This is a significant advantage, for both the Global Integrators and Combination Carriers and other freight organisations . For the Global Integrators, for example, the asset base is lowered (by removing the need for propriety fleets) and operational costs are also lowered (costs incurred through running a propriety fleet) .

In accordance with a second aspect, the present invention provides a method of facilitating the pick-up and delivery of goods, comprising the steps of providing a system arranged to provide pick-up and delivery information to local service providers who already have an existing infrastructure for carrying on of a separate, primary transport function, so that a local service provider may pick-up and deliver the goods on the basis of the pick-up and delivery information, as a secondary transport function, and comprising the further step of the system being operated by a third party service provider.

In accordance with a third aspect, the present invention provides a method of facilitating pick-up and delivery of goods, comprising steps of providing a system arranged to provide pick-up and delivery information to local service provider who already have an existing infrastructure for the carrying on of a separate, primary transport function, so that the local service provider may pick-up and deliver the goods on the basis of the pick-up and delivery information, as a secondary transport function, the system being specifically arranged to process information relating to the pick-up and delivery of goods . The system preferably includes a database for receiving and rostering jobs relating to pick-up and delivery operations . In accordance with a fourth aspect, the present invention provides a method of facilitating pick-up and delivery of goods, comprising the steps of building a computing system which is arranged to log pick-up and delivery information, agreeing with a local service provider organisation already having an infrastructure for the carrying on of a separate, primary transport function, that the local service provider will pick-up and deliver the goods on the basis of pick-up and delivery information, as a secondary transport function, and providing interfaces between the computing system and a local service provider's system, so that the pick-up and delivery information can be provided from the computing system to the local service provider's system. In accordance with a fifth aspect, the present invention further provides a method of liasing with a freight carrier in order to facilitate local pick-up and delivery legs of a freight service, comprising the steps of receiving information on pick-up and delivery jobs from the freight carrier, and providing, via an interface with a local service provider's system, the local service provider having an existing infrastructure for carrying on of a separate, primary transport function, pick-up and delivery information for the jobs so that the local service provider can deliver freight from a local freight carrier depot to a destination or from a destination to a local freight carrier depot, as a secondary transport function.

In accordance with a sixth aspect the present invention provides a system for facilitating pick-up and delivery of goods to a destination from a pick-up location, the system comprising a database for receiving and storing information on pick-up location and delivery location of goods, and messaging means arranged to provide a first message over a communications network, the first message including information on pick-up location and delivery location of goods from the database, to a local service provider organisation which has an existing infrastructure for carrying out on of a separate, primary transport function, whereby the local service provider may pick-up and deliver the goods on the basis of the pick-up and delivery information, as a secondary transport function.

The system and method of the present invention may also be utilised to provide a novel method of "fulfilment" for good(s) ordered from an e-commerce network site, such as an e-commerce web site on the Internet. Preferably, a merchant web site may include a means for communicating pick-up and delivery information to a system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, wherein the system can then be utilised to provide delivery of goods ordered by a customer from that e-commerce web site, to the customer.

Advantageously, this enables relatively cheap fulfilment, and has the additional advantage of the merchant not having to worry about fulfilment themselves as it will be provided for by the system and method of the present invention.

Note that "e-commerce network site" is not limited to the Internet, but applies to any network where electronic commerce may be carried on.

Brief Description of the Drawings

Features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of embodiments thereof, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a flow diagram illustrating a prior art process for a "door-to-door" freight service;

Figure 2 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 3 is a schematic block diagram of a part of - li the system of figure 2 ;

Figure 4 is a flow diagram of a door-to-door delivery method in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; and

Figure 5 is a further flow diagram illustrating a door-to-door delivery method in accordance with a further embodiment of the present invention.

Description of the Preferred Embodiments

Figure 1 illustrates a prior art process for the delivery "door-to-door" of freight, as may be implemented by the large courier organisation such as a Global Integrator. This process illustrates the inefficiencies and expenses which are characteristic of the prior art. In the following description, numerals in the left hand column correspond to the numerals designating the arrow indicators on the diagram. The arrow indicators are arranged to illustrate the process in a flow format. 1 A consumer 10 (this may be any person, eg. an individual, a merchant, any other organisation) initiates the process by contacting the freight operator (the freight operator may be a Combination Carrier, Freight Forwarder or Global Integrator) and provides them with consignment information.

2 Presently, the consumer 10 may be required to drop the item of goods at a designated drop-off point 11 (which may be a "port" associated with the operator, eg. such as a depot close to an airport) . This would generally be the case for Freight Forwarders and Combination Carriers, who do not have their own transport fleets for local areas and need the consumer to organise for the freight to be dropped at the drop-off point. 3 As an alternative to "2", the operator (in this case they may be a Global Integrator with their own transport fleet) dispatches a vehicle to pick up the parcel from a local pick-up location and return it the port 11 (destination) . 4 The operator consolidates freight for international line haul leg 12. 5 In the meantime the customers (consumer 10 and receiver 11) may require tracking of the goods. This can be done presently via web or telephone (the customer having to be "pro-active" and take steps to obtain the information) . It cannot, however, be done efficiently, as discussed above, and in particular cannot be done within the local pick-up and delivery legs .

6 When the international line haul leg 12 has been completed, the operator may dispatch a vehicle from the port (pick-up point) 13 to deliver to the receiver 11 at only pre-set local delivery times.

7 Multiple trips may be required to the customer 11 in order to complete delivery due to unavailability of the receiver 14. 8 Where the operator does not have the facility to provide transport for the local leg (eg. the operator is not a Global Integrator, but may be a Freight Forwarder or Combination Carrier) the receiver 14 may be required to perform the pick-up operation themselves from the port 13.

This prior art example illustrates the lack of operator service flexibility which results in bad customer service (where no local fleets are provided the customer will have to pick-up or drop-off goods themselves, and even where they are provided there is very little information regarding process of the item of goods in transit) . It also illustrates that when local transport fleets have to be provided they are expensive and inflexible.

Figure 2 is a block diagram which illustrates a system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

In this embodiment, the system comprises a computing system 20, including a job logging and distribution system 21 and communications interface arrangement 22. The computing system may include any appropriate computing hardware and software to carry out the functions described in the following description, but will preferably include a server computing system arranged to serve via the communication interface and receive information relating to pick-up and drop-off operations for delivery of freight.

The system 20 is set up as a separate system and is arranged to coordinate pick-up and delivery of goods. The system 20 is arranged to provide pick-up and delivery information to local service providers 23, in this embodiment via a communications network 24. Local service providers include local service providers who already have an existing infrastructure for the carrying out of a separate, primary transport function. In this embodiment, the local service providers are taxi companies, local courier companies, or "fast food" delivery organisations.

With the pick-up and delivery information, the local service provider can pick-up and deliver the goods, as a secondary transport function, which they are able to carry on in tandem with their primary transport function.

In the case of a taxi driver, therefore, the taxi driver may be provided with the pick-up and delivery information for a particular item of goods . When the taxi driver picks-up the goods, they may still carry on their primary function (transporting passengers) and "work" their way to the destination for the goods, to make a goods drop-off at the destination. This results in an increase in utilisation of the local service provider's infrastructure . In this embodiment, the job system 21 is arranged to provide a time "window" during which the local service provider may pick-up and drop-off the goods . This may give the local service provider some time to continue carrying out their primary function while they are undertaking goods delivery.

The communications network from the system 20 to the LSP (local service provider) 23 may be by any suitable communications network 24 and the system 20 preferably includes a plurality of methods of communication via the communications interface 22. The communications network 24 in one embodiment includes an interface with the LSP's 23 organisations system. For example, where the LSP 23 is a taxi service, the communications network 24 may include an interface with the taxi organisations communications system. It is known to provide computer arrangements in cabs which deliver passenger job information to a screen viewable by the taxi driver. In one embodiment, the communications interface 22 provides an interface with this type of communications system, enabling presentation of pick-up and delivery information on the taxi driver's screen. Another method of communication employable by the present embodiment is the mobile telephone network (for example, job information could be provided directly by broadcasting to the mobile phone system, to be picked up by taxi drivers via their mobile telephones) . Either SMS or voice (via interactive voice software) may be provided for communication.

Generally, any type of convenient communications may be utilised for communicating with the local service provider. As well as providing information on jobs to LSP 23, the system 20 is arranged to receive and log requests for jobs to be carried out. Jobs may be given to the system 20 by any persons. In one embodiment, the system 20 is arranged to liase via communications interface 22 and communication network 24 with carriers 25, who may include operators such as Global Integrators, Freight Forwarders and Combination Carriers. Carriers 25 will receive job information from their customers and forward it on to the system 20 via the communications networks 24. The system 20 logs and processes the job information and then delivers it via the communications networks 24 in the form of pick-up and delivery information to LSPs 23. The system 20 therefore may deal with the local pick-up and delivery legs for global freight, on information provided by local freight transporters , such as Combination Carriers , Global Integrators and Freight Forwarders . The system may also operate directly with customers, including individual customers 26 and merchants 27 to receive information relating to pick-up and deliver operations within local areas serviced by the LSPs 23 associated with the system 20. In this way, the system 20 may replace dedicated local courier services.

Because the system 20 can communicate with the LSPs 23, it is a simple matter for the system 20 to establish the location at any time for a particular LSP that has taken on a job. For example, if the LSP is a taxi driver, radio communication may be used, GPS (in the future a lot of taxis will be fitted with GPS) , base station triangulation (mobile phone) or any other method of establishing the LSPs position. The position within the local area of a particular job can therefore be tracked by the system 20. In this embodiment, this information is "pushed" out to a Web site, which can be accessed by a customer 26 to enable the customer 26 to track their job. This local tracking information is not available, or is very difficult to obtain, with present services. Another aspect of the present invention relates to the facilitating of electronic commerce. A customer 26 may log on to a merchants 27 Web site and order a item of goods. Presently, e-commerce delivery (fulfilment) is haphazard and discourages e-commerce. In one embodiment of the present invention, software 28 is provided on the merchants site to enable the site to log a job with the system 20. The system 20 can then push out the job to LSP 23 (if pick-up and delivery is in the local area) or can go via LSPs 23 and international carriers 25 if the delivery is global .

Figure 2 is a block diagram showing the job system 21 block of the system 20 in a little more detail. In this embodiment, because the system 20 interfaces with a number of different systems (potentially) via the communications network 24, some method of importing/exporting data files which may have different formats (relating to the different systems) is required.

The job logging system 21 includes a database, which logs the pick-up and delivery information for export to the LSPs. In order to ensure the database stores the data in a consistent format, an importer 31 is provided to convert data from import files having different formats (ie. job information coming in from customers) to a consistent format for storage in the database 30. Similarly, an exporter 33 is provided to convert exported data into file formats 34 complying with interfaced systems requirements. This enables the system to be substantially automated.

Figure 4 is a flow diagram illustrating a process for implementing the local legs of an international delivery, utilising the embodiment of the present invention described above. In the following description of the flow process, numerals at the left correspond with the numerals adjacent the process indicator arrows in the figure.

1 A consumer 10 initiates the purchase and completes consignment via an operator 12 in a similar manner to the process described in relation to figure 1. The operator 12 may be any organisation, including Combination Carrier, Freight Forwarder or Global Integrator.

2 The operator provides, via the communication network 24, job information to the system 20 relating to the pick-up and delivery information.

3 Over the communications network 24, the system 20 broadcasts details via convenient communications medium (eg. SMS, WAP or any other communications medium that is convenient) to LSPs, in this case taxis . 4 The taxi driver attends at the pick-up destination and the consumer 10 enters a PIN (or other security means) with the driver for authentication/confirmation of pick-up.

5 The taxi driver 23 delivers to the operator consolidation point for global travel.

6 At the delivery locality (ie. after the international leg has occurred) the system 20 broadcasts pick-up details via the communications networks 24 to LSP 23 within the locality. At the same time the receiver 14 is advised by the system 20 via the communications network of a proposed delivery time. The receiver 14 confirms availability.

7 Delivery is completed, and all parties receive confirmation (proof of delivery) .

As discussed above, a security means is utilised in the process of this embodiment in order to validate the delivery/pick-up process. In broad terms, the system is arranged to provide a security means to the customer (either the shipper or receiver) via the communication means (eg. SMS, E-mail, automated voice) . The security means is preferably, but not essentially, a PIN. The security means will also be sent to the driver of the vehicle (in this example the taxi driver) . In the case of the customer being the receiver of the parcel, the receiver is required to provide the security means (ie. match the PIN) to the driver so that the driver can validate that the receiver is the correct person to receiver the item. Where the customer is the shipper, the driver will provide the security means (PIN) to the shipper to prove that the driver is the correct person for the pick-up.

The job information provided to the system and stored in the database (for use with various aspects of the process), in a preferred embodiment is as follows:

1. The file information should be in text file format - each record forming a new line.

2. The file should be sent via FTP format from International Air Express Operator to the system.

3. Information required per line includes :

3 .1 Id No.

3 .2 Consignment Number

3 .3 Shipper Name

3 .4 Shipper Number

3 .5 Pickup Address 1

3 .6 Pickup Address 2

3 .7 Pickup Town/State/Postcode

3 .8 Pickup Country

3 .9 Shipper Contact Name

3 .1( ). Shipper Contact Number

3 .1] Shipper Mobile Number

3 . i > _ Shipper Email Address

3 11i. Freight Carrier

3 .14 1. Freight Carrier Number

3 IE Freight Carrier Service

3 16 Expected Pickup Date

3 r, 1 , Expected Pickup Time

3 IE I . Number of Items

3 l≤ ) . Item Information:

3 .19 1. Item Numbers

3 .19 2. Item Weight

3 .19 3. Item Dimensions

3 .19 4. Item Cube

3.20. Total Weight 3 .21 . Total Cube

3 .22 . Status

It will be appreciated that other information or less information than this may be provided in other embodiments of the present invention. In this embodiment, as illustrated by this example, the system carries out the following:

1. information validation (is all the information in the right format and complete - such as complete pickup or delivery details) ,

2. load management including sortation of jobs into manifest or loads

3. pro-active customer service such as Advance Pickup and/or Delivery Notification and Shipper/Receiver availability confirmation via SMS, email, voice;

The system performs pro-active customer service tasks such as advance pick-up and/or delivery notification, shipper/receiver availability confirmation. The process described in relation to figure 4 illustrates how easy it is to track the job in transit. Both the consumer and the receiver are able to track the job generally at any point, and are even able to track the status of the job within the local area. Because the system 20 establishes a time for pick-up with the receiver 14 before confirming with the LSP 23, delivery is substantially assured. The use of a security means, such as a PIN, assures that the item of goods is being picked up and delivered by the correct LSP, and that confirmation of receipt occurs. The present system handles job monitoring such as current status eg. in transit to job, pick-up complete, in transit to destination or drop-off complete.

Figure 4 shows a process for the delivery of freight which includes an international leg. As discussed above, the system and method of this embodiment can also be used for local delivery within a locality.

Such a process is illustrated in figure 5.

1 A consumer 10 (using interactive voice or any other communications means available) orders pick-up from the system 20.

2 The system 20 broadcasts detail via the communication means 20 to LSPs 23.

3 The consumer 10 is informed of pick-up confirmation and the consumer enters PIN with the driver for authentication/confirmation of the pick-up.

4 The system 20 broadcasts delivery time and confirms availability with the receiver 14.

5 Delivery is completed and all parties receive confirmation (proof of delivery) .

A LSP may earn revenue for carrying out the pick-up and delivery operation. The revenue may be cash or credit, but in one embodiment, the revenue includes "reward points" which enable the receiver of the reward points to cash them in for goods/services with an organisation which accepts the reward points . The organisation may be a telecommunications organisation eg. a mobile phone operator. As far as costing of delivery/pick-up for items is concerned, any model can be used. In a preferred embodiment, there are two models for costing jobs. Firstly, cost can be on flat fee per job (or batch of jobs) basis. Secondly, the system may be arranged to determine a rate based on number of items, time taken, distance, destination points. Time taken distance require input from the driver to the system to calculate costing such as odometer readings at start and finish.

Modifications and variations as would be apparent to a skilled addressee are deemed to be within the scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A method of facilitating pick-up and delivery of goods to a destination from a pick-up location, comprising the steps of providing a first system arranged for coordinating pick-up and delivery of goods, the first system providing a first message over a communications network, the first message including information on pick- up location and delivery location of goods, to a local service provider organisation which has an existing infrastructure for carrying on of a separate, primary transport function, so that a local service provider may pick-up and deliver the goods on the basis of the pick-up and delivery information, as a secondary transport function.

2. A method in accordance with claim 1, including the step of the first system being operated by a third party service provider.

3. A method in accordance with claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the first system is a system which has been specifically arranged to process information relating to the pick-up and delivery of goods .

4. A method in accordance with any one of the preceding claims, comprising the step of the first system receiving a second message, the second message being from a local service provider confirming that they have received the information.

5. A method in accordance with any one of the preceding claims, comprising the further step of the first system receiving a third message, the third message being from a customer requiring pick-up and delivery of goods and providing information to the first system regarding the pick-up and delivery location.

6. A method in accordance with claim 5, wherein the customer is a freight carrier.

7. A method in accordance with any one of the preceding claims, wherein the local service provider is a taxi company.

8. A method in accordance with any one of the preceding claims, wherein the first message is provided to a second system by way of communications network, the second system being the communication system for a local service provider organisation.

9. A method in accordance with any one of the preceding claims, wherein the first message includes information on a plurality of jobs relating to the pick-up and delivery of a plurality of items of goods, whereby information on a plurality of jobs may be provided to a local service provider in the form of a manifest, to enable the local service provider to pick-up and deliver a plurality of goods in a consolidated operation.

10. A method in accordance with any one of the preceding claims, including the further step of the first system providing goods location tracking information by way of the communications network, enabling a customer to track the location of goods in transit.

11. A method in accordance with any one of the preceding claims, comprising the further step of monitoring the location of goods in transit whereby to enable provision of goods location tracking information.

12. A method in accordance with claim 11, wherein the step of monitoring the location of goods includes the step of monitoring the location of the local service provider who is transiting the goods .

13. A method in accordance with claim 12 , wherein the step of monitoring the location of the local service provider includes the step of determining the position of a communications device of the local service provider.

14. A method in accordance with any one of the preceding claims, comprising the further step of the first system sending a fourth message over the communications network to a customer, providing information on potential pick-up and/or delivery times, to enable a customer to be available at the appropriate time.

15. A method in accordance with claim 14, wherein the first system is arranged to receive a fifth message from a customer, the fifth message including confirmation that the customer will be available for pick-up and/or delivery at the appropriate time, or specifying a time that they will be available.

16. A method in accordance with any one of the preceding claims, wherein the first message includes information on a time window. during which pick-up and/or delivery may take place, the time window providing some time for the local service provider to carry out their primary function at the same time as undertaking the pick-up and/or delivery.

17. A method in accordance with any one of the preceding claims, comprising the further step of providing revenue to local service providers in the form of "reward" points that the local service provider can exchange for goods or services with organisations recognising the reward points .

18. A method in accordance with any one of the preceding claims, comprising the further step of a first system providing a seventh message to a customer advising them of a security means, whereby when the local service provider attends at the customer location the security means may be utilised to enable confirmation of pick-up and delivery.

19. A method in accordance with claim 18, comprising the further step of the first system providing an eighth message to a local service provider advising them of a security means.

20. A method in accordance with claim 18 or 19, wherein the security means is a personal identification number.

21. A method of facilitating the pick-up and delivery of goods, comprising the steps of providing a system arranged to provide pick-up and delivery information to local service providers who already have an existing infrastructure for carrying on of a separate, primary transport function, so that a local service provider may pick-up and deliver the goods on the basis of the pick-up and delivery information, as a secondary transport function, and comprising the further step of the system being operated by a third party service provider.

22. A method of facilitating pick-up and delivery of goods, comprising steps of providing a system arranged to provide pick-up and delivery information to local service provider who already have an existing infrastructure for the carrying on of a separate, primary transport function, so that the local service provider may pick-up and deliver the goods on the basis of the pick-up and delivery information, as a secondary transport function, the system being specifically arranged to process information relating to the pick-up and delivery of goods.

23. A method of facilitating pick-up and delivery of goods, comprising the steps of building a computing system which is arranged to log pick-up and delivery information, agreeing with a local service provider organisation already having an infrastructure for the carrying on of a separate, primary transport function, that the local service provider will pick-up and deliver the goods on the basis of pick-up and delivery information, as a secondary transport function, and providing interfaces between the computing system and a local service provider's system, so that the pick-up and delivery information can be provided from the computing system to the local service provider's system.

24. A method of liasing with a freight carrier in order to facilitate local pick-up and delivery legs of a freight service, comprising the steps of receiving information on pick-up and delivery jobs from the freight carrier, and providing, via an interface with a local service provider's system, the local service provider having an existing infrastructure for carrying on of a separate, primary transport function, pick-up and delivery information for the jobs so that the local service provider can deliver freight from a local freight carrier depot to a destination or from a destination to a local freight carrier depot, as a secondary transport function.

25. A system for facilitating pick-up and delivery of goods to a destination from a pick-up location, the system comprising a database for receiving and storing information on pick-up location and delivery location of goods, and messaging means arranged to provide a first message over a communications network, the first message including information on pick-up location and delivery location of goods from the database, to a local service provider organisation which has an existing infrastructure for carrying on of a separate, primary transport function, whereby the local service provider may pick-up and deliver the goods on the basis of the pick-up and delivery information, as a secondary transport function.

26. A system in accordance with claim 25, being specifically arranged to process information relating to the pick-up and delivery of goods .

27. A system in accordance with claim 25 or claim 26, further comprising a receiving means, the receiving means being arranged to receive a second message, the second message being from a local service provider confirming that they have received the information.

28. A system in accordance with claim 27, the receiving means being arranged to receive a third message, the third message being from a customer requiring pick-up of and delivery of goods and providing information regarding the pick-up and delivery location.

29. A system in accordance with any one of claims 25 to 28, wherein the messaging means is arranged to include in the first message information on a plurality of jobs relating to the pick-up and delivery of a plurality of items of goods, in the form of a manifest, to enable the local service provider to pick-up and deliver a plurality of goods in a consolidated operation.

30. A system in accordance with any one of claims 27 to 29, the system including goods location tracking means, arranged to provide goods location tracking information, enabling a customer to track the location of goods in transit.

31. A system in accordance with claim 30, wherein the goods location tracking means includes means arranged to determine the position of a local service provider's communications device.

32. A system in accordance with any one of claims 27 to 31, messaging means being arranged to provide a fourth message over the communications network to a customer, the fourth message including information on potential pick-up and/or delivery times, to enable a customer to be available at an appropriate time.

33. A system in accordance with claim 32, the receiving means being arranged to receive a fifth message from a customer, the fifth message including confirmation that the customer will be available for pick-up and/or delivery at the appropriate time, or specifying a time that they will be available.

34. A system in accordance with any one of claims 27 to

33, wherein the first message includes information on a time window during which pick-up and/or delivery may take place, the time window providing some time for the local service provider to carry out their primary function at the same time as undertaking the pick up and/or delivery.

35. A system in accordance with any one of claims 27 to

34, wherein the messaging means is arranged to provide a seventh message to a customer advising them of a security means , whereby when the local service provider attends at the customer location the security means may be utilised to enable confirmation of pick-up and delivery.

36. A system in accordance with claim 35, messaging means being arranged to provide an eighth message to a local service provider advising them of a security means.

37. A system in accordance with any one of claims 25 to 36, the system further including an interface to a local service provider system for providing the job information to the local service provider.

38. A computer program arranged, when loaded on to a computing system, to cause the computing system to implement the system of any one of claims 25 to 37 or 43.

39. A computer readable medium providing a computer program in accordance with claim 38.

40. A computer program arranged, when loaded on to a computing system, to control the computing system to implement the method of any one of claims 1 to 24 or 43.

41. A computer readable medium providing a computer program in accordance with claim 40.

42. A method in accordance with any one of claims 1 to 20, comprising the further step of providing information from an e-commerce network site to the first system, the information including information on the pick-up and delivery of items ordered by a customer from the e- commerce network site whereby the first system can then utilise that information to provide the first message, whereby pick-up and delivery of goods ordered from the e- commerce site can be made to the e-commerce customer.

43. A system in accordance with any one of claims 25 to 37, the receiving means being arranged to receive information from an e-commerce network site provider system, the information including information on the pick- up and delivery of good(s) ordered by a customer from the e-commerce network site, wherein the system is arranged to incorporate the information in the first message whereby to enable pick-up and delivery of good(s) ordered from the e-commerce network site by a customer.

44. An e-commerce system, including server means for providing an e-commerce network site, a communications means arranged to send information to the system of claim 43 , the information including information on the pick-up and delivery locations of good(s) ordered from the e- commerce web site by the customer.