Over time, parcel shipping has become a busy industry. Every day thousands of packages are transported between the continents through the different shipping companies around the world.
However, beyond knowing the delivery date and the reception points through which the package has passed, there are no options that allow us to obtain more details about the status of a shipment.
It is in this instance where Living Packets comes to the rescue with the creation of a box that allows to know in real time everything related to the shipment of a package, in addition to its location.
In this sense, the Living Packets box shows us if our package has suffered any shock, its internal temperature or the condition it is in through a camera installed inside the box.
Added to this, with the Living Packets box you will have the opportunity to speak to the delivery man in charge of the package through a speaker and microphone built into the structure.
Designated by the name of The Box, This box is made of a rigid material with a capacity of 32 liters in its internal part, and has the ability to fold and automatically adapt to the product it contains to prevent it from being moved during transport. It also has a smart lock that allows the safe to be opened and closed via the telephone and an authorization from the owner.
And if you think that this is all you will get with The Box, you are wrong, since on the outside we have an electronic ink screen as a replacement for paper labels, which, given its nature, consumes little energy and allows the label can be reused with each shipment.
In addition to this, we have a series of sensors in charge of monitoring the status of the package, whose generated information is then sent to the mobile phone in which you can obtain data associated with humidity, temperature, if it presents bumps, the weight it supports, the internal pressure, light level to which it is exposed, among others.
Sending packages with advanced and sophisticated logistics
The advantages present in the use of this box for the shipment of packages are evident. One of the main ones is that it practically allows us to know every detail of the process.
However, one wonders what is the real utility of this box. And it is logical to think that the use of it is given by the considerable value that the object stored inside may have to be sent.
Generally, in these types of circumstances, the company that sells the product assumes responsibility in the event of an incident, while the company in charge of shipping provides coverage for the package in case of loss.
It will be necessary to consider what the cost of it is and the business model established by the developer for the use of the box. In this sense, Living Packets pointed out that The Box would cost 100 times that of a regular cardboard box. However, as it is reusable, the investment would be recoverable in the short or long term, depending on the time the client manages to complete the 100 shipments.
The dynamics in the use of the box lies in the fact that the company that sends the products is the owner of the box and the customer can choose whether to send with this box or with a conventional one, being the customer himself who also pay for the additional cost.
Subsequently, the dealer would have to return for the box to return it to the company, a situation that would cause an additional effort to add to the logistics, which would have to reconsider its viability and profitability.
Update:
Stphane Lerays, from LivingPackets, clarifies the above doubts:
Our concept is called Packaging-as-a-Service on a pay-as-you-go basis (billing only for the use of THE BOX and its services). The important thing is to understand that THE BOX does not belong to the sender (merchant or otherwise) and remains the property of LivingPackets. We want THE BOX to circulate and be reused hundreds of times before it needs to be restored. So we have devised many ways to allow circulation. THE BOX does not usually return to the sender but continues on its way, there is no return logistics and therefore there is no cost or environmental impact from this point of view.
That is to say:
1. If you receive a shipment that you want to return (or part of it), simply press THE BOX button to arrange the return to sender. 2. If you have an empty THE BOX, you can always use it for your own shipments. 3. If you have THE BOX at home, you can return it to a nearby relay point and get a reward for doing so. Then be used by the next person looking for a package. 4. You can always give the empty BOX to a neighbor or friend to use. 5. You can use THE BOX to send products for recycling, resale or to donate to NGOs. 6. They work with logistics providers so that they can recover, when delivering their shipments, the unused units of THE BOX for recycling.
A fantastic idea.
