Community
Courier (CC)

Community couriering is a
new set of functionality being introduced by the Network Distribution
project. The Community Courier is key to the issues the Network
Distribution service is looking to tackle in the wider world, of
providing an effective distribution and remuneration for alternative
media producers. A Community courier provides low cost transport for
media products using people's and organisation's spare capacity.

The community couriers are
individuals and organisations/companies who offer themselves as
couriers for a fee or for free.

Examples would be a person
attending a conference where they could get 20 euro off their travel
for taking some books. Another example could be a theater van
returning form Italy to Netherlands after dropping off a theater set,
with an empty van.

We need a software system
that can facilitate the various requirements of Community Courier
service. See http://3d.openmute.org/
for further updates.

This is currently a sub
component of the More is More project, a distribution system for
human rights and social issues media.

We would also see such a
courier system eventually being CMS agnostic and even available as a
plugin to any open standards system.

 

What defines a community courier service

How does it work for the courier

User makes themselves available as courier

Courier would need to give geo locative data of pick and drop off
availability, these could be entered ahead of time.

• Time

• locations; start/ midpoints/ end point

• transport type

• Size and type of packages she/he can take

• Time scale of journey

Courier has limited availability, time and location

Personal communication probably needed as pick-up and drop off
might need detailed arrangements

Pick-up/ drop off detailed arrangements

Maybe a courier Role is needed

Price for courier job is assigned

Courier accepts job

Courier is tracked and has ways of giving feedback on journey

Drop off is confirmed

Warehoused goods could be visible for couriering

Network Distribution would add a fee or percentage per trip

How does it work for the user

Based on Geo Locative information the system could see if there is
a community courier option available

The producer could offer up a courier job

Producer could offer or select fee for job

Network Distribution would add a fee or percentage per trip

Simple routing

We would look to borrow models from digital network routing
protocols such as, Open Shortest Path First
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OSPF , to build a software system for
putting several courier journeys together to reach a distant
destination, find cost effective route, etc

Problems and issues

If someone if flying, what happens if they miscalculate their
excess baggage and have to pay excess or abandon goods at airport?

Models for pricing

At present we are not sure how to set fees, options.

• We have set fees

• Couriers make offers

• Producers make offer

• We make our fees and commissions
  transparent

• We allow the market to determine
  price

• How do we join up couriers to make
  routes from start point to end point of product requested journey

• We could have recommended rates

• How would people abuse the system

• Could we show going rates or other
  rate comparison data

 

Note: we need to get a super
simple version out ASAP

 

Courier reliability

• Courier trustworthiness

• Couriers making mistakes and
  losing or having damaged products

• FOAF, ranking, comments

• Courier does not get paid until
  drop off

• If products lost courier forfeits
  all or part of the fee

 

Note: the service is a wholesale
service and not retail, this way we avoid certain regulation

Courier might need to bargain if
products are damaged

 

Tracking and fulfillment

How does Geo Locative date feed into fulfillment and tracking.

We need a system to cope with these features, this obviously
relates to the monitoring of stock control, but would need its own
interfaces for a variety of users.

Fulfilment
locations

Currently Drupal has a
fulfillment location setting, which appears to be the way in which a
products postage point of origin are known by the system. The
fulfillment location setting is limited in Drupal and each
fulfillment center has to be manually entered.

This feature reflects the
design of Drupal's ecommerce software, which is orientated around the
conventions of ecommerce based on a single warehouse and not
Peer2Peer orientated as is the Network Distribution System.

Requirements

We need some way to have
users address details to be become fulfilment
centres
for a class of products owned by a user or group.

(NOT INCLUDED AS PART OF
THIS SOFTWARE COMMISSION). At a later date we need locations that
products locations when they are being warehoused when in transit in
the Network Distribution system can also become fulfillment centres.

Warehousing

Since postage costs can contribute a significant portion to a
products price, especially if there are postal fees for sending the
goods out and then returning the products. These costs take a large
portion of the producer or agents income.

Also with returns it may not be necessary to send them back to the
producer, as they may be needed by another agent closer to the agent
who is looking to return the products.

My proposal is that there are regional warehouses set up, where
good can be stored while they are in transit or waiting for new
orders to be made.

END

--