Topic: Decentralized Parcel Service (Read 885 times)
That sounds right! We just need the software to collaborate with other people in the network who has the resources and ability to send the item from point A to B, which would also take care of distributing the compensation. A lot of people own bikes, cars, extra space in their garage (for mail stations). We just need it to gain traction and reach a critical mass.
A mate of mine pitched this to me about 4 years ago. He is in logistics. A lot of trucks are not fully utilised, esp on the return trip. You're talking about an Uber for logistics.
With bitcoin becoming a $6bn industry, and OpenBazaar development doing well, we now have an almost entire ecosystem in place, all that's left's the delivery system that could scale up against legacy systems like USPS, UPS, FedEx, etc. Not to say that the existing system doesnt work, but there are those that would benefit from participating in the shipping business, add that to the efficiency of decentralized systems, there is no reason for us to not make a similar implementation for shipping physical systems.
What I'm thinking of is a fleet of volunteer bike couriers who get paid in bitcoins that get released out of escrow after delivery confirmation. Longer distances would then need several stops, each courier dead dropping the package in a mail station operated by another member, to be forwarded to the next station, etc. (All of that assuming the item is a small-medium parcel not weighing more than a few pounds.)
I know that doesn't sound like a well thought out solution, and it's not exactly a white paper, I just wanted to see what solutions other people have made to address this. If there's already an existing discussion about this, please feel free to leave a link as a reply.
Related links:
Shyp.com
A reddit thread about this same topic:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1haxrp/decentralized_anonymous_parcel_delivery_service/
Anonymous Physical Object Delivery:
http://www1.cs.columbia.edu/~elli/papers/APOD_PETS09.pdf
What I'm thinking of is a fleet of volunteer bike couriers who get paid in bitcoins that get released out of escrow after delivery confirmation. Longer distances would then need several stops, each courier dead dropping the package in a mail station operated by another member, to be forwarded to the next station, etc. (All of that assuming the item is a small-medium parcel not weighing more than a few pounds.)
I know that doesn't sound like a well thought out solution, and it's not exactly a white paper, I just wanted to see what solutions other people have made to address this. If there's already an existing discussion about this, please feel free to leave a link as a reply.
Related links:
Shyp.com
A reddit thread about this same topic:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1haxrp/decentralized_anonymous_parcel_delivery_service/
Anonymous Physical Object Delivery:
http://www1.cs.columbia.edu/~elli/papers/APOD_PETS09.pdf
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