Zeithaml et al., (2008) define process to be “the actual
procedures, mechanisms, and flow of activities by which the service is
delivered – this service delivery and operating systems."
One of the greatest delivery service provided to the public is FedEx.
Federal Express (AKA - FedEx) was established in 1971 in Little Rock Arkansas, where later on in 1973 they relocate to Memphis Tennessee. "On the first night of continuous
operation, 389 Federal Express team members and 14 Dassault Falcon jets deliver
186 packages overnight to 25 U.S. cities — and the modern air/ground express
industry is born." (About FedEx, 2016)
Instantly, and over night, this establishment became the world's most popular delivery service.
It may seem easy to drop off a package at the FedEx hub and then have it delivered from point A to point B at the wanted destination withing a few hours or a few days, however the process is more complex than that.
The Process in detail: (FedEx.com, 2016)
1. An order is created in the Customer’s system via various modes
(telephone, Internet, email, or by going to the FedEx hub to manually write it)
2. The process then begins when the federal express courier picks up the package (or you dropping it off manually), they then scan the box which electronically sends a message to FedEx saying that the package in in their hands. Immediately you receive an invoice to prove that your parcel has been picked up or dropped off.
3. Then all the boxes and letters the couriers picked up are transferred to a big truck, and then sent to the hub or sorting center. The packages are unloaded onto a conveyor belt which will sort each package and route it to its final destination.
4. The belt carries the packages to a scanner which weighs each box and measures its size with invisible laser beams.
5. A mathematical formula is used based on weight and size which then tells FedEx how much to charge the customers for shipping.
6. The label tells the scanner where the box is being shipped, and once this information is in the computer, the machinery knows exactly what to do.
7. Leading off of the conveyor belt are 9 slides which represent different parts of the Unites States. Un-sized boxes or labels that cant be read are managed manually.
8. Once the package is scanned, sorted and routed, it is loaded into a large cargo container by which every inch of the container is filled to make maximum use of the shipment and reduce costs.
9. Now that the packages are have been routed in the right direction, the FedEx airplanes must be too. This happens at the FedEx control center at the airport. The people here are responsible for all the flights coming in and out, checking the weather, monitoring any delays, and monitoring the trucks that are there to receive and drop off the packages.
Just as the planes are being monitored, so are the packages. There are people responsible for monitoring how many packages are on the container and how many are taken off and put into the right floor container in order to be sent to the right destination, whether that means the package has to board another flight, or if the package is ready to be taken onto a truck which then brings it to its ground destination.
10. Once the packages are out of the plane, they are taken to another sorting center, except now, they are in a different city or country.
11. Once on a truck, FedEx couriers drive each package to the exact location specified on the box, and is delivered right to your door, right on schedule.
How do you know where your package is?
"FedEx Tracking" is the answer!
Once the package has been received, you get the first email as a confirmation. The second email comes when the package has been shipped, this email will include a unique code which is called the "Tracking/Reference Number". This way you can go to their website, write in your unique code and you are now able to see where exactly your package is!
The third email will be when the package has finally reached its appropriate destination and is now either ready to be picked up or directly delivered to your door.
How would they know if someone is smuggling drugs, weapons or even a possible bomb?
1. Suspicious looking/acting people
2. People that do not know the address of where they are sending their parcel to
3. People who ship an excessive number of packages even though they do not own a business
4. People who ship from (or to) "drug dealing areas"
5. People who pay cash to ship packages (Mixton, 2011)
In order to minimize drugs and illegal products to go through, companies could use:
1. Sniffing dogs
2. High speed X-rays
3. Detailed X-rays
4. Random sampling (Wishkovsky, 2011)
