What Brown has done for me...
September 11, 2017 7:20 PM   Subscribe

The Last Mile ---UPS Manny making a delivery. "The last mile" is used to describe the most inefficient and costly portion of any delivery service....getting that package to the door.

From the West Texas desert ---TFL.
Previously on the Blue
posted by shockingbluamp (13 comments total) 9 users marked this as a favorite
 
Why Amazon bought Whole Foods.
posted by leotrotsky at 7:22 PM on September 11, 2017 [2 favorites]


Makes me think of the UPS guy that serves my mom's tiny town - Albert, OK (and the nearby Ft. Cobb, OK). A single van that drives out from the closest depot in Lawton, OK every day - fifty miles away.

I'm amazed still that I can order something from Amazon, pick "Overnight shipping", and it actually *gets* to my mom's place in the promised time.

Was a lifesaver when I was working remotely from her house for a few weeks after she had knee surgery - I was able to order an office chair and a cheap folding table and boom, there they were on the porch the next afternoon.
posted by mrbill at 7:25 PM on September 11, 2017 [3 favorites]


I was hoping for something a little more dramatic when he got to the compound.
posted by Mr. Yuck at 7:45 PM on September 11, 2017 [2 favorites]


They haven't opened the packages yet.
posted by notyou at 10:04 PM on September 11, 2017 [2 favorites]


(The chicken was a nice touch, though.) It looks like this was shot by drone. That thing can sure go far!
posted by notyou at 10:06 PM on September 11, 2017


Youtube comments implies that it was shot on a DJI Mavic. The Mavic has a maximum range of 7km, and a typical range of 4km.

While impressive, the range is not what impressed me about the video. What you're seeing is autonomous tracking of the delivery truck, done on-board by the Mavic, in real time, as it flies.
posted by theony at 10:56 PM on September 11, 2017 [8 favorites]


he allowed me to set up the drone in active track mode

I don't like the sound of this "active track mode" stuff.
posted by pracowity at 12:34 AM on September 12, 2017 [3 favorites]


That's nothing. High-end drones can lead the target and take windage into account.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 5:31 AM on September 12, 2017 [6 favorites]


Mr.Encyclopedia: "drones can lead the target and take windage into account."

A-and we're just minutes away from drone deliveries, which will alleviate Mr Brown of his job but also eliminate that 50-mile drive & its attendant costs.
posted by chavenet at 5:43 AM on September 12, 2017


If drones carrying valuable items are going to start flying around, there is going to be a lot of interesting drone capture tomfoolery.
posted by pracowity at 6:52 AM on September 12, 2017 [1 favorite]


UPS is testing short-range drones mated with trucks to deliver multiple packages simultaneously. Seems a touch more practical and adaptable then the Amazon setup.
posted by JoeZydeco at 7:28 AM on September 12, 2017 [1 favorite]


UPS is testing short-range drones mated with trucks

They're going to get some big boxy brown flying trucks that way.
posted by pracowity at 7:38 AM on September 12, 2017 [5 favorites]


So I thought this was pretty cool, and went and read some of the other MetaFilter link also, and as I'm reading I kept thinking of my friend, Amy, who lives in Alpine, and thinking *probably* she knows about this guy because Amy knows about everything that's interesting. Still, I thought to send it on to her in an email. As follows:

Hi Amy --

Came across this last night and thought of you as I read it and watched the vids and look at the gorgeous photos from new york times.

Start here. Then here. And then here. Finally, here.

I hope that you enjoy this as much as I do.

And I hope that all is well in Amy World.

Yours in Jesus,
Stephen

Amy's response:
i know much of John Wells. He has cool work, but he is also a hateful, misogynistic, racist, evangelical twatwaffle. He believes we all need to cower before the Lord (tm) because end times, and god's wrath, etc.

I also know Manny - he's awesome, everyone loves having him as their delivery dude.

~~~~~

I trust Amy totally, and so would you if you met her.
posted by dancestoblue at 11:06 PM on September 12, 2017 [3 favorites]


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