Something you haven’t ordered is already on its way.

Moving goods and services around the country is one of the toughest things any company can do.  Amazon, with its many fulfillment systems, is pretty good about that sort of thing, and if you’re an Amazon Prime member, you can pretty much get whatever you want within two days.  However, those two days can feel like an eternity, especially if you’re not getting an ebook version of the weighty tome you’ve ordered.  Amazon has patented a system that allows them to send you products before you order them.  The items would remain on the truck until they’re actually ordered, then they’d linger on the truck in your general area until the order goes through.  Alternately, the package would just show up.

Amazon calls it speculative shipping, and in its patent papers, it is described as so.  “Speculative shipping of packages may enable more sophisticated and timely management of inventory items, for example by allowing packages to begin flowing towards potential customers in advance of actual orders.”  That means that Amazon will have the products coming your way before you even buy them, based on a combination of factors including where you live, your previous purchasing patterns, your wishlist, saved items, and general buying details Amazon has mined from its computer system.

And if you get a product you don’t want?   Well, Amazon is already considering what to do when their shipping drone drops off the wrong items.  Amazon may just let you keep it as a free gift, or give you a steep discount.

Tags: amazon, online retail, amazon to send purchases before you buy them, prediction software, speculative shipping, amazon speculative shipping, sales, amazon to mail packages before you buy, unusual patents, geographic shipping, logistics

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