Braking News

Content for Drivers

My Life as a Parcel

Hi. I’m a parcel 😊. This means I’m a small package – typically under 150 lbs. In most cases, I can be reasonably lifted without assistance.  Thanks for tuning in because I’m about to tell you the story of my life.  Right now, I’m waiting with other parcels in a brightly lit retail stockroom.  We’re all just bursting with excitement and anticipation. Soon, our entire life’s purpose will be realized.

Let me start from the beginning. I was created from a corrugated box with customized branding. I’m a proud example of corrugated packaging, which is like a souped-up cardboard box. Did you know cardboard boxes have been around for almost two hundred years?!  Think of the old Kellogg’s Corn Flakes cereal boxes.

But corrugated paperboard – the stuff I’m made of – was patented in 1856 with the invention of a layer of curved or fluted cardboard to reinforce other cardboard pieces.  This improvement made us parcels much stronger and helps us provide greater resistance to pressure and impacts.  Now, we can provide a great customer experience when our contents arrive safely at our destination!

I mentioned I have customized branding on the exterior.  I feel like I’m on the runway!  Shippers all over the world design parcels to draw attention to their brand.  Adding extra value like this always makes my day.

One day, an order was transmitted by a retailer to a big distribution center where all the goods inside me were inventoried.  The distribution center’s voice-picking system* helped a warehouse associate use voice commands to pick the order, using detailed information about the location and piece counts within the warehouse.

On my exterior, I also have a barcode that helps everyone keep track of where I am when they scan me. I’ve also heard of parcels being scanned with RFID, which is short for radio frequency identification.** Amazing stuff.  RFID uses a small, printed antenna sticker on the exterior of a parcel.  Often, no scanning is necessary.  Identification information can be automatically scanned by a reading device when parcels enter and leave the warehouse! Just imagine!

Not long after the warehouse associate picked the order, I was put in a special holding place inside the DC just for me and other parcels who were headed to a place called Pace. I couldn’t wait to continue my journey!

Soon, I was floor-loaded onto a trailer with my neighboring parcels.  The trailer left our DC and was driven to the Pace pool point where the Pace warehouse associates unloaded us onto a conveyor system. It’s such fun! Too soon, they pulled me off the conveyor belt and put me on a pallet with more parcels.  We greeted one another with excitement, realizing we were all headed to the same store.

Soon, my barcode was scanned as I was stacked and shrink-wrapped on a pallet. Guess what?! The warehouse associate was wearing a scanning glove! Wearables like scanning gloves and ring scanners are smart devices that allow workers to keep both their hands free for other activities and help maintain worker safety.

Our pallet was then scanned and loaded with other pallets onto a Pace box truck. Our truck was routed dynamically, taking into consideration all destinations and volumes for the day to drive cost-savings for customers and maximize efficiency.  When our driver arrived safely at the store, an employee inspected the pallets and gave the go ahead to unload.  Our driver cut off our shrink wrap and placed us at the designated place inside the store.  Then, he scanned us in. Guess what? Ring scanner! Yep, I spotted it.

Looking around with anticipation, I could see bright overhead lights and lots of other parcels and packages just waiting to be opened and put on racks and shelves in the store! Despite my anticipation, after such a fun and busy morning, I couldn’t help but doze off. 

I awoke with a start! A store associate started to open me and remove my contents. He carefully counted all the inventory inside of me and made notes.

And this is where I am now.  Telling you my life story because it’s the moment I’ve been waiting for.  My contents will finally be styled attractively in the store, ready for purchase and bound to make a customer happy!  

At last, my job is done, and I am happy, too.

A recent post in The Pace Logistics Lab, Warehousing Wearables: The New Reality in Logistics, explores many of the technological advances mentioned in this post.  

*A growing trend in the logistics industry is voice-picking technology. Wearable headsets allow the logistics professional to issue verbal commands to AMR assistants and to receive information from centralized dispatchers or computerized databases. Consider a wearable headset that connects the worker to an administrator who can relay instructions, redirecting labor flow to respond to changing priorities. 
 
**Both RFID and barcode scanners are available from several manufacturers in wrist, ring, or glove-mounted models, leaving both hands free to work. Scanners can send information using the internet or Bluetooth to either local or cloud-based servers, providing decision-makers the instant, real-time data they need. Scanners can also tell the logistics professional what items to pick, whether they picked the correct item and amount, and where the item needs to go.

Search
Latest Braking News

The Final Mile Delivery Market

Supply chain logistics involves the movement of goods from their origin or manufacturing point to the end-user, often requiring detailed planning, and specialized transportation and

Read More »
pace drivers

Solving Logistics Together

Solving Logistics Together is a Pace passion. As we celebrate our 25-year anniversary as a preferred Logistics Service Provider (LSP) and seasoned regional carrier, renewing

Read More »

Privacy Policy

PACE takes your privacy very seriously; in general, you can visit PACE websites without telling us who you are and without revealing any information about yourself. There are times, however, when we may need information from you.

PACE does not rent, sell, or share personal information about you with other people or nonaffiliated companies except to provide products or services you’ve requested, when we have your permission, or under the following circumstances:

  1. We provide the information to trusted partners who work on behalf of or with PACE under extremely strict confidentiality agreements. These companies may use your personal information to help PACE communicate with you about offers from PACE and our marketing partners. However, these companies do not have any independent right to share this information.
  2. We have a parent’s permission to share the information if the user is a child under age 13.
  3. We respond to subpoenas, court orders, or legal process, or to establish or exercise our legal rights or defend against legal claims.
  4. We believe it is necessary to share information in order to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding illegal activities, suspected fraud, situations involving potential threats to the physical safety of any person, or as otherwise required by law.
  5. We transfer information about you if PACE is acquired by or merged with another company.

You may choose to give us personal information, such as your name and address or e-mail id that may be needed, for example, to correspond with you, to download our white papers or to provide you with a subscription. If you tell us that you do not want us to use this information as a basis for further contact with you, we will respect your wishes. We intend to protect the quality and integrity of your personally identifiable information.

We will make a sincere effort to respond in a timely manner to your requests to correct inaccuracies in your personal information. To correct inaccuracies in your personal information please return the message containing the inaccuracies to the sender with details of the correction requested.

Terms of Use

The following terms and conditions will be deemed to have been accepted by the User on usage of the website pacedelivers. You are requested to read them carefully before you use the services of this site.

  1. The term User shall refer to the user who is browsing the site. The term PACE shall refer to PACE Inc. The term Site refers to http://www.pacedelivers.com owned and monitored by PACE.
  2. By using the Site, you agree to follow and be bound by the following terms and conditions concerning your use of the Site. PACE may revise the Terms of Use at any time without notice to you. Areas of the Site may have different terms of use posted. If there is a conflict between the Terms of Use and terms of use posted for a specific area of the Site, the latter shall have precedence with respect to your use of that area of the Site.
  3. PACE may terminate User’s access at any time for any reason. The provisions regarding to disclaimer of warranty, accuracy of information and indemnification shall survive such termination. PACE may monitor access to the Site.
  4. All content present on this site is the exclusive property of PACE. The software, text, images, graphics, video and audio used on this site belong to PACE. No material from this site may be copied, modified, reproduced, republished, uploaded, transmitted, posted or distributed in any form without prior written permission from PACE. All rights not expressly granted herein are reserved. Unauthorized use of the materials appearing on this site may violate copyright, trademark and other applicable laws, and could result in criminal or civil penalties. PACE is a registered trademark of PACE Inc. This trademark may not be used in any manner without prior written consent from PACE.
  5. PACE does not make any warranties, express or implied, including, without limitation, those of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose, with respect to any information, data, statements or products made available on the Site.
  6. The Site, and all content, materials, information, software, products and services provided on the Site, are provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis. PACE expressly disclaims all warranties of any kind, whether express or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement.
  7. PACE shall have no responsibility for any damage to User’s computer system or loss of data that results from the download of any content, materials, information from the Site.
  8. PACE may change or discontinue any aspect of its website at any time, including its content or features. PACE reserves the right to change the terms and conditions applicable to the use of the Site. Such changes shall be effective immediately upon notice, which shall be placed on the Site.
  9. In no event will PACE be liable for damages of any kind, including without limitation, direct, incidental or consequential damages (including, but not limited to, damages for lost profits, business interruption and loss of programs or information) arising out of the use of or inability to use PACE’ website, or any information provided on the website, or in the Products any claim attributable to errors, omissions or other inaccuracies in the Product or interpretations thereof. Some jurisdictions do not allow the limitation or exclusion of liability. Accordingly, some of the above limitations may not apply to the User.
  10. User agrees to indemnify, defend and hold PACE harmless from and against all losses, expenses, damages and costs, including reasonable attorneys’ fees, arising out of or relating to any misuse by the User of the content and services provided on the Site.
  11. The information contained in the Site has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable. PACE disclaims all warranties as to the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of such information.
  12. PACE makes no warranty that: (a) the Site will meet your requirements; (b) the Site will be available on an uninterrupted, timely, secure, or error-free basis; (c) the results that may be obtained from the use of the Site or any services offered through the Site will be accurate or reliable.
  13. The User’s right to privacy is of paramount importance to PACE. Any information provided by the User will not be shared with any third party. PACE reserves the right to use the information to provide the User a more personalized online experience.
  14. The Site provides links to web sites and access to content, products and services from third parties, including users, advertisers, affiliates and sponsors of the Site. You agree that PACE is not responsible for the availability of, and content provided on, third party web sites. The User is requested to peruse the policies posted by other web sites regarding privacy and other topics before use. PACE is not responsible for third party content accessible through the Site, including opinions, advice, statements and advertisements, and User shall bear all risks associated with the use of such content. PACE is not responsible for any loss or damage of any sort User may incur from dealing with any third party.

We got your message!

Thank you – we’ll be in touch soon.

Thanks for your interest!

We will keep your information on file and let you know if an opportunity becomes available in your area.