State of the art research
Auto-Selection Of Package Delivery Location Based On Estimated Time Of Delivery
Toksoz, Tuna; Gulkaya, Tutku; and Price, Thomas, "Auto-Selection Of Package Delivery Location Based On Estimated Time Of Delivery", Technical Disclosure Commons, (December 22, 2016) http://www.tdcommons.org/dpubs_series/359
Summary
Package delivery systems restrict the delivery of packages under some conditions. Present technologies select a delivery location and time based on multiple factors:
They use standard times and locations: 9:00-17:00 at work, 19:00-21:00 at home
They look at historical data (success rates in certain windows and locations)
They estimate the time it takes for the package to get ready when ordered.
They look what delivery times are optimal, and choose the one with lowest cost.