Package distribution and price classes

The package delivery

The package delivery system can be separated in several steps. One of the biggest delivery companies in the Netherlands is PostNL. A description of a possible package order process looks like this.

1. When a client orders a product from a web shop the web shop sends the product, from its own stockroom, in a package to a sorting center of a delivery company.

2. In the sorting center all the packages that need to be delivered in a certain region in the country are gathered.

3. When there are enough packages to fill a vehicle (van or truck) the packages are transported to the right region and delivered to a pickup point.

4. The clients can check if there package has arrived at their pickup point and can pick their delivery up when they have the time for it.

For an autonomous delivery system the last step in this process is the most interesting. If there is an autonomous system that delivers the packages from a pickup point to the clients home it would save them time. This is especially true for areas where the density of pickup points is not so dense and clients would still have to travel some time to receive their orders.

The different price classes

The way the shipping cost of a package is determined depends on the weight of the package. Usually there is also a maximum size of length and width that the package needs to have. Lastly the shipping cost can be increased if it is requested that the package gets send with urgency. The price classes, based on weight, of PostNL for example are divided like this: [2 kg], [2-5 kg], [5-10 kg], [10-20 kg], [20-30 kg], source: https://www.postnl.nl/tarieven/tarieven-pakketten/