The efforts have paid off. Ashford has sent only 50 roses so far, Kurtzman says, out of a total of more than 30,000 orders. If an Amazon customer orders more than one item to be shipped to the same address but Amazon doesn't have the entire order on hand, it, like other online businesses, often sends the items it does have, absorbing the extra shipping fee to send the rest when they become available. It's a costly practice that should become less frequent with some of the planning lessons imparted by the package-delivery companies. UPS also is showing last year's shipment data to dot- com retailers so they can direct packages more efficiently this Christmas, such as by steering parcels to certain UPS hubs to save on shipping costs.
Online tools created by the giant shippers help track orders after they are sent out.
With a simple order-referencing system, Manhattan Fruitier, a seller of fancy fruit baskets, can respond to most customer calls in about two minutes, says Jehv Gold, the company's president. That used to take about half an hour. E-mail this story to a friend. Kentucky Connect and may not be republished without permission. All rights reserved.