Patent ID: 8429019

Claim:
A method, comprising: performing, by one or more computing devices implementing a scheduled delivery component: receiving, by the scheduled delivery component, delivery availability information for each of multiple shipment carriers, wherein the delivery availability information specifies one or more delivery periods during which that shipment carrier is available to deliver a shipment of one or more items, wherein each delivery period is a period of time within a given day; for a given item offered in commerce, determining, by the scheduled delivery component, a plurality of selectable delivery periods, wherein said determining is based on the delivery availability information of the multiple shipment carriers; wherein each of the selectable delivery periods indicates a time period of a given day during which at least one of the shipment carriers is available to deliver a shipment including the given item for a shipper of the given item; providing, by the scheduled delivery component, the plurality of selectable delivery periods; determining that one of the selectable delivery periods has been selected by a user to schedule delivery of the given item during the selected delivery period, wherein the user is distinct from the shipper; and providing a delivery instruction, wherein the delivery instruction specifies that the shipment including the given item is to be delivered by a particular shipment carrier during the selected delivery period.