Patent ID: 8489472

Claim:
A method of managing the delivery of a package, comprising the steps of: recording an indication associated with the package in a package level detail (PLD) database indicating a potentially service impacting condition occurring during shipping of the package, the potentially service impacting condition being a condition that can potentially adversely impact delivery of the package; monitoring the PLD database via at least one computer to determine whether the indication has been recorded in the PLD database; in response to detecting that the indication has been recorded in the PLD database: (A) identifying a package level tracking number associated with the package; (B) retrieving a customer profile associated with the tracking number, wherein the customer profile contains contact information for a user; (C) recording the time of the notification of the electronic message in a log associated with the package tracking number; (D) in response to the potentially service impacting condition not matching a predefined potentially service impacting condition: (1) send the customer an electronic message to a customer address based on the contact information contained in the customer profile, wherein the electronic message is adapted to notify the user of the potentially service impacting condition; (2) receive input from the customer regarding actions to be taken in response to the potentially service impacting condition occurring; (3) retrieve the loci associated with the package; (4) record in the loci information related to the potentially service impacting condition, the information comprising the actions to be taken provided by the customer; and (E) recording information in the log associated with the package, wherein the information indicates the action to be taken with respect to the package; and (F) in response to the package being scanned at a sorting facility: (1) issuing an exception alert via the at least one computing device notifying personnel handling the package at the sorting facility of an exception associated with the handling of the package; (2) accessing the log; and (3) providing information based on the log to the personnel handling the package indicating the action to be taken with respect to the package, wherein the personnel handling the package perform the action indicated with respect to the package.