Patent ID: 7191142

Claim:
A method of delivering goods from a supplier to a buyer utilizing a system having at least one delivery agent, at least one store, at least one supplier, and a plurality of buyers, wherein the at least one delivery agent, the at least one store, and the at least one supplier are coupled to a communications network, said method comprising the steps of: contemporaneously communicating respective order information from a respective store to a logistics intermediary; generating respective invoice information from said respective order information; electronically communicating said respective invoice information from said logistics intermediary to a respective delivery agent based on an electronic manifest; noting exceptions and electronically communicating the exceptions to said logistics intermediary, wherein the exceptions are noted and electronically communicated by said respective delivery agent; electronically communicating the exceptions from said logistics intermediary to a respective supplier and to the respective store from which goods were ordered; electronically communicating a disposition status of respective shipped goods from said respective delivery agent to said logistics intermediary; responding, by said respective supplier, based on conditions of the respective shipped goods provided by said respective delivery agent to said respective supplier via said logistics intermediary, wherein said responding based on the conditions includes rescheduling an order, by the respective supplier, based on the conditions reported via a graphical user interface by the respective delivery agent after the respective shipped goods are received by the respective delivery agent that delivers the respective shipped goods to one of the buyers of the respective shipped goods, wherein said rescheduling the order is based on at least one of: a reception, via a graphical user interface, of whether the respective shipped goods are noticed as being damaged after the respective shipped goods are received by the respective delivery agent; and a reception, via the graphical user interface, of whether the respective shipped goods shipped to the respective delivery agent are not expected to be received by the respective delivery agent; and updating said electronic manifest, wherein said electronic manifest is updated by said logistics intermediary.