Patent ID: 7236937

Claim:
A method for the dispatch of ordered articles, comprising: ordering of different articles from a mail-order firm or one or more online suppliers by a customer; storing relevant order data and customer details including name and address in a database of a dispatch center of a dispatch service, wherein the dispatch service is configured to coordinate outward delivery times from the manufacturers/suppliers to achieve delivery of the different articles to the customer in one shipment; transferring or forwarding the order data from the customer in question to the relevant manufacturers/suppliers of the requested articles; notifying the dispatch center of the dispatch service of the earliest possible outward delivery time t OutM for each of the manufacturers/suppliers, and storing the earliest possible outward delivery time t OutM under the respective article number in the database at the dispatch service; determining the latest of the earliest possible arrival times of the articles at the dispatch center t ArrD , each arrival time being calculated by adding the respective transport time t TransMD to the earliest possible outward delivery time t OutM ; the dispatch service notifying each manufacturer/supplier for the order concerned of the outward delivery time to be achieved, which is obtained from the latest of the earliest possible arrival times at the dispatch center t ArrD minus the respective transport time from the manufacturer/supplier to the dispatch center; determining an earliest possible delivery time t DelC to the customer by adding the transport time between dispatch center and customer t TransDC onto the latest arrival time t ArrD , and then adding a handling time at the dispatch service; the manufacturers/suppliers sending out the ordered articles to the dispatch center at the notified times; and forwarding the different articles in one shipment to the customer so that the customer receives the shipment at the determined earliest possible delivery time t DelC .