Patent ID: 7627535

Claim:
A method for automatically managing delivery of perishable periodical publications to disparately located delivery outlets and managing redistribution of previously delivered perishable periodical publications between said disparately located delivery outlets, said method comprising: maintaining delivery route information on a server arrangement; permitting users using web-enabled appliances to specify and update said delivery route information; receiving, storing and displaying at least subsets of said delivery route information relating to particular delivery routes with plural portable handheld appliances that are at least intermittently connectable to said server arrangement to provide download of at least some of said delivery route information onto said handheld appliances; automatically reading and recognizing edition and date information printed on said periodical publications with printed indicia scanners associated with said plural at least intermittently connectable portable handheld appliances; tallying quantities and types of publications delivered and returned on a per-outlet basis based at least in part on information collected using said printed indicia scanners; uploading collected information from said plural intermittently-connected portable handheld appliances to said server arrangement to permit users to review delivery activity based, at least in part, on said collected, tallied quantities and types of publications delivered and returned; and collecting and reporting, with said handheld appliances, shuffle run information representing re-distribution of previously delivered periodical publications between said disparately located outlets.