Amazon Patents Shipping Label with Built-In Parachute

Megalith

Megalith

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In the future, Amazon’s shipping labels may be a lot more complex than a mere slice of paper: a new patent describes a system of cords, a parachute, a breakaway cover, and possibly a harness placed underneath for softer drone deliveries. The chutes, which may be of any shape and size, could contain everything from bar codes and QR codes to coupons. I am looking forward to when the wrong gust of wind sends my poorly packed box of hard drives into the nearby river.

...the online retail giant this morning received a patent for a shipping label with a built-in parachute to help packages make a soft landing when dropped out of the air by drone or other airborne craft. According to the newly issued patent from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the parachute label could look and act just like any other shipping label, but underneath is a system of cords, a parachute, a breakaway cover and possibly a harness to keep everything in place. The package could also be loaded with sensors to make sure the package hits its landing zone and a shock absorber in case the cargo is coming in a little too hot.
 
"DID I HEAR THE UPS TRUCK!?!?!"
1332783801_b52_carpet_bombing.gif
 
I was thinking about the same thing, a gust of wind and bam my package is either 3 blocks from where it was supposed to go or stuck in the many trees around my house....
 
Neighbor's dog watching falling package, "Finally, a newspaper to retrieve, TREAT!"

Feral dog wandering through neighborhood watching falling package, "SQUIRREL!"
 
I am looking forward to when the wrong gust of wind sends my poorly packed box of hard drives into the nearby river.
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Everybody knows that hard drives don't get parachutes or packing peanuts. If they needed them, they'd be Soft Drives.
 
so to return an item all I need to do is throw my package out the window and hope that the parachute unfolds?...nothing can go wrong!
 
Not sure how many of you have used AWS and in particular S3 and their Snowball devices. Essentially what it is is a self contained NAS/S3 bucket that can be shipped on prem for mid size data transfer into their cloud... holds about 50TB. Anyways, the unit is a self contained shipping box which basically has a kindle paper white as a screen. When they ship the device, it uses the screen as a shipping label... when you connect it up, it then lets you configure the IP.. then when you shut it down, the screen automatically updates to a return label.
Anyways, Amazon is already using essentially kindles as shipping labels today.
 
Well hell, that's no good. I want my package delivered by a landing first stage on my driveway.
 
Gweenz said:
We would make our own out of paper towels and some string. Worked about as well as you'd think.
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About as well as our cardboard box cut cut open hang-gliders did ?

I'm fairly sure they would put me in jail if I encouraged my kids (which I do , just when the wife is not around ) , to have the fun I did as a kid. Injuries and all.
 
Kelter said:
Not sure how many of you have used AWS and in particular S3 and their Snowball devices. Essentially what it is is a self contained NAS/S3 bucket that can be shipped on prem for mid size data transfer into their cloud... holds about 50TB. Anyways, the unit is a self contained shipping box which basically has a kindle paper white as a screen. When they ship the device, it uses the screen as a shipping label... when you connect it up, it then lets you configure the IP.. then when you shut it down, the screen automatically updates to a return label.
Anyways, Amazon is already using essentially kindles as shipping labels today.
Click to expand...
Never knew that. That's pretty cool. I'll stick to Amazon lockers for the small stuff, don't need my cables being delivered to a general vicinity... :)
 
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