I’m waiting on a very exciting package today and although I’m delighted that Amazon and UPS have figured out how to send me text messages on general package tracking updates, a part of me still burns knowing that delivery will happen “at some point today.”
I want to be able to watch my UPS truck travel around the city as my Stanford book approaches for next semester’s class. I want to watch its gas saving left hand turns and I want to feel the excitement of the delivery truck as it approaches.
As a consumer I don’t care who provides this service. If you are a shipping company I will choose you over the competition. If you are an eCommerce site that puts trackable RFID tags (or whatever technology I am unaware of) in your packages and lets me watch my package circle around on its way to me, I will order from you in the future.
From a delivery service perspective, I can see that this might bring up some privacy issues. From a societal perspective (for better or worse) it feels like we’re probably past that. The driver in question is probably already checking in on Foursquare five times per day, why not add a little excitement to the lives of those who crave instant gratification?