Reverse manifesting by returns service provider

• US 20040194056A1
• Filed: 12/23/2003
• Published: 09/30/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 02/10/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Pitney Bowes Global Logistics LLC (Böwe Systec AG)
• Original Assignee: Newgistics Incorporated (Böwe Systec AG)
• Inventors: Milch, Jennifer A., Combs, Terry
• Granted Patent: US 9,033,230 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/104
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/016 After-sales

Abstract

A method of calculating shipping costs due to a carrier in connection with customer returns of items shipped to the customer by merchant. A returns center receives shipping due packages containing returned items. Affixed to each package is a printed label, the label having machine readable manifesting data, representing at least a package identifier, the origin of the package, the a delivery location. The manifesting data is scanned and the package is weighed. Data collected from the scanning and weighing steps is delivered to a processing system, which calculates shipping costs and generates a manifest report.

Claims

1. A method, performed by a returns provider, of calculating shipping costs due to a carrier in connection with customer returns of items, comprising the steps of:

receiving shipping due packages containing returned items at a returns center;

wherein affixed to each package is a printed label, the label having machine readable package attribute data, the data representing at least a package identifier, the origin of the package, and a delivery location;

reading the manifesting data on each package;

weighing each package, thereby obtaining weight data;

delivering the manifesting data and the weight data to a processing system;

storing shipping rate data in the processing system; and

using the processing system to calculate the shipping costs for the packages, based on the data delivered in the delivering step.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the carrier is the United States Postal Service.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving step is performed by receiving packages from multiple carriers, wherein a sorting step follows the receiving step, and wherein and the remaining steps are performed for each carrier.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the package identification is an invoice number of the invoice associated with the returned item.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the origin data is the zip code of the customer returning the item.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the destination data is the zip code of the returns center.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the destination data is the zip code of a carrier station near the returns center.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of determining package dimensions, and wherein the delivering step further comprises delivering package dimension data.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of using the processing system to calculate shipping costs is performed for periodic batches of packages.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of generating a package level manifesting report.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising the step of delivering the manifest report to the carrier in electronic form.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the reading step further comprises reading data indicating whether manifesting is to be performed, and wherein the subsequent steps are performing only if manifesting is to be performed.

13. A processing system for calculating shipping costs due to a carrier in connection with customer returns of items, comprising:

a machine-reading process for collecting manifesting data on packages containing returned items, wherein affixed to each package is a printed label, the label having machine readable package attribute data, the data representing at least a package identifier, the origin of the package, and a delivery location;

a weighing process for collecting weight data from the packages;

a shipping rate database for storing shipping rate data; and

a shipping charge calculation process for receiving the manifesting data and the weight data, for accessing the shipping rate data, and for calculating shipping costs for the packages.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the carrier is the United States Postal Service.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the shipping rate database stores shipping rates of multiple carriers.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the package identification is an invoice number of the invoice associated with the returned item.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein the origin data is the zip code of the customer returning the item.

18. The system of claim 13, wherein the destination data is the zip code of the returns center.

19. The system of claim 13, wherein the destination data is the zip code of a carrier station near the returns center.

20. The system of claim 13, further comprising a shipping attribute process for receiving shipping attribute data other than weight data.

21. The system of claim 13, wherein the shipping attribute data is package dimension data.

22. The system of claim 13, wherein the shipping attribute data is special handling data.

23. The system of claim 13, further comprising a report generating process for generating a package level manifest report.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the report generating process is further operable to deliver the manifest report to the carrier in electronic form.

25. The system of claim 13, wherein the machine readable manifesting data is RFID data.

26. A merchandise return computer system for assisting in returns of packages, comprising:

at least one client system programmed to acquire machine readable return label data for each package, the return label data containing at least merchant identification data and origin data, and to acquire weight data for each package; and

a manifesting system programmed to receive the return label data from the client system, to access shipping charges data, and to calculate shipping charges for the packages.

27. The system of claim 26, further comprising a shipping charges database for storing the shipping charges data.

28. The system of claim 26, wherein the origin data is zip code data.

29. The system of claim 26, wherein the same client system collects return label data and weight data.

30. The system of claim 26, wherein a first client system collects return label data and second client system collects weight data.

31. A merchandise return computer system for assisting in returns of packages, comprising:

a computer process programmed to acquire machine readable return label data for each package, the return label data containing at least merchant identification data and origin data, and to acquire weight data for each package;

to receive the return label data from the client system, to access shipping charges data, and to calculate shipping charges for the packages.

32. The system of claim 31, further comprising a shipping charges database for storing the shipping charges data.

33. The system of claim 31, wherein the origin data is zip code data.

34. A computer storage medium containing programming for manifesting returned packages, the programming operable to:

acquire machine readable return label data, the return label data containing at least package origin data;

acquire weight data representing packages weights, to access shipping charge data, and calculate shipping charges based on the return label data and the weight data.