"Smart Phones" © 2009 James Wood, used under a Creative Commons Attribution license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en
Hello dearies!
Having to be cooped up inside because of the weather, old Auntie Gertie found herself spending a lot of time on the Internet. And because I had a bit of free time on my hands, I decided to start going through my e-mail inbox, which can get awfully cluttered! That is when I saw an e-mail from Stephen – my delivery-driving nephew – with a link to a news article. Above it, he had written ‘I think you’re going to like this for your blog’. And he was right – I did.
The article in question talked about one of those new ‘app’ thingies you get on those new-fangled phones that do everything but cook you dinner. The objective of this particular one was to help make courier jobs easier, not only for the couriers themselves, but also for the people at the home office or the depot centre.
What this programme does is basically find a way to make sure delivery companies obtain proof of delivery on every single one of the courier jobs their employees take on. This is usually quite difficult to get 100% of the time, because of fluctuations in volumes or resources, but apparently this ‘app’ has found a way to get around all that and ensure that the depot or home base gets electronic proof that a parcel was delivered every time, without exception.
What’s best, however, is that this can all be done on a phone! I really cannot get over these new ‘smart’ phones, as they call them. Stevie has one, and he showed it to me; I was absolutely flabbergasted! You can do anything on them: go on the Internet, note down meetings, watch videos, listen to music, play games…absolutely astonishing! I can still recall a time when you had to use a switchboard to call someone, and they had to be at home (or at their hotel) for you to get a hold of them! Good heavens, Gertie, you are getting old! And now, apparently, these phones can even assist young men and women carrying out courier jobs – one of the most error-prone fields I can think of – get proof that they did their job right, every time, whilst the company gets a record that says the same! Who said technology was evil?
Gertie
x