Method and system for cross-carrier parcel tracking

Abstract

A system and method is provided that enables a carrier of a mailpiece, such as a national postal service, to track a mailpiece as it passes from the control of a first carrier to the control of another, second carrier. The tracking of the mailpiece continues until the mailpiece is delivered, by the second carrier, to its ultimate recipient. In this manner the first carrier, who had control of the mailpiece when first posted, can monitor the handling of the mailpiece and can calculate delivery times when the mailpiece was in the control of the second carrier. The method and system of the present invention will find particular application to a national postal service seeking to track delivery performance of internationally addressed express mail that is first domestically posted and then ultimately delivered in a foreign country by the postal service of the foreign country.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A method for delivering parcels across domains using multiple carriers, the method comprising:
 storing a receipt time and date for receiving a first parcel by a first carrier in a first domain, the receipt time and date for receiving the first parcel by the first carrier stored in a first database;   storing tracking data associated with delivery of the first parcel within the first domain;   receiving the receipt time and date for receiving the first parcel by a second carrier in a second domain, the receipt time and date for receiving the first parcel by the second carrier stored in a second database;   storing a unique identifier associated with the parcel in each storing of the receipt time and date;   determining a delivery performance by first carrier for the first parcel;   determining a delivery performance by second carrier for the first parcel;   determining compensation for each of the first carrier and the second carrier based on the delivery performance by the first carrier and the second carrier for the first parcel.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining compensation includes:
 determining a first trend in the delivery performance of the first carrier;   determining a second trend in the delivery performance of the second carrier; and   determining compensation for each of the first carrier and the second carrier based on the first trend and the second trend.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining compensation includes comparing the delivery performance for the first carrier and the delivery performance for the second carrier to a threshold delivery performance. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first domain and the second domain are different countries. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the parcel is sent via an express mail level of service. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the receipt time and date for receiving the first parcel by a second carrier in a second domain is received from a parcel service in a foreign country. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 storing a parcel delivery cost for delivering the parcel from a first location to in the first domain to the recipient in the second domain, a first portion of the parcel cost to be paid to the first carrier and a second portion of the parcel cost to be paid to the second carrier; and   reducing the portion of the parcel cost to be paid to one of the first carrier or the second carrier when the delivery performance of the first carrier or the second carrier is below a corresponding delivery performance threshold for the corresponding first carrier or the second carrier.