FedEx Sees Blockchain as 'Next Frontier' For Logistics (bloomberg.com) 106
Convinced that blockchain is on the brink of transforming the package-delivery business, FedEx is testing the technology to track large, higher-value cargo. From a report: "We're quite confident that it has big, big implications in supply chain, transportation and logistics," Chief Executive Officer Fred Smith said at a blockchain conference in New York. "It's the next frontier that's going to completely change worldwide supply chains." Blockchain uses computer code to record every step of a transaction and delivery in a permanent digital ledger, providing transparency. The ledger can't be changed unless all involved agree, reducing common disputes over issues like time stamps, payments and damages. FedEx's interest in blockchain and the Internet of Things are part of the company's strategy to improve customer service and fend off competition, Smith said.
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"Work done" can be confirmation from both client and driver that delivery was made rather than mining.
This is actually an interesting idea. Transparency within the system is one of the key weak points in logistical tracking today.
Re: and fedex can make there 1099 drivers pay (Score:2)
The only thing this helps... (Score:2)
is if you don't trust FedEx's information to not change and the ledger is made public with enough nodes so FedEx can't do a 51% attack. With that said, we've had several packages where FedEx changed history on tracking so they created this trust problem in the first place.
Re:So... let's use the entire electircal output... (Score:5, Insightful)
Will blockchain stop them from lying about "We went to your house and you weren't there" whenever they can't meet their 48-hour delivery garantee?
If not then what does this actually help? Are they going to make their ledger public domain and pay tens of thousands of non-Fedex miners to work 24/7 on the signatures to make sure there's too much external computing power for a Fedex employee to be able to falsify any information.
Because if not ... "blockchain" is just another buzzword that a manager is using to get himself a new office.
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Aaaand blockchain helps, how, exactly?
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And you don't know what an apostrophe is with your overpriced iOS device.
Jove640k makes a correct observation. Blockchain technology won't do bupkis for FedEx because FedEx's problems won't be solved by a ledger. A blockchain is simply a ledger.
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A blockchain is simply a ledger.
...a ledger that needs a large enough number of independent people working on it that nobody can get together enough computing power to falsify it.
With Bitcoin you get a reward for "mining". What will Fedex give people to make them bother donating their CPU to the FedEx cause?
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That's a distributed, public blockchain.
I didn't RTFA, but my guess is FedEx's blockchain will be private and controlled entirely by FedEx. (Actually, my guess is that they aren't going to do anything at all with blockchain beyond get their name in the news.)
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Maybe... No reason why you couldn't mount something on your front door that digitally signs for stuff using your private key. Then they can sign a timestamp to prove they were there, and it can send you a notification in real time.
It could also record if they actually rang the doorbell and how many seconds later you opened the door. They could double sign to prove they waited at least 30 seconds.
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But it could really help if different companies and agents are involved in the shipping of a package.
You don't need super computer power either to add new blocks to the chain. That's just how it's done with crypto-currencies, but you can use different consensus algorithms that do no need a bit-crunching operation.
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My question is: will the transaction time be an issue? I haven't been following crypto-currencies very closely, but the impression I got was that this was becoming an obstacle. Has that issue been solved already?
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A "blockchain" is a ledger of transactions. That's it. It scales however well you want it to.
If you talk to speculators and crytpo pump-and-dumpers, they'll tell you that BITCOIN specifically has a "scaling problem", but that's only because they want to push you to Ethereum because it's going to switch to proof of stake (i.e, the rich get richer with no effort), their shitty ICO (an outright scam), or some other scamcoin they have a premine on (again, an outright scam).
Further, Bitcoin only has a "scaling
Re:The only thing this helps... (Score:5, Interesting)
Ah, trust problems and FedEx....
A few years ago I sold a car part online. Shipped it off and a couple weeks later I got an stressed-out email from the buyer asking where his purchase was.
Checked tracking... it had gotten to a FedEx facility in Ohio and within a few days of my shipping it and was never seen or heard from again.
FedEx made me wait (what seemed like forever to the buyer) so they could investigate before they'd pay the insurance claim on a lost package.
Waited, waited, waited. Finally they got back to me saying it had been delivered in July. Trouble is, I shipped my package in August (and the date I generated the label and all the tracking before it disappeared indicated this).
It was a shockingly long and tedious argument with their agent saying it was delivered and me trying to figure out whether they used a souped up Delorean or a Tardis or what to deliver it a month before I shipped it.
In the end they finally paid out the insurance claim on the lost package, but they made the experience so completely terrible that I've never shipped with FedEx since.
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Send an explosive with a gps trigger and timer. It better arrive on time ;)
Or, to dial it down a notch, something that will decay and start giving off an incredibly bad smell after a week.
And they thought those small holes in the package were decorative...
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Do you like being taken to prison?
Because this is how you get taken to prison.
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With that said, we've had several packages where FedEx changed history on tracking so they created this trust problem in the first place.
The last package I got via FedEx was like that. They changed the tracking data. I was hammering refresh wondering where my stuff was, so I noticed first-hand.
They could save themselves the trouble of dicking with blockchain by just not being liars.
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"They could save themselves the trouble of dicking with blockchain by just not being liars."
Stop lying? You're perilously close to attacking American core values there, citizen.
I bet they did (Score:2)
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Unless they are planning to compete with Registered Mail for the tiny market segment of shipping material whose provenance must be traceable, I have some trouble seeing why Fedex would bother with blockchain.
Might be useful for airline small package services which are a traditional and time tested tool for losing objects one never wants to see again. Rumor has it that Jimmy Hoffa's body was shipped hoem by an airline small package service.
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every location, every time frame, every employee can slow things down at big hubs or pass though points there it stays in a big crate till detestation.
Re: Pros and Cons (Score:2)
They already can do that. If they aren't already, it's because they've chosen not to.
This is not about the "crypto currency" (Score:3)
This is about having a valid chain of trust. If all parties agree on a public ledger of transactions on the package logistics then the issues on disputes / lost items etc will go down.
The blockchains brought us bitcoin and similar "currencies", however they also brought a way to have a public eye on transactions. Like financial markets, package logistics is a complex business and having all parties agree upon terms and actions might really be useful.
(btw i think I might have some fedex stock, so a disclosure here is probably necessary).
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Which blockchain? (Score:5, Insightful)
Blockchain uses computer code to record every step of a transaction and delivery in a permanent digital ledger, providing transparency
Strange - I've been familiar with how blockchain technology works since 2012, and that doesn't sound like blockchain technology to me. Maybe they mean that they have developed some sort of custom enhancement? Couldn't they just record all this in their own database? Being light on specifics it's hard to see how blockchain technology is helping them at all here, unless it's to raise their stock price by throwing around the latest technology buzzwords without knowing what they mean.
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If you don't understand how a blockchain could be used to make a permanent, transparent digital ledger then apparently you don't know as much about how blockchain technology works as you thought you did.
Re: Which blockchain? (Score:2)
That app is bogus anyway.
Consent is an ongoing process, it can be withdrawn at any time. The app can therefore only record an initial consent, and nothing more. Anyone thinking it protects them from anything is seriously deluded (pretty easy to imagine a case of a woman using the app under duress, too).
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What I do not understand about all these companies using blockchain to provide all these transparent services is this:
Correct me if I'm wrong, please, but doesn't 50.000...0001% of the network decide what is the current, valid blockchain? If a company owns the entire network, then there is no real "transparency", as they can just change the records whenever they want and say "See look! Our in-house blockchain network says it was always like this, then it must be true."
I may be completely missing the mark on
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Yes, the network is what secures the blockchain. I'm not sure who would run network nodes outside of FedEx, maybe their larger customers?
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I've always assumed the point of "blockchain technology" is that you'd commit a block of transactions, authenticated by a digital signature of whoever is attesting that the information is correct. It's "blockchain" because each new entry includes a reference to the previous entry's hash code. Each new entry locks in all the previous entries. In that sense, it's just a variant of git. If you change an earlier entry, it's made obvious because the hash code doesn't match or the signature doesn't validate,
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This is not about trust of third parties, this is about trust and management of internal data, the blockchain and ledger replacing traditional databases with integrity checking and verification on the way.
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It's just a more expensive, and complicated way of doing the job that has the advantage of being buzzword compliant.
There's always rampant engineering malpractice in these technology fads, with guys padding their resumes rather than solving real problems. In this case you also have management angling to snag gullible investors and customers, but you expect managers to have no ethics.
Re: Which blockchain? (Score:2)
It is a replicated mysql network where everyone has to agree on the insert, and lost the previleges for update and delete. There you go
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I can't help you with any more information. The "article" was awfully light. I came here hoping to find more technical details but lacking that, I can at least guess.
The article indicates that they might be interested in the transparency and traceability of a digital ledger. If so, they don't a full blown blockchain with mining and stuff, just a simple digital ledger with one hash per set of documents in a transaction and a head hash. When a package changes hands, the sender and receiver sign the transactio
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Would you trust their database? With a Blockchain is harder for them to lie, and easier to deflect lawsuits claiming they lied.
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Blah, blah, blockchain (Score:3)
another "standard" (Score:2)
They cannot even agree on a standard exchange of status reports. Ignoring all other standards (like X12, RosettaNet, UBL, ...), just looking at the logistics companies who use UN/EDIFACT IFTSTA messages to report a status. They all use it differently, in some cases even not even adhering to the standards as defined by the format.
Server cost? (Score:2)
Worst EDI compliance (Score:1)
Fedex Freight fails to send EDI on roughly 2% of what we ship with them. Apparently this is due to mis-keying information off the shipping documents. Who cares about blockchain when they're still using manual keying of shipping reference data?
hyperbole (Score:2)
"(Blockchain will)....completely change worldwide supply chains"
So we're going to have a code that essentially encapsulates a record of everything that happens during a shipment? Wow I'm so excited.
While blockchain may be slightly* more convenient and concise....this is ALREADY how logistics works.
There is a clear chain of documentation, signatures, and custody from the origin to the destination. For international ocean shipments that may go by truck, then train, then truck again, then ship, then truck,
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What if the purpose of the digital ledger is to resolve disputes and not replacing the documents? You would use it to verify all documents that were used in a certain transaction are both unmodified and present. You can't say "X never arrived" because then you can't recreate the hash. From your experience, would such a system be an improvement or just redundant?
I know "blockchain technology" has been discussed for various forms of registries like property ownership but I believe they are mostly interested i
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I agree that sure, it might be useful?
But the title of my post was 'hyperbole' - this will not "completely change" anything.
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We are totally and utterly fucked... (Score:1)
just wonder (Score:1)
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