Business Processes

Having outlined the various parts of the system and how the customers interact with it, how does localnet actually operate?

Remember when the post, milk and papers were all delivered before breakfast? Localnet makes that possible again. Instead of some poor souls having to get up very early every morning - as was the case a few years ago - now each delivery driver does at most two early mornings a week. This makes the job a lot more attractive than those it replaces. Overlapping shift patterns at every localnet hub mean that customers can have deliveries from before breakfast till, say, 11pm yet staff only have to work one or two days a week on early or late shifts.

Early Morning Round

The first delivery of the morning is before 9:00am to all bar the most isolated dwellings. Mail takes priority on this round but may also be delivered throughout the rest of the day - restoring the critically endangered “second post”. As with most goods, mail coming into and leaving the localnet area is delivered to and collected from the LocalHub. Much of this is done overnight but there will also be deliveries leaving and arriving during the day.

Incoming mail will have been sorted at the Royal Mail sorting office as it is today but rather than going into postman’s bags, bicycles or vans the mail for each address is placed in the appropriate resident’s PaperBox.  These are arranged by destination across the face of a sorting area at the LocalHub.

As newspapers arrive from distributors early in the morning, these are added to the boxes. In another section of the LocalHub, the bakery is cooking rolls, croissants and pastries that make up the customers' breakfast orders. These are placed into insulated Food Boxes.

Shortly before a delivery van is due to leave on a route, any PaperBox that have something in them are automatically closed, locked and moved, still in order, to an OmniPod ready to be loaded onto the van. The breakfast boxes for the same route are merged with them so that they are in the right order to match the route the van is due to take.

A driver takes a van from the pool beside the LocalHub and drives it into the loading bay. Two or three loaded OmniPods are placed on the back of the van and he heads out on his route. On some routes, the driver will have one or even two assistants to help deliver the boxes.

Deliveries are made as each van leaves the hub and continue till it reaches the farthest point of its route. It is then empty or nearly so and the fold-down seats in the OmniPod can be used to carry passengers - including school children. At the end of the route, a 20 minute break is scheduled. This gives a contingency in case the deliveries took longer than normal. It also allows the staff to eat their breakfast - from additional breakfast boxes loaded for them. (This is not just a perk - it's a great way of ensuring that deliveries are made promptly and that the food in the boxes is up to scratch - as the staff themselves rely on it).

At the scheduled time, the van then drives straight back to the hub, stopping only to collect passengers as it goes. This ensures that everyone gets their mail and breakfast before they have to leave the house to catch the van to work. As all van are tracked, a customer can easily see when a van is approaching and make sure they are outside in time to catch it - but don't have to stand in the rain for hours.

Daytime Rounds

The bulk of the daytime deliveries are groceries ordered the night before - or earlier that day. On these rounds, staff also collect and deliver parcels left at the LocalHub by the postal service and courier firms - which are not allowed to deliver direct to properties other than in exceptional circumstances. Parcels and groceries can share the same box where possible.

Most of the boxes being collected are either empty or contain recyclables though a few will be full of goods being sent by the residents. As the vans collect as many boxes as they deliver, this may mean that only a few seats are available for passengers and that the journey time to the LocalHub is greater. However, users can see the pickup times and journey times and as they book online, the van's collection and delivery instructions can be varied even while the van is on its way to ensure optimal use of the space.

These rounds are generally less time critical than the morning and evening ones and can include services such scheduled contact with elderly, those living alone or needing care or medication. Staff can take orders for goods and can check that such customers are well.

Evening Rounds

As people head home from work, vans adopt the opposite approach from the morning run. They leave empty and follow a relatively straight route to the farthest point of their “patch”. On this leg, they carry passengers home from the LocalHub. On the return journey they collect WasteBoxes from properties. These are sealed boxes and, as they are collected at least every other day, are not overflowing with rancid food as our wheelie-bins are today. The fact that right up until collection, the box was in a cupboard in the customer's kitchen also helps ensure that they are relatively hygienic and clean on the outside. Staff will not collect boxes that are not properly closed or are soiled on the outside. Regardless of this, OmniPods will be automatically steam cleaned at the LocalHub before they are sent out again the next morning.

A small number of vans are active late into the evening, acting as a combination of local taxi service and food delivery service. When demand is low, they can also collect empties and recyclables on their way back. As each DeliveryPoint reports which boxes are in it and how heavy they are, the whole process of collecting and delivering can be carefully optimised.