Communications: electrical – Condition responsive indicating system – Specific condition
Reexamination Certificate
2001-09-18
2004-05-18
Lee, Benjamin C. (Department: 2632)
Communications: electrical
Condition responsive indicating system
Specific condition
C340S870030, C235S385000, C053S443000, C383S042000, C206S386000, C206S459500, C206S499000, C206S515000, C206S526000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06737974
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is broadly directed to containers and systems that may be used for shipping parcels in a parcel carrier industry. In addition, the present invention concerns methods used by those carriers to transport parcels between senders and recipients. The present invention especially concerns containers, systems and methods that integrate advantageous and cost saving techniques wherein the shipping pouches/containers and palleting cartons and structures can be reused.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A fundamental need of commerce based societies is the transportation of goods from one location to another. The development of various postal systems, first on the national and then on an international basis, established an organized system wherein a carrier, for a price, would convey a parcel from a shipper to a recipient. The service provided by such carriers resulted in increasing demand and expansion of their served customer based. In addition to the governmentally sponsored postal services, private carriers have been organized to transport a wide variety of parcels for paying customers. Such companies include those known as United Parcel Service, Federal Express, DHL, Airborne and Emory, to name a few. The proliferation of such companies demonstrates the increasing need for their services.
In addition to the ordinary demands on the parcel carrier industry, the expansion of internet commerce already has and is expected to continue to place increasing demands on the need to ship small parcels from a merchant to a customer. The role of the parcel carrier is becoming increasingly integral to the success or failure of consumer's on-line experience and business in general. Shippers know the importance of having a dependable carrier who ultimately provides dependable service to the end-use customer.
The shipping trend in recent times has been toward smaller parcels, some of which are breakable but the majority of which are considered non-fragile or non-breakable. Indeed, as much as 65% to 70% of the entire parcel market in the United States may be classified as non-fragile, meaning that the actual products being shipped are resistant to damage if handled with any degree of care. However, traditional shipping techniques as far as packaging the parcels are not varied greatly between fragile and non-fragile items with the sometimes exception of the degree of cushioning in the material used for more fragile items.
For the past 40-50 years, shippers have been conditioned to excessively package parcel shipments because there have been few alternatives. Such excessive packaging leads to increased packing costs. This packaging cost results from two factors. First, the cost of packaging materials is not trivial. Typically, parcels are packed inside a one-time use only container, such as a paperboard carton, with the interior of the container filled with cushioning materials, such as styrofoam “peanuts”, shredded paper or other paper based filler, to name a few. Second, there is a substantial time investment in packaging that results from the need to carefully pack and seal the paperboard carton and prepare the shipping documents for the same.
In addition to the problem of cost, packing waste is one of the leading contributors to landfill waste today and is a frustration for both the shipper and the recipient. This results from the need to inventory and dispose of these non-reusable materials. As internet commerce and mobile inventory management processes continue to grow, waste from shipped parcels can only be expected to worsen. This is especially true since a vast majority of parcels are excessively over-packaged with the actual product accounting for only about 25% of the available space inside each paperboard box. This is despite the fact that a majority of products could have been shipped without any packaging materials.
Such wasted space also reduces the volume shipping capacity of carriers, be the air transport or land based transport, such as trucks. The shipping of the packaging waste exhibits both direct costs as well as indirect costs in increased fuel consumption, wear and tear on airports, highways, etc. as well as environmental impact. By reducing the amount of waste materials, such indirect costs could be reduced.
While carriers profess to be interested in understanding the hardships on shippers, the only response to these hardships seems to have been in logistics planning. Little effort has been made to avoid unnecessary effort because the carriers would be required to change the service that they offer. Further, the presence of several dominant players in the carrier industry have virtually dictated the packaging techniques that have been used for the last few decades, with these rules being those that have resulted in the costs discussed above.
Therefore, while current handling methods were acceptable in the past, there has been an increasing need felt for many years to develop better parcel handling techniques. The environmental and financial factors have been suggesting for many years the need for better solutions to providing carrier services. Indeed, even political factors are changing with governmental agencies listing the activities of box packaging and taping as an activity subject for repetitive motion injury. Accordingly, there is an ever increasing need for solutions to reduce or eliminate the liabilities of current parcel packaging and carriage.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide a new and useful container for shipping parcels between locations.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a new and useful shipping system of containers, cartons and pallets that reduce the volume necessary to ship parcels between locations.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a reusable container that avoids the requirement of excessive parcel cushioning materials.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a simple, reusable container that reduces the time necessary to containerize parcels as well as one that reduces the risk of repetitive motion injury.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a shipping system including reusable containers and reusable carton/totes that protect parcels during shipment.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a new and useful method for shipping parcels from shippers to recipients that incorporates the containers and system noted above.
It is still a further object of the present invention is to provide a method for shipping parcels that can increase the ease of sorting and tracking such parcels.
According to one aspect of the present invention then, a container is provided that is adapted to receive a parcel for shipment to an intended recipient. Broadly, this container includes a container body that has an interior and a mouth communicating with the interior. A closure is provided that is movable between an open position such that the parcel may be inserted and removed from the interior and a closed position to retain the parcel in the interior as a received parcel. A removable label is also provided and includes a strip constructed of a selected strip material along with an area to receive information corresponding to an address of the intended recipient. The label also has a layer of selected adhesive. The container has a label panel secured to the container body with the label panel including an exposed surface portion formed of a material to which the selected adhesive will adhere sufficiently to retain the label on the container body during shipment yet from which the label may be forcefully removed without tearing the strip of material.
In one embodiment of the invention, the container is in the form of a flexible pouch. The pouch includes first and second body panels joined about a majority of their periphery thereof to define a sealed edge with an unjoined portion defining the mouth. The closure of such pouch can then be a zipper having a pull-tab. A first grommet may be di
Gegick Rebecca A.
Henson Michael R.
Lee Benjamin C.
Martin Timothy J.
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