How Overnight Shipping Works
Wendover Productions4 HN recommenders · recommended in 4 months, 2018–2023
explainer · general · evergreen · 2018–2023 on HN
Wendover Productions explains how overnight shipping works, covering the hub-and-spoke logistics of companies like FedEx and UPS and the use of cargo aircraft. It touches on the economics that make next-day delivery possible.
Recommended as a clear, accessible explainer on logistics, overnight shipping and why old planes get used for cargo.
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4 comments from Hacker News
Regarding the Shipping Trivia section, the "How Overnight Shipping Works" video by Wendover Productions is a good resource to learn more ▶ this video
US prime is marketed as "two day", though in many markets free next-day arrival is common. link is a pretty good Youtube video about Amazon's shipping system. ▶ this video is a good Youtube video that discusses how overnight shipping systems like Fedex etc. have works.
Wendover Productions did a great video YouTube on overnight shipping that goes into the use of old planes for shipping cargo. [1] . The short version is that cargo planes spend most of their time sitting around, usually much less time than an equivalently sized passenger plane. [1] ▶ this video
This video does a good job explaining how airline pricing works nowadays: ▶ this video Basically, from the info they get, (destination, departure date, return date, etc.) they try to guess what kind of traveler the customer is and price the ticket accordingly. E.g. if there is no weekend between departure and return, they think that you must be a business traveler so the ticket is more expensive.