Racked is no longer publishing. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years. The archives will remain available here; for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering consumer culture for The Goods by Vox. You can also see what we’re up to by signing up here.
Before Amazon releases the drones, the online behemoth could start shipping items it thinks you want before you purchase them. The company has patented a method for "anticipatory package shipping," which involves culling info from it's massive stockpile of customer data to determine the likelihood a user will make a purchase, then it preemptively sends the package to a nearby shipping hub. If or when the user makes the purchase, the address will be applied to the package in transit and it will be directed to the specific location (the patent has a flow chart if you're a visual learner).The plan, clearly, is to cut down on shipping times.
The pre-shipping shipping is based on popular items in a particular area, previous searches and purchases, wish lists, and even how long the user's cursor hovers over an item online. Which is more freaky, this or drones?
· Amazon Plans to Ship Your Packages Before You Even Buy Them [The Verge]
· Forget Humans, Amazon Will Use Drones to Deliver Packages [Racked]
· How Amazon is Using Its Brooklyn Studio to Do Fashion Right [Racked]