November 2002

Amtrak, one of the UK's leading independent parcels carriers, has launched a nationwide same-day courier service called Daytrak, and is promoting it as "the first fully-fledged e-commerce service for local couriers". It aims to collect from anywhere in Britain for delivery anywhere else the same day.

Although the focus is on online booking, the service can also handle telephone bookings. However, the key to it is that all bookings are channelled to a single central control point, and voice bookings are immediately transcribed to the Web.

The technology behind it is the Logistics Enterprise Integration Platform from NetDespatch, which features a mileage- and weight-based pricing engine, electronic billing (including self-billing), and integration with other Web applications through the use of XML. Amtrak already uses NetDespatch services in its main parcels business.

Amtrak is a franchise-based operation, and is using a network of over 100 regional courier franchises to handle the new service. The NetDespatch system automatically allocates jobs to the appropriate franchise-holder and then tracks it through the delivery process. Delivery confirmation can be handled by email or direct data input by the driver, as well as by NetDespatch's voice-to-data system.

According to Peter Walters, Daytrak's chief operating officer, it was possible to set up the system with very little capital expenditure, since NetDespatch operates a pay-per-order service.