Anchorage, Alaska, November 2, 11:52am
The jet is sitting on the tarmac. It is -4 Celsius outside. Buried in the massive hull of the airplane lies a tiny package destined for my son......
On October 30, Friday, I bought an iPod from the apple.ca store. The device itself is approximately 45mm by 18mm by 8mm and weighs 10.7 grams. On October 31 my order was filled and on November 2 it left Shanghai, China at 21:30. It was in Anchorage at 11:52 the same date (local time). It should be here, in Montreal, on November 4 according to UPS. This is amazing.
Here I was, at home, in my slippers, one afternoon. I clicked and bought this tiny device that will allow us to store 4GB worth of data. The click started an amazing chain of events that is only possible due to the amazing human brain and its ability to create a telecommunications network and devices that allow for almost instantaneous transmissions of credit card information between consumer and supplier, address details between consumer, supplier and shipper.
Imagine for a minute a UPS Boeing 747 jet filled with toys, consumer electronics, food stuffs all coming from China on their way to the North American marketplace. All in containers, cardboard boxes, bubble wrap envelopes, foam, etc. These jets have a cargo volume capacity of 159 cubic metres. And, within the cavernous mouth of this jet, there lies this little 10.7 gram device, 0.00000648 cubic metres in volume, engraved with a personalised message, destined for my son. Twenty four million of those devices could fit in that plane.
A hundred years ago - gosh, twenty years ago (ten?) - not even the most precious items could be tracked with such accuracy. Today anything can be....a love letter between two people, sent by UPS, can be tracked to amazing precision - a precious item for those two lovers I am sure.
Anchorage, Alaska on a cool November morning and my iPod landed safely - well on its journey to my son's bedroom.
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