Email Parcel Post is Good!

Sat May 26 01:45:53 UTC 2001

> ... and you expect to get this disk from Livermore to Chicago, in 5 minutes,
> ... how?
> 
> Business moves at Internet speeds these days, in case you hadn't noticed.
> 
> To put it in a way even understandable to techies;
> 
> Collaborrative document, updated and swapped between 4 authors,  and
> reviewed by two others, widely separated geo-physically. Revised and
> rewritten 5 times per day, for a week (Not counting NetMeetings). Trust me,
> management does work this way.
> 
Network Shared storage is the correct solution for most of these issues.

Runtime with network shared storage is also 1 week.

> Process run-time, with email = 1 week; with FedEx = 1 month.
> 
> Process cost (transit only), with email <= $20, with FedEx = $4500 (FedEx =
> very happy)
> 
Let's see... 4 authors * 35 revisions (7 days 5 revisions each, or 35 days, 1
revision each, assuming revisions wouldn't be reduced by latency) = 140 fedex packages.

According to FedEx web site, from 95121 (San Jose, CA) to 20170 (Herndon, VA),
it's:

	$18.34 standard overnight (w/unscheduled pickup)
	$20.94 priority overnight (w/unscheduled pickup)

I get $2567.60 and $2931.60, respectively.  Still well over the $20 that it costs
with network shared storage or email, but definitely significantly less than
your fedex estimate.  In fact, I couldn't get close to your estimate on the
fedex web site.  I was able to find 8am delivery at $6000+, but that's way
more than your $4500, and not overly useful in this situation.

Admittedly, I didn't try HI to VA, so maybe that's where you got your quote.

OTOH, most businesses have contracts with fedex and pay substantially less
than the one-time rates I just listed.

> Real cost; Deal is blown out because deliverable is three weeks late.
> Instant lost revenue.
> 
> > my opinion.
> 
> opinion: invalid.
> 
> 
Fact: Using e-mail instead of bulk file transfer or network shared storage
	is an inefficient use of bandwidth with little or no gain in user
	convenience and only an artificial sense of security.

Owen