Groceries ordered over the Internet by a particular time in the early evening
may be delivered by the next morning to a location within a 5-6 hour delivery radius
of a warehouse. The grocery order is filled at the warehouse, where the groceries
are placed in a tote for delivery. If perishable groceries are to be delivered,
a frozen insert is placed in the tote to maintain the groceries at a desired temperature.
The filled tote is placed on a rack, which is removable with the tote on it. The
racks have shelves that are pitched such that when a first tote is removed a second
tote behind the first tote falls into the space previously occupied by the first
tote. In the early evening, after the cutoff time for placing orders, the rack
and totes on the rack are transferred to a first vehicle, typically a large trailer,
that transports the rack and totes to a transfer point where the rack and the accompanying
bill of lading are transferred to a second smaller vehicle, such as a van. The
van delivers the totes to customers along a pre-established route. Upon reaching
a delivery destination (usually a customer's home) by early the next morning, the
van driver removes the tote for that customer from the van and secures it at the
delivery destination. The tote may be secured in a locked expandable bag, such
as a mesh net or insulated bag, that is itself secured to a grocery box. Alternatively,
the tote may be secured by looping a chain or cable through and around a pair of
eyelets on the tote. The customer removes the tote from the bag, removes the groceries
from the tote, and returns the used tote to the bag for later pickup by the van.
