I was setting up delivery on some furniture recently and saw something neat. As I scrolled through possible delivery windows, I saw discounts and extra charges based on the choice.
For example, choosing Saturday morning would cost $40 while choosing Wednesday morning would result in -$40 (i.e., a discount of $40).
If you are the furniture delivery company, you are likely looking at a default state demand curve that spikes on weekends. That means frenetic weekends at higher labor costs. And, worse, this is after trucks you own sit idle on other days.
This simple optimization enables them to smoothen that curve and better utilize their assets while making customers willing to choose non-peak hour delivery times much happier.
Win-win-win.
