Invention Day: Amazon''

filling needs the world never knew it needed

Yesterday morning, I ordered some empty photo albums for my current project of archiving ten years of prints still in their one hour photo envelopes. This morning, they were sitting on the porch, apparently delivered in the early hours by some drive-by-night courier service. As a member of Amazon Prime, I find this level of service to be pretty good, but there is so much room for improvement.

What I propose is that Amazon adopt the psychic computer system from the movie, Minority Report, in which crimes were prevented before they occurred. Applying this system to Amazon would allow warehouses to begin boxing up and shipping orders before I even know I need to buy something. Then, once I've clicked the final Purchase button, I can hear a gentle knock at the front door as my goods instantly gratify me.

This would reduce shipping costs for Amazon, since they can begin preparing shipments months in advance and send everything via Media Mail. And, as long as the hive mind of the psychic computer can agree on your purchasing plans, there is no risk of ending up with an embarrassingly labeled box of sex paraphernalia prominently on your porch unless some Amazon employee finds a way to game the system.

This would also allow movie tie-in advertisements for the new Amazon Double Prime: the company could take all of the scenes in which Tom Cruise is running from the police and show him delivering your packages.