This invention relates to a method and apparatus for delivering an order to a home and utilizing credit information to verify and accept payment for the order.
In another respect, the invention relates to a method and apparatus for verifying credit information on site at the door of a home contemporaneously with the delivery of an order.
A wide variety of products are delivered to the home or business of a recipient and paid for when the product is delivered to the home or business. Pizza, chicken and other foodstuffs are ordered from a vendor by telephone and the vendor delivers the foodstuff to the home of the individual who placed the order. Office supplies and various other goods are ordered by a business from vendors, who then deliver the goods directly to the business. A particular problem which has long existed in such home or business delivery systems is that there is no ready way to verify at the time the goods are delivered credit information which the recipient of the delivered goods uses to pay for the goods. This is particularly the case when a vendors routinely delivers goods to a great many "one-time" recipients for which a vendor does not maintain an account, simply because maintaining an account is not practical or cost effective. In such deliveries to "one-time" recipients, the individual delivering the goods often must accept credit cards, check guarantee cards, and other credit information at face value because there is no practical way to evaluate on site the creditworthiness of such information.
Accordingly, it would be highly desirable to provide an improved method and apparatus for delivering goods to a home or business, the improved method permitting a delivery person to verify the creditworthiness of a credit card, bank guarantee card or other credit information provided by the recipient of the goods while the delivery person stands at the door of the home or business of the recipient to deliver goods to the recipient.
Therefore, it is a principal object of the invention to provide an improved method and apparatus for delivering goods to a home or business and for, while at the door of the home or business, verifying the creditworthiness of a credit card, bank guarantee card, or other credit information provided to the delivery person by the recipient of the goods.
Another object of the invention is to provide an improved method and apparatus for the home delivery of goods which, after a delivery person has left his vehicle, utilizes data entered by the delivery person at the door of the residence of the recipient of the goods, utilizes an airborne transmission of the data entered, and utilizes a cellular telephone line to contact a host computer to validate credit information provided the delivery person by the recipient of the goods.
A further object of the invention is to provide an improved method and apparatus for the home delivery of goods which can, contemporaneously with the delivery of goods to a recipient, provide the recipient with a printed receipt confirming delivery of the goods and the recipient's validated payment for the goods.