How would you pack & ship exactly 1 lb of Apples?

How would you pack & ship exactly 1 lb of Apples?

Clarifying questions? 

1.       What are the current sate of the apple? 

a.       Are they loose?

b.       Are they packed already?

c.       Have we ordered the apple yet?

2.       Are the apples whole or can we cut them?

3.       How are we going to ship them?

a.       Amazon fresh delivery?

b.       Through the mail system?

c.       Amazon delivery?

4.       Exactly one pound?

a.       Do we have any tolerance for error?

b.       Shipped weight or item weight?

5.       How long will apples last at different shipping temperatures?

I believe there are three general steps that we need to address Apples, Packing, Shipping

1.       Apples

a.       Order apples in 1lb packs and let someone else worry about the weighing and sorting

b.       Order apples but prescribe the weight – amazon will only except apples that weigh .33 oz (this is the average wight of an apple – I cheated).  This is also one of the reasons I asked about margin of error is .99 pounds OK, what about .999

                                                               i.      Order smaller apples – amazon will only accept apples that weight exactly .25 lbs.  Please sort before delivery and provide apples of other weights to other customers. 

c.       Slice the apples and use a machine that precisely cuts them into exactly the same weight slice where x slices always equals 1lbs

d.       Order average apples ~.33 lbs.  Weigh them and sort them on the Amazon side with a tolerance that meets the prescribed tolerance for error.  Write an algorithm that uses the various weights efficiently to where you always end up with the same number of apples per pack (say 3 since the average is .33 lbs)

2.       Packing

a.       If the apples are sliced – I know that I can get prepacked sliced apples at the store and can be substituted for fries in a happy meal.  They seem pretty stable, but I don’t know if they need refrigeration.  Package up a 1lbs of sliced apples in a bag just like the grocery store.

                                                               i.      We may add light protection such as light bubble wrap or add a light cardboard layer – this will depend on the shipping method.

b.       If the apples are whole – we should always shoot for the same number of apples in a pack as described above.  When I shop at Costco, I get apples in plastic egg carton style packaging.  This seems to be protective enough for loading into the minivan under a bunch of other items.  I would load the apples into a three pack. In the egg carton style package.  

3.       Shipping

a.       If the delivery is Amazon Fresh or some other form of same day grocery delivery then either the bag of sliced apples or 3 pack of plastic egg carton apples can simply be placed into the grocery delivery bag / box and delivered to the house.

b.       If the delivery is through the postal service or some other longer delivery service – two day prime shipping I worry a little about apple preservation. 

                                                               i.      From a bruising perspective I think the sliced apples will need a little bit of protection before being placed into a box (lite bubble wrapping or a protective cardboard wrapper – then into the shipping box with typical amazon bubble wrap.  If the apples are whole in a clamshell then into a box with some Amazon bubble wrap to keep the plastic egg carton of apples from moving inside the box. 

                                                             ii.      From a heat perspective

1.       we may need to add some cooling packs into the apples. – this might get expensive. 

2.       we might not ship apples to places where the heat is expected to get too high – during periods where heat is expected – same might go for cold. 

3.       I’m not familiar enough with shipping technology but perhaps insulation would be better than cooling packs. 

Perhaps my answer is overly broad covering too many scenarios.  If the interviewer provided some clarification to the questions it might lead us down a specific route.  On the other hand, I believe I covered a lot of the variables that go into packing and shipping exactly 1lbs of apples and demonstrated that I understand many of the factors that go into the decision.