| The past decade has seen a significant growth in the number of cars sold in online marketplaces such as eBay Motors. A growing proportion of these cars are sold to buyers located a significant distance from the seller. The purchased vehicle is often shipped from the seller to the buyer and we have seen a sizable increase in the direct consumer procurement of shipping providers for cars and other large items. Today consumers can directly procure a shipping provider for such items in open, online, and often auction-driven marketplaces. This results in an interesting decision problem for shippers, who must decide which subset (if any) of a large numbers of possible items should be selected for pickup and delivery while considering the impact on currently committed jobs and routes. This paper presents preliminary ideas and results associated with this problem. |
Updated 02/23/2014