Post #1261290
2026-03-27 13:55 UTC
@mrotteveel @kevlin Indeed. That 09:50 figure being to the nearest 5 minutes is not, of itself, a problem. It will be calculated on the basis of the courier leaving the depot at time x, and having a number of journey segments of predictable length. So it's the earliest time that it might arrive. The 2 hour, or 5 hour, finger-in-the-air value? Yeah, it's adding that on and keeping the precision that's the problem
The expected arrival curve is nothing like a Bell curve
Replies (2)
-
@mrotteveel@mstdn.social 2026-03-27 14:11
@bellinghman @kevlin I have worked on transactional emails and push messages that communicate this type of information to users. Communicating time ranges like this, even with the "fake" precision is the easiest to understand for most people. From a business perspective, it also prevents unnecessary calls, and complaints, to customer service. Being more vague and less specific, even it's mathematically more correct, is not "better", neither for the customer nor the company communicating it.
-
@kevlin@mastodon.social 2026-03-27 17:29
@bellinghman @mrotteveel Precisely