Printer, Federal Express COSMOS Tracking System, ASTRA

Description:

This is a Federal Express ASTRA printer. It was a critical part of FedEx’s Customers, Operations, and Services Master On-line System (COSMOS) used to track packages and confirm deliveries. Customer agents, couriers, and sorting personnel used the SuperTracker to scan barcodes on packages as they moved through the Federal Express system. Providing information about a package’s location, status, and movement became an integral part of delivery companies, with every major carrier implementing a package tracking system.

The instrument has a black plastic cover, metal and plastic parts, and a cloth and leather strap and handle. There is a roll of labels for printing stored in plastic inside the case. The battery-operated device is marked in front: FEDEX, Ut us narjed on a label on the side: FEDEX (/) ASTRA PRINTER No. 191E4477. Also marked on label: MADE IN JAPAN.

Reference:

Carl Niehls, “Custodial Package Tracking at Federal Express,” in Managing Innovation: Cases from the Services Industries, ed. Bruce R. Guile and James Brian Quinn (Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 1988), 57–81.

Date Made: 1991

Location: Currently not on view

Place Made: Japan: Japan

See more items in: Medicine and Science: Computers

Exhibition:

Exhibition Location:

Credit Line: Gift of Federal Express

Data Source: National Museum of American History

Id Number: 1993.0228.02Catalog Number: 1993.0228.02Accession Number: 1993.0228

Object Name: printer

Measurements: overall: 7 cm x 21 cm x 6.7 cm; 2 3/4 in x 8 9/32 in x 2 5/8 in

Guid: http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a9-593d-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

Record Id: nmah_1398553

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