United Parcel Service of America, Inc.

Amber Sappington

Bala Ganesh

Scott Castaldo

The present systems and methods describe a computer system that collects user shipping preferences, including, for example, the shipping speeds (e.g., standard three to five day shipping) a user selects on various retailer websites. The system is configured to determine the one or more preferred shipping methods for the user based on the collected shipping preferences and to save the preferred shipping methods to memory (e.g., the user commonly prefers standard shipping). When the user visits an online retailer, the system, detects a shipping field (e.g., where the user may select or input a shipping preference), accesses the saved preferred shipping method (e.g., the user prefers standard shipping), and populates the shipping field with the saved preferred shipping method (e.g., the system automatically selects 'standard shipping' for the user).

Shipping preferences population systems and related methods

A system and method for allowing a purchaser of a gift to associate a personal message (e.g., an audio and/or video message) with the gift is described. The personal message may be associated with the gift via a unique identifier associated with a parcel (e.g., a parcel tracking number) in which the gift is shipped to the intended recipient of the gift. Once the gift is received by the gift recipient, the gift recipient may also associate a message with the gift via the unique identifier. The gift recipient's message may be in response to the purchaser's message, an unrelated message to the purchaser, a message to the retailer where the gift was purchased, or a message to a common carrier.

Systems and related methods for associating personal messages with parcels

A system and method for enhancing search results is described. The system receives information and data about retailers and social network data about a user. The system then detects search terms input by the user into a search field (e.g., on a search webpage) and modifies the search terms at least partially based on the information associated with the various retailers and the social network data. The system (or the user) then submits the modified search terms to a search engine and receives search results based on the modified search terms.

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Atlanta, GA, United States of America

Amber Sappington