Fast, weight-accurate fulfillment of a one-pound apple order for online grocery

Online grocery shopping is going mainstream, especially among millennials and people who live in cities. For retailers, one of the hardest parts is weighing, packing and shipping fresh produce both accurately and quickly. As a product manager, how would you pack and ship a bag of apples that weighs exactly one pound? ```hint Start from the fruit Work out roughly how many whole apples make up a pound and what that means for hitting the target with fruit that comes in uneven sizes, before you design the packing line. ``` ### Clarifying Questions - How exact is "exactly": what tolerance over or under one pound is acceptable, and is the customer charged for one pound or for the actual weight? - Must the apples arrive whole, or is a cut or sliced product acceptable? - Is the bag delivered the same day from a local store or warehouse, or shipped by parcel over several days? - Roughly how many of these bags does a site need to pack per day? ### What a Strong Answer Covers - What "exactly one pound" can mean for fruit sold in whole, uneven units, and the cost to the customer and the retailer of being over or under - Options for hitting the weight target, compared on accuracy, speed, cost and waste, with a chosen approach and the reasoning behind it - Packing and shipping choices tied to the delivery method, including bruising, temperature and freshness - How the process stays fast as order volume grows - Metrics that show the bags are accurate, packed quickly and arrive in good condition ### Follow-up Questions - If weighing at the pack station became the bottleneck at peak hours, what would you change? - How would you decide between a fixed price per bag and charging for the actual weight? - How would your approach change for produce that is easy to cut to weight, such as watermelon, versus produce usually sold by count, such as avocados?