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- bradym80, on 12/12/2007, -5/+293UPS isnt an ambi-turner.
-zoolander - gdstudios, on 12/12/2007, -9/+224Maybe NASCAR should start racing clockwise....
- inactive, on 12/12/2007, -30/+245i am convinced that market forces will eventually force people to make wiser choices. if UPS does this, surely FedEX will too, or risk losing a competitive edge. "a penny saved is a penny earned" means if you make your company more lean then it will be more profitable (and if it saves a *****-load of carbon from being belched into the atmosphere, all the better.)
American consumers have a world-wide reputation for not being able to grasp this concept. remember when the girls paid top dollar for ripped-up blue jeans, or how everyone thought it would be so cool to buy a huge, gas guzzling SUV to take suzy to soccer practice?
speaking of market forces, election time means we get to listen to all the politicians talk about taxes. taxes are a given. wisely crafted tax policy is not.
in iowa, there is a marijuana tax on the books, but nobody buys the stamp except stamp collectors. how much revenue could iowa realize if they legalized and taxed like they do alcohol and tobacco? - lhbaker, on 12/12/2007, -16/+200Imagine how much gas UPS would save it they didn't turn at all.
- 97thfloor, on 12/12/2007, -5/+183It is cool to see something so simple make such a big impact
- Ineedanap, on 12/12/2007, -2/+114it didnt say, never allowing their drivers to turn left- simply removing as many lefties as possible.
- shadowspawn, on 12/12/2007, -3/+107Fed-Ex tried that, but wasted 9 million dollars of gas... because their drivers kept on making three rights.
- thebaron2, on 12/12/2007, -2/+85Probably not nearly as much as they'll save PER YEAR by implementing this.
And I'd bet that they reduced their number of accidents as well, along with a host of other not-so-obvious or quantifiable benefits. - inactive, on 12/12/2007, -20/+101I shall never turn left again... Well, maybe a couple of times.
But I swear I saw a UPS drive pull a lefty just yesterday. - torrzilla, on 12/12/2007, -14/+89Hey UPS, how about adjusting the efficiency of your package flow process to exclude your truck loaders from forcing my box into a space three times too small. My package arrives looking like a gorilla sat on it, but at least you saved gas on left turns.
- Homerr, on 12/12/2007, -2/+69Brown is the new green?
- Hellman109, on 12/12/2007, -3/+52They will go left when it makes more sense, the article basically says right hand turns are more efficient and therfore more used by their software. Left hand turns means waiting for oncoming traffic and such and therfore are less efficient, but sometimes the better route.
- kirashira, on 12/12/2007, -2/+50"remember when the girls paid top dollar for ripped-up blue jeans"
This still happens today...It's called designer denim. - Compuwiz, on 12/12/2007, -13/+60Or just stop driving in the first place - driving in a circle isn't a sport anyway.
- MikeonTV, on 12/12/2007, -26/+58What they don't tell you is how much they payed to implement the software
- gdstudios, on 12/12/2007, -3/+32If you don't work in advertising, you need to.
- billbillbilly, on 12/12/2007, -2/+27sometimes my brown is green...
- Ineedanap, on 12/12/2007, -1/+25Fedex doesnt have the requisite background systems in place to do this like UPS does. Fedex is looking into alternate energy delivery vehicles however, as is UPS. Dont get me wrong, Fedex is and will always be looking for ways to reduce costs, its just that their internal systems work alot differenetly than UPS.
- Stradenko, on 12/12/2007, -1/+24If they're all one-way streets, a left turn is as good as a right.
- slayerab, on 12/12/2007, -6/+29How about when UPS holds your package until the expected day of arrival and passes your house/hometown in the process? What if they just delivered it directly, wouldn't that save fuel?
- LeifErikson8, on 12/12/2007, -5/+27its called a waste of godamn money.
- sotopheavy, on 12/12/2007, -3/+24He's so hot right now!
- byronm, on 12/12/2007, -0/+19Fedex Ground is franchised and thusly isn't under the strict corporate control as say UPS
- g2g079, on 12/12/2007, -2/+21No, they would be driving more. Chances are you are not getting a truck load from ups with each delivery.
- newspimp, on 12/12/2007, -2/+21For what it's worth, the technology used isn't rocket science, nor is it incredibly complex. I work at a newspaper, and we've just started utilizing a system produced by RouteSmart, which also provides this technology for FedEx. The simple gist of it is that the system when developing a route from individual service locations (stop points) is that it will tree through the street network (a vast network of interconnected street segments, each one storing which segments they connect to on a turn-by-turn basis), based on a relative speed (which differs by street type and individual route solution setting) and set time delay for any stop signs, lights, etc. It'll tree through, and add up the total time for each driving segment, and then will present that as the route time. It then does this again, looking for shorter paths, basically. Shortest one wins.
What you have the option to do is to create a "time penalty" for various types of road situations, and assigning an additional 3-5 second (or more) penalty for each made left turn increases that route solution's overall time. So, the system will analyze the route, and see that making one left turn (5 seconds) versus three right turns (2 seconds) still works out better for the turn to be made left, and thusly will use that solution.
Now, it will look for ways to reduce the number of them, but it's not a "Three right turn" type of deal. There is a lot of capability and a lot of tweaking that is needed to be done to a routing system such as this to get the delivery times, service times, penalties, etc setup in a way that works for your local environment, and it varies city to city. Overall this system has been a boon for our newspaper delivery and has saved us quite a bit of money in efficiency. - Ineedanap, on 12/12/2007, -0/+18I doubt it was very much, UPS had all the addresses of their pkgs- systemwide, and already told their drivers how many pieces and what their next stop was. This was a simple matter of mapping software correctly routing their trucks.
- badjoke, on 12/12/2007, -2/+19Those holes are expensive pieces of negative material!
- brundlefly76, on 12/12/2007, -0/+16I always try to plan my route to avoid left turns - a long-lasting side effect of not having a working turn signal for two years. However, turn signal or no, I hate left turns.
- GetShorty, on 12/12/2007, -1/+17You obviously haven't been to any high end stores lately.
- r0b1, on 12/12/2007, -5/+19So then did they make three rights?
- Avor, on 12/12/2007, -2/+16"in iowa, there is a marijuana tax on the books, but nobody buys the stamp except stamp collectors. how much revenue could iowa realize if they legalized and taxed like they do alcohol and tobacco?"
None, because the federal government would intervene. - dnields, on 12/12/2007, -0/+13Obviously, someone hasn't ever heard of www.bugmenot.com
- LRG1, on 12/12/2007, -2/+15They paid $750M and they (UPS) plan on saving $750M each year.
I just finished a course on this. - B5tKUnT1, on 12/12/2007, -4/+17Username bugmenot29
Password password - mrjit, on 12/12/2007, -1/+13Good job UPS.
- zengonzo, on 12/12/2007, -0/+12That's why they've implemented a pilot program to suspend drivers in spice tanks.
Hard to deliver packages with flippers, though. - centerblack, on 12/12/2007, -0/+11Connor: The rule of thumb here is...
Rosengurtie: Wait, rule of thumb? In the early 1900s it was legal for men to beat their wives, as long as they used a stick no wider than their thumb.
Connor: Well, can't do much damage with that then, can we? Perhaps it should have been a rule of wrist? - LogicBomB, on 12/12/2007, -0/+11Just like how these companies are trained on how to start the engine, put on their seat belt, knock on a door (they are supposed to avoid doorbells because it's quicker), etc..
These companies own so many trucks and resources that even the smallest change results in milliions saved. Ever hear about the flight attendant who saved some airline millions? He suggested they drop the olives in the in-flight salads down to 3 each from like... 12. Small changes in large numbers are tremendous. - brandstone, on 12/12/2007, -2/+13Anyone else heard of a Michigan left?
- CedEx, on 12/12/2007, -0/+11Digg this man up, for he is telling the TRUTH! And the truth should not be suppressed!
- alanak, on 12/12/2007, -2/+13This title is wrong. Read the article. USING THE SOFTWARE saved them the gas/money. And not turning left is only one small part of the software.
- Nauthez, on 12/12/2007, -0/+11Actually, i'm a UPS loader...we have a certain requirement of packages per trailer. I have to manage to squeze in 1600 packages into a trailer, and that means using all available space. I usually try to put the lighter packages on the top so they wont get damaged, but sometimes i'll miss one and load it at the bottom.
- nicktheawesome, on 12/12/2007, -1/+11UPS trucks are substantially heavier than 2,000 pounds.
- maci01, on 12/12/2007, -0/+101. Go to Abercrombie
2. Ignore the half-naked male model
3. Click jeans and observe ripped jeans - DAaaMan64, on 12/12/2007, -13/+23Imagine what UPS could do for Nascar.
- mattnyc99, on 12/12/2007, -0/+10And now they've got electric delivery trucks, too! http://www.popularmechanics.com/automotive/new_car ...
- ronaldinho, on 12/12/2007, -1/+11Paying top dollars for ripped-ed up blue jeans is ***** stupid. Just wear your old jeans enough and try to stretch it in the meantime to loosen the fabric. I guaratee you it will rip eventually. Or dammit, just cut up your jeans yourself. Ugh stupid people!
- spidoman, on 12/12/2007, -1/+10Go Get Laid 2000?
- unicronband, on 12/12/2007, -1/+10I work at a UPS Store. We ship out around 50 packages each day and rarely ever do we hear about damaged packages. The ones that do get damaged are usually the porcelin dolls that grandma wrapped in a newspaper and threw into a shoe box because she didn't want to buy a shipping-weight box. Yeah, boxes get tossed around whether it's UPS, Fed Ex, DHL, USPS or Planet Express. If it's packed like *****, it'll get mangled.
Our rule of thumb is: if you can drop it from 4 feet without breaking it, it's well packed. -
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