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How UPS Trucks Saved Millions of Dollars By Eliminating Left Turns (ndtv.com)
Some people probably already know this, but for those who don't: UPS truck drivers don't take left turns, and despite this usually resulting in longer route, they are saving millions of dollars in fuel costs. From a report: The company decided on eliminating left turns (or right turns in left-hand driving countries such as India) wherever possible after it found that drivers have to sit idly in the trucks while waiting to take the left turn to pass through traffic. So, it created an algorithm that eliminated left turns from drivers' routes even if meant a longer journey. This meant that drivers do not have to wait in traffic to take a left turn and can take the right turn at junctions. Of course, the algorithm does not entirely eliminate left turns, but the number of left turns taken by UPS trucks is less than 10 percent of all turns made. Turns out that UPS was right -- the idea really paid off. In 2005, a year after it announced that it will minimize left turns, the company said that the total distance covered by its 96,000 trucks was reduced by 747,000km, and 190,000 litres of fuel had been saved. In 2011, Bob Stoffel, a UPS Senior Vice President, told Fortune that the company had reduced distance traveled by trucks by 20.4 million miles, and reduced CO2 emissions by 20,000 metric tons, by not taking left turns. A recent report by The Independent says that the total reduction in distance traveled by UPS trucks now stands at 45.8 million miles, and there are 1,100 fewer trucks in its fleet because of the algorithm. Even by conservative estimates, that's tens of millions of dollar of savings in fuel costs. Senior VP Bob Stoffel explained how it works on CNN a few years ago.
Ya, if you're taking a freshman level cs course.
"Of course, the algorithm does not entirely eliminate left turns, but the number of left turns taken by UPS trucks is less than 10 percent of all turns made."
I don't think you know what "eliminating" means. Worthless "journalist".
Let's say left turns were 40% of all turns and now they're 10%. You have indeed eliminated most left turns, just not all of them.
Bad on the headline for not qualifying "eliminating" but the rest of the article does.
If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
For those readers outside the USA: In the USA, cars turning right can treat a red light like a stop sign, and turn right after stopping and checking the turn is safe.
If elimination of left turns makes the delivery time shorter, the trucks can get more deliveries done each day. This means they need fewer trucks out on the road to make that day's deliveries, which can mean fewer total miles driven for the fleet (less redundancy in routes between multiple trucks, fewer trips between the depot to the start/end of delivery).
From nine years ago.
I live ze unknown. I love ze unknown. I am ze unknown.
Depends on whether shorter is time or distance.
Except the summary and TFA specifically say they drove fewer miles. That does not make sense. They might save gas, they might save time, but how can the distance be shorter? I suspect that this may be a case of incompetent journalism, and the reduced miles was a result of all the efforts at route optimization, rather than just eliminating left turns.
The GPS in my Honda Odyssey also tries to eliminate left turns. I turned that feature off because it was sometimes doing a ridiculous amount of re-routing to avoid a single left turn. But, overall, the GPS is better at choosing routes than I am. Even on some routes that I drive almost everyday, it has shown me some shortcuts that I was unaware of.
This "news" was posted about ten years ago on ./, by CmdrTaco on in December 2007.
Ceci n'est pas une signature.
But TFS says:
the total distance covered by its 96,000 trucks was reduced by 747,000km
So they're saying that they're reducing distance traveled, which doesn't make any sense from the description. Obviously that's either wrong, or they're leaving something pretty important out that is resulting in less distance traveled.
How can we continue to believe in a just universe and freedom to eat crackers if we have no ale?
If you ignore the first article (Gadget 360) and click through the report hyperlink to
http://www.independent.co.uk/n...
Then you find out that by cutting left turns they increase distance per package, but reduce time per package. By reducing time per package, they managed to put more packages on each truck. Miles per truck goes up, but the number of trucks goes down far more.
This reduction in total trucks also creates a slight reduction in distance traveled whenever two pickups are close to each other. So while miles per package goes up, total miles travelled drops tremendously.
excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
This. I suspect eliminating left turns results in modestly longer distances but significantly shorter times.
Then you suspect wrong. From TFS:
In 2005, a year after it announced that it will minimize left turns, the company said that the total distance covered by its 96,000 trucks was reduced by 747,000km, and 190,000 litres of fuel had been saved. In 2011, Bob Stoffel, a UPS Senior Vice President, told Fortune that the company had reduced distance traveled by trucks by 20.4 million miles, and reduced CO2 emissions by 20,000 metric tons, by not taking left turns.
Actually, as somebody pointed out, more deliveries per hour = less trucks required per day = less distance traveled by fleet in total. So yes, it does make sense.
"Old man yells at systemd"
I would be willing to bet that drivers often override the algorithm.
Drivers at UPS are sort of the rock stars of the union. It's all union and seniority so if you are a full time driver, it means you have been lifting boxes for at least 5 years, sometimes more, depending on the hub you are working out of.
Also, drivers tend to have a high retention because the more senior you are the better the route you can bid for. Some drivers have probably been driving their routes for many years and "know better than any damn computer" how to drive their route.
I did drive for UPS, but only as a reserve "Saturday Air" driver. My normal role there was as a loader on the night shift.
Even still, I was subjected to many "time studies" and procedural training in order to maximize efficiency. Example: I was taught to start with the left leg when entering the vehicle, left hand on the door frame or guide rail, right hand holding vehicle key. Swing yourself into the driver's seat, check your mirrors, right foot on brake, left foot release parking brake, right hand turns the ignition while left hand grabs the seat belt and fastens it. All said and done, the time it takes from the moment you put your left foot on the step to the time you are pulling out should be no more than 8 seconds.
So, the right turn efficiency story not only doesn't surprise me, I would expect it to be the result of thousands of hours of efficiency studies on the subject.
My eyes reflect the stars and a smile lights up my face.
It's probably worth clarifying why that matters. Trucks don't start out at the first delivery location; they have to be driven there. If you can reduce the number of trucks, then there are fewer people wasting fuel driving out to the first delivery location. The larger the geographical area covered by a single depot, the greater the savings.
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