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How UPS Trucks Saved Millions of Dollars By Eliminating Left Turns (ndtv.com)

Posted by msmash on from the bright-ideas dept.

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.

32 of 359 comments (clear)

  1. Tee hee! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    > Turns out that UPS was right

    I see what you did there.

  2. Something is missing by thsths · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Eliminating left turns to save time at the expense of longer distance is plausible.

    Making the journey shorter by eliminating left turns is not. So what is the article not telling us?

    1. Re:Something is missing by sunking2 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Depends on whether shorter is time or distance.

    2. Re:Something is missing by Jason+Levine · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I heard this years ago. I think the key is idling time. When you try to turn left, you often need to wait for traffic to clear in both directions before going. While you're doing that, the UPS truck is sitting there burning gas and getting 0 mpg. If the driver makes right turns, they might drive further, but they'll wind up still moving and thus won't be wasting gas waiting on a clearing. By using special mapping software, they can find the ideal route to deliver packages so that the truck is idling as little as possible and uses the minimum amount of gas needed.

      --
      My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
    3. Re:Something is missing by ClickOnThis · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Depends on whether shorter is time or distance.

      This. I suspect eliminating left turns results in modestly longer distances but significantly shorter times. And if the time waiting to turn left is significant, then the savings from not burning gas while idling at an intersection could be significant as well.

      --
      If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
    4. Re:Something is missing by Solandri · · Score: 4, Informative

      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).

    5. Re:Something is missing by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 4, Informative

      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.

    6. Re:Something is missing by aardvarkjoe · · Score: 3, Informative

      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?
    7. Re:Something is missing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      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.

    8. Re:Something is missing by SirSlud · · Score: 5, Informative

      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"
    9. Re:Something is missing by skids · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I suspect they are right: a truck that spends less total time on travel + waiting for left turns makes more deliveries, so there do not need to be as many trucks.

      --
      Someone had to do it.
    10. Re:Something is missing by The-Ixian · · Score: 4, Informative

      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.

      --
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    11. Re:Something is missing by Fragnet · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The engine is still running whilst you're waiting. My own personal experience of sitting waiting in traffic has over the years taught me the following: "there's always some cunt who wants to turn right" (left if you drive on the wrong side of the road, i.e. USA). It would often be quicker to turn left, go around the roundabout and drive straight past the junction you were sitting at in the first place, before you'd have been able to turn there.

      I'm serious by the way. I use that saying at least once a day.

    12. Re:Something is missing by ChrisMaple · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Part of the distance traveled by a UPS truck is going from the distribution center to the delivery area. If some trips are eliminated entirely, those parts of the trips come off the total even as mileage inside the delivery area increases slightly.

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    13. Re:Something is missing by EvilSS · · Score: 4, Interesting

      UPS actually sells their route planning software to third parties. I was working for a large consumer products company a while back and they purchased it. Huge PITA to setup but it worked.

      --
      I browse on +1 so AC's need not respond, I won't see it.
    14. Re: Something is missing by dgatwood · · Score: 5, Informative

      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.

      --

      Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.

    15. Re:Something is missing by DerekLyons · · Score: 4, Insightful

      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 you aren't a UPS driver, you're going to a single destination. A UPS driver is going to multiple destinations, which means the algorithm can use a trick you cant's - sequencing destinations. What's a "ridiculous" detour to you is an opportunity to deliver package "B" while avoiding a left turn on the way to delivering package "A". UPS's algorithms don't just arbitrarily eliminate left turns, they sequence the route (and choose which truck which package goes onto) so as to reduce the need for left turns and reduce the total number of miles traveled per package.

    16. Re:Something is missing by LunaticTippy · · Score: 3, Funny

      That loop saved you from getting in a fender bender on the next block, saving you many hours. Apple now has pre-cogs optimizing their algorithm.

      --
      Man, you really need that seminar!
  3. MythBusters were there 7 years ago by Melkhior · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The MythBusters did that one 7 years ago: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MythBusters_(2010_season)#Left_Hand_Turn

  4. Re:I don't think you know what "eliminating" means by ClickOnThis · · Score: 3, Informative

    "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.
  5. So can we use this for personal routing? by Cthefuture · · Score: 4, Interesting

    If this is true then it would make sense for Google maps and the others to offer routing options that also eliminate left turns.

    I wonder what happens to traffic if everyone on the road eliminates left turns.

    --
    The ratio of people to cake is too big
  6. Missing information by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    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.

  7. NASCAR drivers need not apply. by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 4, Funny

    All they do is turn left.

    --
    It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
  8. Oldest Dup Ever by hondo77 · · Score: 3, Informative

    From nine years ago.

    --
    I live ze unknown. I love ze unknown. I am ze unknown.
  9. Make America great again! by mi · · Score: 3, Funny

    > Turns out that UPS was right

    I see what you did there.

    Let's eliminate left turns from government policy as well.

    --
    In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
  10. old news by Jodka · · Score: 4, Informative

    This "news" was posted about ten years ago on ./, by CmdrTaco on in December 2007.

    --
    Ceci n'est pas une signature.
  11. How they 'cut distance' travelled by gurps_npc · · Score: 5, Informative

    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
  12. Look at the big picture by mede · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Of course to get from point A to B, it takes more time when you eliminate left turns... But think that you actually have points A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H.. And Multiple trucks.. Meaning that maybe point B is not served by truck 1, even when it's two blocks away from its original route, but it's taken by truck 2 because it's better served by the no-left-turn algorithm..

    That's what I call economies of scale.. And not the idiot thing of being able to push your providers tu give you better prices because you're a big buyer..

  13. Agreed. This is why NASCAR cars are so inefficient by raymorris · · Score: 5, Funny

    Now we know why NASCAR cars burn gas so fast - it's all the left turns.

    > Let's eliminate left turns from government policy as well.

    Agreed.

  14. Counterintuitively, cheaper = jobs by raymorris · · Score: 4, Insightful

    > You think eliminating 1000 trucks didn't cost some jobs?
    > So then why do they need to hire more people or raise wages when they SAVED MONEY?

    At first glance that seems rather counter-intuitive, doesn't it? There is a suprise waiting around the corner.

    This has been studied over and over, so even the very fine details are well understood now, but pretty much all economists and most business majors. Here's a clear example that makes the big idea clear:

    Suppose it cost UPS $20/pound to make deliveries, so they charge $30/pound. How many books would people have ever ordered from Amazon? Roughly zero, because who wants to pay $30 shipping for a book.

    Suppose it costs UPS $1/pound, so they charge $1.50/pound. How many people order books from Amazon? A shitload. Giving Amazon the ability to expand into a million other products. How many people order stuff from Amazon now, with shipping costs low? A shitload. How many people are hired to deliver all the things people order from Amazon? A shitload.

    The general idea is that when costs are reduced, more people buy it. When more people buy something, that creates more jobs in the industry.

    In the early 1980s, mobile phones cost $3,995. Hundreds of people were employed in the mobile phone industry, selling hundreds of phones. Today you can get a mobile phone for $29, so millions of people get mobile phones, creating an industry with millions of jobs.

  15. Re:Oh the irony. by Cederic · · Score: 4, Funny

    Here are three left turns. We eliminated them by turning right instead.

    Sadly we weren't able to eliminate stupidity on the internet, even from people with three digit Slashdot UIDs.

  16. Re:Agreed. This is why NASCAR cars are so ineffici by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 4, Funny

    That's why, if I ever competed in a NASCAR race I'd drive in the opposite direction.

    --
    "That's the way to do it" - Punch