If Pittsburgh offered this job I would quit healthcare forever and do this job. Ride my bike and deliver packages all day oh yeah.... does UPS pay well
2011-12-15 01:03:12
25
UPS Delivering via bicycle
This came from the Pueblo Colorado newspaper (The Chieftan). I thought I saw something like this posted here earlier, but I might be mistaken, as I can't find it at the moment.
The United Parcel Service is going green this holiday season.
The package delivery company known for its brown trucks and uniforms recently added bicycles to its fleet in an effort to save on fuel, promote employee wellness and provide more efficiency during the peak season.
"We started thinking about doing this over the summer in some of the dense areas where there are a lot of deliveries in a small area," said James Brusak, business manager for the UPS Desert Mountain District.
With the recent increase in fuel prices and more emphasis being placed on "going green," Brusak said one of his supervisors encouraged him to look into pedal-power deliveries.
Brusak said he researched the idea and discovered there already were some cities where UPS was using bicycles for deliveries.
"They utilize them in larger areas quite extensively," he said.
There already were training manuals and safety guidelines outlined by the company, which allowed for a quick startup once bicycles were acquired.
Brusak said with the volume of deliveries increasing significantly in November and December, it was a good time to launch the new initiative.
Locally, UPS started with two bikes in mid-November and was expected to add a third bike to the fleet by mid-December.
Finding riders has not been a problem, Brusak said.
"Right now, we only have two riders but we've had many others express interest," he said. "Really, we couldn't do this without our employees buying into it and embracing it."
With increased deliveries this time of year, Brusak said the company hires seasonal employees to help with the extra loads.
Many of those employees assist drivers in making deliveries utilizing handcarts in high density areas.
In at least four neighborhoods, the handcarts are being replaced by bicycles, which will allow for additional and quicker deliveries in areas where there are a number of deliveries in close proximity, Brusak said.
The bike riders travel with a regular delivery person in a truck to designated neighborhoods.
The riders fan into the neighborhood on the bike, equipped with a trailer capable of carrying from 20 to 25 packages.
Riders meet later with the driver at a designated stop to load more packages for delivery.
In just the first two weeks of the program, Brusak said there was a remarkable decrease in the number of miles driven and an increase in efficiency considering the volume of packages delivered.
"We have reduced the number of miles driven by the vehicles by half. That's a tremendous savings in fuel and equipment," he said.
Brusak said the delivery method also provides added wellness benefits for employees.
"I'm not exactly sure how many miles they are doing a day, but I know they are getting some exercise," he said.
Brusak said an added benefit of the bikes is their accessibility to some locations that are difficult to maneuver in a delivery truck.
Efficiency is improved with riders hopping on and off the bikes while making deliveries, and then pedaling to the next stop.
Brusak said the only drawbacks to using bicycles are they cannot be ridden in inclement weather or after dark.
2011-12-14 19:13:39
Brusak said the only drawbacks to using bicycles are they cannot be ridden in inclement weather or after dark.
Really?
Pretty intuitive way to deliver packages by using the trucks as a base stations.
2011-12-15 01:43:06
I seem to recall reading about this in a few towns in calif too. They even cited increased customer pleasure by getting to see, talk to, and basic other human interaction with other humans not stuck inside an air conditioned box. Sounded like everyone really liked the idea.
I've always thought being a delivery person would be an awesome job, minus having to drive everywhere. This certainly would be a pretty great job. Id rather deliver packages in inclement weather than many other jobs...
2011-12-15 02:55:03
Maybe I'll be able to get my old job back eventually? But with benefits! Messengering was the best job I ever had, and the hardest.
2011-12-15 05:48:16
I'm pretty sure this is a publicity stunt on UPS's part. I got a package delivered by them recently and it had a flyer printed on 100% post-consumer recycled paper embedded with wildflower seeds. Whose purpose was to tell me that it was 100% post-consumer recycled paper embedded with wildflower seeds. Which means, UPS is a wonderful, green company, which protects the environment, and doesn't do anything bad. Seems to me that bicycle package delivery is more of the same. I mean, it's great for the guy delivering the packages, but given the layout of our cities and the likely dispersal of delivery sites for a typical UPS day, does it make sense?
2011-12-15 16:36:13
Brusak said the only drawbacks to using bicycles are they cannot be ridden in inclement weather or after dark.
I think UPS can afford a few tarps and big blinkies.
In fact, if they got a simple half-inch coating that gums up traffic horribly, the bikes might be the only thing that *does* get through in a time-effective manner.
2011-12-15 16:37:20
They were pretty specific in saying that they were using the bikes in select locations, and described, more or less, their criteria. Density and truck accessibility were prominant considerations. I see the same UPS delivery guy downtown all day. I think he delivers mostly to a 6 square block area. I think that might be TOO dense for this sort of application, as he couldn'tbring his entire daily load into town from the north side via bike, other than with multiple trips. But, for a guy who covers Shadyside? Oakland? Bloomfield? might be perfect.
2011-12-15 16:39:54
Downtown is perfect. We used bikes for the first and last half mile from our trucks at triangle because it was way quicker than having the truck drive six blocks over and over.
2011-12-15 16:57:37
Not to mention not having to block a driving lane for every delivery.
2011-12-15 17:32:33
Hate to be 'that guy', but I can't imagine the security on a UPS bike being very good.
Hypothetical worst case scenario: iPhones delivered via UPS instead of FedEx. So, hundreds of tiny boxes going out on the same day, perfect use case for bike delivery. Except these boxes are worth bundles of money, and now being carried by a dude on a bike, who will have to get off of this bike to make said delivery.
Personally, especially with the sort of stuff I order via ups for work on the daily, I'd be pissed if my driver switched to biking, just for security's sake, and I can guarantee plenty of companies would stop using UPS altogether for the same reasons.
2011-12-18 17:23:05
I can see how a truck would be a little more secure. But I have never seen a UPS driver lock up a truck when he gets out to deliver a package, I don't even think he slides his door shut.
2011-12-18 18:16:29
Can't a driver be held up after he or she gets out of the truck with a package before reaching the door or porch?
2011-12-18 18:20:33
I'd definitely be more worried about that.
2011-12-18 18:51:30
They could, but I'm suggesting the size of the load you would carry on a bike is easily swiped by a pedestrian, or worse, someone with a truck. Think about long walkways that would put the driver 100ft away from their bike. Its not like he's going to U-lock the thing every time it stops. There would at the very least have to be some sort of package lockdown system that would prevent folks from grabbing things when the 'driver' wasn't at his bicycle.
It makes sense in quiet suburban areas, but there are is a lot of introduced risk with the UPS-by-bike scenario.
There was a rule that the TSA tried to pass years ago that would insist that all transportation delivery trucks be locked at all times, but it was never adopted (as far as I know) due to the immense time cost of locking and unlocking a truck every time you make a delivery.
At the same time, most shipping companies have policies that require their drivers to close any lift-gates when they aren't with the vehicle to prevent theft, which climbs all the way up to their insurance companies. Having a bicycle laden with packages is as secure as having a box truck with an open lift gate - someone can run up at a given time and steal whatever is available, or just steal the whole bike.
This whole discussion is fairly mute if it turns out to be ups drivers with messenger bags, but I can't imagine that making any sense for the variety of packages and weights.
2011-12-18 18:59:24
I could imagine a day-glo double-walled rubbermaid "safe" with some kind of industrial strength combo lock that kept the box closed and the rear wheel on lockdown. Toss an RIFD chip in the box and about the only thing a thief could do is lift the entire bike into the back of a van and speed away...with a tracking device aboard.
2011-12-18 19:59:24
It would have to be a thicker roto-molded plastic (think pelican case, not light) for any kind of lock to be practical, and for it to make sense for the driver it would have to be keyed instead of combo'd (think fumbling with a combo in hail) and a GPS tracker is what you're thinking of, but GPS beacons are only as good as their power source, until they're disabled. RFID's are for identifying something in close proximity (depending on the receiver, usually no more than 50ft), and contain a chunk of text, just like your credit card.
Its a really interesting problem in which you have to ride the line of practicality (speed and weight) and security.
2011-12-18 20:07:35
One option: all small packages similar to what a bike messenger would carry could be delivered by bike. How many cell phones do you think UPS delivers downtown alone?
2011-12-18 20:57:02
Exactly, that makes a lot of sense, like the idea of UPS drivers with messenger bags - but it introduces a new logistic of trucks vs bikes, avoiding double coverage, and potentially having a bike go to a business to deliver one small box when a truck is going there anyway to deliver one large box. Then the system shoots itself in the foot.
2011-12-18 21:05:49
Um this is why messenger bags exist. You don't leave shit on the bike. That's just silly.
2011-12-18 21:27:03
...it introduces a new logistic of trucks vs bikes...
This is why we employ software people. From my days at both USPS and FedEx (the latter much closer to the actual code, because I built it every day), I can tell you there are bazillions of lines of code that figure out the best way to do the most with the least.
It would not surprise me if, in the not too distant future, FedEx and UPS start mounting bikes on the fronts of their vehicles, with delivery instructions something to the effect of "Park at edge of area X. Access package delivery sequence numbers 121-130, inclusive. Dismount bicycle. Secure vehicle. Deliver packages. Remount bicycle. Continue to next destination."
2011-12-18 22:03:45
It this trailer nonsense they talk about that befuddles me.
2011-12-18 22:49:34
It probably is nonsense. I'd be very surprised if a couple of forward thinking people in the logistics departments of UPS and FedEx aren't following the likes of us, who are figuring out, in real time, the easiest / best / safest / cleanest / etc. ways to transport a crapton of things on a bicycle. Trailers, IMHO, are not the way to go. Too difficult to transport.
FedEx spends $3 BILLION a year on fuel. If they can drop a couple thou to equip a few test vehicles with bikes, and try out a bunch of different options to see what works best where, it will very likely save them piles of money, and that will definitely get the bean-counters' attention.
2011-12-18 23:16:02
ok so we got a plan together to make this work, now we just need to forward this thread to UPS/FedEx
2011-12-19 01:15:18
...and if the idea truly is original, they can send 0.001% of the money saved to Bike-Pgh for helping them save all that money.
2011-12-19 10:42:19