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"But Monterrosa admits that even though UPS tracks his trips down to every time he opens the truck door, the company doesn’t even provide its drivers with GPS n

by timjahn 12y ago

"But Monterrosa admits that even though UPS tracks his trips down to every time he opens the truck door, the company doesn’t even provide its drivers with GPS navigation systems, or a phone with maps. It’s up to him to figure it out on his iPhone." What?? Is this really true? In 2014, UPS provides zero navigation options to its drivers who drive around all day from point to point?

curiouscats 12y ago
This seem counter to other things I have read about eliminating left turns, etc.. Maybe they give directions but not with a phone with map or GPS? It seems crazy to not use GPS enabled mapping for a delivery company.
krapp 12y ago
Why would they create more overhead for something they can make employees do essentially for free?
- timjahn 12y ago
  Leaving something as important as driving the quickest route possible to the driver seems silly, when that greatly affects the bottom line. UPS is built upon delivering packages as quickly and efficiently as possible.
  - krapp 12y ago
    I would imagine most of the efficiency is taken up before the order even gets to the driver - although what you're saying makes sense. The benefit of completely integrating route management would seem to outweigh the cost of the equipment over the long run.
hga 12y ago
I don't think there's any substitute, especially in terms of overall transaction speed, to learning your route. A simple mapping system won't tell you which door to deliver to or how best to get to it, and looking up every destination, especially at that level of detail if annotated, is going to slow you down significantly. That presumes low turnover, which we have to at least some degree in my home town of 55K, "metro area" of 200K.
- mschaecher 12y ago
  Yes but it'd be insanely easy for a company like UPS with the data it has to: - Give you a preprogrammed recommended stop route. - recommended stop route can auto-adjust throughout day based on variables like traffic etc - the only time you have to "look anything up" is when you need to manually change your recommended stop route. - and that could be done via simple voice commands I really find it hard to believe UPS doesn't have some kind of great GPS like this for most of it's fleet. Delivery routes in lower density parts of the country are going to be huge geographic areas too unlike a SF or NYC too. They supposedly use software to determine how to store packages in the back of a truck efficiently, I can't see how they wouldn't throw their same weight at navigation.

by timjahn 12y ago

curiouscats 12y ago

This seem counter to other things I have read about eliminating left turns, etc.. Maybe they give directions but not with a phone with map or GPS? It seems crazy to not use GPS enabled mapping for a delivery company.

krapp 12y ago

Why would they create more overhead for something they can make employees do essentially for free?

timjahn 12y ago
Leaving something as important as driving the quickest route possible to the driver seems silly, when that greatly affects the bottom line. UPS is built upon delivering packages as quickly and efficiently as possible.
- krapp 12y ago
  I would imagine most of the efficiency is taken up before the order even gets to the driver - although what you're saying makes sense. The benefit of completely integrating route management would seem to outweigh the cost of the equipment over the long run.

hga 12y ago

I don't think there's any substitute, especially in terms of overall transaction speed, to learning your route. A simple mapping system won't tell you which door to deliver to or how best to get to it, and looking up every destination, especially at that level of detail if annotated, is going to slow you down significantly. That presumes low turnover, which we have to at least some degree in my home town of 55K, "metro area" of 200K.

mschaecher 12y ago
Yes but it'd be insanely easy for a company like UPS with the data it has to: - Give you a preprogrammed recommended stop route. - recommended stop route can auto-adjust throughout day based on variables like traffic etc - the only time you have to "look anything up" is when you need to manually change your recommended stop route. - and that could be done via simple voice commands I really find it hard to believe UPS doesn't have some kind of great GPS like this for most of it's fleet. Delivery routes in lower density parts of the country are going to be huge geographic areas too unlike a SF or NYC too. They supposedly use software to determine how to store packages in the back of a truck efficiently, I can't see how they wouldn't throw their same weight at navigation.