Yes, and if they'd swap those fugly old vans for Dodge Sprinter vans (like FedEx is doing), they'd get better gas mileage and less pollution with each mile, as well.

Ya they do need to get some new trucks. I used to work right beside a UPS facility. Every morning when the fleet would take off, some of the trunks left HUGE plumes of smoke behind them. The would literally smoke out the whole street.

Sounds great, but I won't hold my breath. UPS has, on more than one occassion, neglected to actually put my package on their van and only discovered the error when they pull up to my house to deliver.

I'd work on fixing the fundamental problem of actually delivering the packages before shooting for increased overall efficiency.

:)

They should replace them w/new vans and technology, but I don't think they should just get rid of them until the reach the end of their useful life. Wouldn't that be just another kind of consumerism?

Glad to read,
Brown turning green.

Now if they would just start throwing some bio-diesel in their tanks... :)

If it takes them 14 million gallons to go 100 million miles then they must be getting about 7 mi/gallon? Yeah, they better be doing more to shorten trips or otherwise improve efficiency.

Dave S,

That brings up a difficult quandry - useful life vs. outmoded (polluting) hardware.

Actually the impact of using a highly-polluting vehicle for another ten years could outweigh the impact of manufacturing and delivering a new vehicle, but someone would have to do the math.

McDonough/Braungart believe that outmoded hardware and infrastructure only perpetuate the pollution legacy. When it comes to products that make pollution, they say buy new. So does green thinktank RMI.

Obviously, if it's something like a hammer, where efficiency is not an issue, I'd say, definitely don't get a new one if good used hammers are available.

I've been telling people for years that buying a classic Vespa to save gas isn't really green. Old two-stroke engines are highly polluting. New ones with 4-stroke engines emit many times less pollution, while getting similar mpg.

Carl,

You are right on both counts. Someone would have to do the math. And take into account what the old UPS truck winds up doing after UPS puts it out of service.

You are also dead on about the Vespa, but the issue is slightly different. In that case, the Vespa is a new purchase. But yeah, its got to be a 4 stroke or nuthin'.

Nearly all UPS package cars are less than 10 years old. Although the relatively lightweight aluminum body (which is a trademark of UPS) stays the same, the chassis and powertrains are fully up-to-date units from Freightliner, Ford, GM, etc. These engines are just as clean and economical as any other new truck on the road. A newer diesel package car will usually return 15+ miles to the gallon on a stop and go urban route, while weighing 5-10 tons loaded. This seems far more impressive to me than a 1 ton Prius getting 60 mpg.

UPS does have some Sprinters, which are purchased for their fuel economy, but their small size make them impractical for normal UPS delivery routes. UPS is also testing a number of alternitave technologies, including hybrids right now.

CNE,

Then why has FedEx and DHL bought large numbers of Sprinters if their size is impractical. Actually, in urban environments, they are superior to the wider trucks, which are more likely to block streets and get blocked themselves. And I'm sure they manage to fit nearly as many parcels into a Sprinter as their current trucks.

I'm not a UPS insider, as you sound to be, but a quick search tells me that most of UPS's trucks are probably based on the Freightliner medium-duty truck chassis. These trucks typically get 8-14 mpg empty (In stop-and-go traffic, those numbers drop dramatically). Freightliner's Sprinter is rated for twice that, and Car and Driver got 30 mpg in their mixed-driving road test of a Sprinter. The medium-duty trucks will outlast the Sprinters, but when diesel prices are $3 gal, useful life is quickly trumped by fuel costs, especially in the eyes of companies with such large fleets.

I would like to see proof that the UPS trucks are as practical for deliveries as Sprinters, when Freightliner themselves admit that the Sprinter is nearly twice as efficient as smaller Chevy or Ford light-commercial vans.

To get a clear picture of why Brown uses the big truck and FedEx and DHL get away with the little ones you'd have to look at the volume of shipments Big Brown delivers compared to the others. Drop down to 2 sprinters instead of one big and now you have to double the number of trucks on the road which would in effect cut your "fuel economy" in half.

Brown isn't in this to loose money. If it made sense to go smaller they would. Notice in the press release they expect to recoup the cost of the program in savings in the first year it is totally rolled out.