Right turns only for UPS drivers

[snopes]

Comment: I have heard that UPS drivers are instructed to only make right
turns. Suposedly this is safer and saves UPS millions of dollars each
year.

[Spam & Cookies-mmm]

DES MOINES, Iowa -- Christmas is just four days away, so in order to deliver holiday gifts and goodies faster, United Parcel Service is using a special delivery formula.

The company said that its delivery drivers have a no-left-turn rule.

It's just one of a number of techniques that UPS uses to speed up delivery times

I KNOW that our UPS driver makes a left turn into our building parking lot. Otherwise he would not make any deliveries.

[Eddylizard]

Or perhaps in compliance with company procedure, he has to drive past the entrance to your parking lot, turn the van around, approach it from the opposite direction and turn right into it. That'd save him time (not).

Originally Posted by Eddylizard

Or perhaps in compliance with company procedure, he has to drive past the entrance to your parking lot, turn the van around, approach it from the opposite direction and turn right into it. That'd save him time (not).

We're on a dead-end driveway/street thingy. There is no room to turn around beyond our driveway (we've had "fun" with semi's getting "stuck").

[OptimusShr]

UPS guys have to make a left turn to get onto my street. They also have to make a left when leaving since I live on the corner of two one-ways.

[Spam & Cookies-mmm]

It would be impossible to make only right turns. Our UPS drivers would never get home if they had to follow that rule. However, UPS procedures minimize the number of left turns that a driver has to make in his daily route. Minimizing is a great deal different from eliminating. (Sorry if my previous link was ambiguous about that.)

How Technology Delivers For UPS

Not so long ago, UPS drivers worked off maps, 3-x-5 note cards, and their own memory to figure out the best way to run their routes. That changed in 2005 when UPS began to implement a $600 million route optimization system--think MapQuest on steroids--that each evening maps out the next day's schedule for the majority of its 56,000 drivers. So sophisticated is the software that it designs each route to minimize the number of left turns, thus reducing the time and gas that drivers waste idling at stoplights.

(Emphasis mine)

[snopes]

UPS just stopped by our house to make a delivery, so I walked over to the truck and asked the driver, "So, is it true you guys aren't allowed to make left turns?"

He laughed and replied, "You know, they never told us anything about it. I thought it was a joke, but I keep hearing about it more and more."

I think "UPS drivers aren't allowed to make left turns" is a simplification and exaggeration of the company's efforts to make deliveries more efficient in some heavily traffic-congested areas by planning routes for their drivers that avoid or eliminate left turns.

- snopes

[Wolf333]

The funny thing here in New Jersey is that, for the most part, they CAN"T make left turns.

Instead of waiting at an intersection for oncoming traffic (like a normal person), they now must wait at the same intersection so that they can then proceed 20 meters to a right turn, follow the jug handle, wait to merge, proceed to another intersection, make another right turn, hit red light, proceed on green.

Much, much more simple and safer than turning left.

[bjohn13]

Originally Posted by snopes

UPS just stopped by our house to make a delivery, so I walked over to the truck and asked the driver, "So, is it true you guys aren't allowed to make left turns?"

He laughed and replied, "You know, they never told us anything about that. I thought it was a joke, but I keep hearing it more and more."

I think "UPS drivers aren't allowed to make left turns" is a simplification and exaggeration of the company's efforts to make deliveries more efficient in some heavily traffic-congested areas by planning routes for their drivers that avoid or eliminate left turns.

- snopes

Drat, snopes totally pwned me on this one.

One of my best friends is a UPS driver, and I asked him the same question. He laughed, of course, while going on to say something along the lines of "We don't make many left turns, but it is impossible to eliminate them completely."

Of course, there was the typical "I get asked that alot" remark thrown in.

I used to work near a UPS center. I remember the races in the morning and evening as the trucks left and then returned to the facility. I worked right at a curve in the road and I swear all the trucks went up on two wheels as they flew around that corner.

I was always worried one would lose control and land on me.....

[Spam & Cookies-mmm]

I saw my brother, the UPS driver, yesterday, and asked him "How many left turns did you make last week?" I got the big from him. He said there's nothing new except the new software that plans out their routes in advance, and he wishes people wouldn't make such a big deal out of it.

Apparently, the questions from customers about left turns are making his stops too long.

[MooseMacD]

Originally Posted by Wolf333

The funny thing here in New Jersey is that, for the most part, they CAN"T make left turns.

Instead of waiting at an intersection for oncoming traffic (like a normal person), they now must wait at the same intersection so that they can then proceed 20 meters to a right turn, follow the jug handle, wait to merge, proceed to another intersection, make another right turn, hit red light, proceed on green.

Much, much more simple and safer than turning left.

When I moved to NJ in 1999, this was the first thing that drove me crazy about the state - "jughandle" intersections. Most are pretty normal, but every so often you find one that seems to divert you by a 1/2 mile or so.

[Aud 1]

With the impending work on a major highway intersection one of the suggestions from the highway department for dealing with the ensuing traffic jams was for everyone to make right turns during rush hour.

[Mad Jay]

Originally Posted by MooseMacD

When I moved to NJ in 1999, this was the first thing that drove me crazy about the state - "jughandle" intersections. Most are pretty normal, but every so often you find one that seems to divert you by a 1/2 mile or so.

What ticks me off about NJ is that the merge signs are placed right after the merge point.

Mad "Hey looks like I should be mergi.... HOLY CRAP!!!" Jay

[Not_Done_Living]

Wow .. somethng i am an expert on, since i was the person who physially INSTALLED the "new route planning software" at the head office.

The software is a simple routeplanning guide that takes into account traffic patterns, volume and flow, as well as pick up and drop offs of packages.

Because of the traffic logic included in the package, what may seem like an "out of the way" route may actually save time (even if it does incur further milage). and in the delivery business time is weghted 1.5 times milage.

The rest is trade secret and i can't really tell you anymore about it.

(note the software is used globally.. and as a funny aside, while i was there, i needed a supplemental disk to be sent to me.. my company sent it FEDEX... how embarrasing..)

[Lainie]

Originally Posted by Not_Done_Living

(note the software is used globally.. and as a funny aside, while i was there, i needed a supplemental disk to be sent to me.. my company sent it FEDEX... how embarrasing..)

I used to work for a consulting firm that did some projects for UPS. We once sent them a project report via FEDEX. They were not pleased.

[Spam & Cookies-mmm]

Originally Posted by Lainie

I used to work for a consulting firm that did some projects for UPS. We once sent them a project report via FEDEX. They were not pleased.

I was in the FedEx office to send a package during a UPS strike. The FedEx employees were laughing over an overnight package they'd just received from UPS's corporate office to the local UPS management. FedEx is not unionized, but they refused to cross picket lines. They called the sender, and told them they would have to tell the recipient to drive over and pick it up themselves.

IM A UPS DRIVER IN NEW YORK CITY FOR THE PAST 23 YEARS AND I HAVE NEVER EVER HEARD OF SUCH A THING. I MAKE RIGHT TURNS, LEFT TURNS, I BACK UP , I DOUBLE PARK AND EVEN HAVE PARKED BY FIRE HYDRANTS AND NEVER HAD A PROBLEM. I ALSO HAVE RECEIVED 23 SAFE DRIVING AWARDS FOR ALL OF MY YEARS IN NYC STREETS WITHOUT AN ACCIDENT. I ALSO DRIVE A MUCH BIGGER TRUCK THAN THE USUAL ONE THAT MOST OF US SEE ( THE PACKAGE CAR ) MINE IS CALLED A VAN THATS ALMOST 30 FT LONG AND 13 FT HIGH AND I MAKE PLENTY OF RIGHTS AND LEFTS.

[Ravenhull]

Working for BellSouth (now becoming at&t), we have a policy of make a right turn if at all posible for the simple reason that you aren't crossing traffic. Some of the guys told me a story of a time that they did declare no left turns (you know, do it and be fired type story), and one work center had a bit of fun. They pulled out of their yard and turned left, got to the T intersection at the end of the street and turned left... This street dead ended just past the back gate of the work center, so they turned left again though the gate... repeated (with 20+ trucks) until the managers came out and yelled for their amusement...