Fedex drives a hybrid...

soberups

Pees in the brown Koolaid
The FedEx guy on my route has a new, hybrid-electric truck. I, on the other hand, bless my customers with a huge cloud of stinking diesel smoke when I back up to the dock. UPS really needs to consider jumping on the green bandwagon and powering its trucks with B20 biodiesel. I run biodiesel in my VW Jetta and it runs great, with no smelly exhaust. A B20 biodiesel blend would run just fine in any package car or feeder tractor with no modifications at all. Lets do it!
 

UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)

Well-Known Member
UPS talks a big game in regards to the environment, but a quick look around any center/hub will show you that it is mostly just that, talk. Recycling is for the most part non-existent. I have suggested on many occasions that my center make more of an effort to recycle within the building, even just the basics of paper/plastic, but to date everything ends up in the same dumpster (I will admit that cardboard is separated and placed in a separate dumpster.) One of the biggest wastes is the seemingly endless copies of material that most of us drivers find to be clutter put in our slots each day which are glanced at and then thrown away. I do realize that there will be those employees who will disregard the purpose of the individual bins and will see them all as trash cans and use them accordingly, if they use them at all as we all see our co-workers who think that the floor is their trash can because they know that the cleaning crew will take care of it for them. However, I do know that a good percentage of my co-workers would use the bins properly and reduce the amount of trash which ultimately ends up in the landfill.

Going green at the pump should not be as big a deal as UPS makes it out to be. Biodiesel, CNG, flexfuels, propane, hydrogen, etc., are all viable alternative fuel sources which are becoming more readily available and, due to our position in the industry, we should be in the forefront of pursuing changes in the way we fuel our vehicles. We should also be looking for alternative fuels for our aircraft. Virgin Airways recently flew a plane across the Atlantic using alternative fuels as a portion of the overall fuel supply. (I think it was 20%).

People, as well as business, tend to embrace changes slowly (remember the way that us "old-timers" reacted to going to the DIAD--"what, no paper?!") but I feel that the way that our economy is going down the tubes you will see more of a concerted effort to save money, which will include a push toward the use of alternative fuels.
 

Fnix

Well-Known Member
Our janitors collect all the empty plastic bottles and cans in the hub. I bet it's more then what the PT's make a week.
 

scratch

Least Best Moderator
Staff member
I have noticed a few of the new hybrid Package Cars on the highways around Atlanta. My Hub doesn't use any, but a lot of the Package Cars in Downtown Atlanta have been running on CNG for the last ten years or so.
 

FAVREFAN

Well-Known Member
UPS talks a big game in regards to the environment, but a quick look around any center/hub will show you that it is mostly just that, talk. Recycling is for the most part non-existent. I have suggested on many occasions that my center make more of an effort to recycle within the building, even just the basics of paper/plastic, but to date everything ends up in the same dumpster (I will admit that cardboard is separated and placed in a separate dumpster.) One of the biggest wastes is the seemingly endless copies of material that most of us drivers find to be clutter put in our slots each day which are glanced at and then thrown away. I do realize that there will be those employees who will disregard the purpose of the individual bins and will see them all as trash cans and use them accordingly, if they use them at all as we all see our co-workers who think that the floor is their trash can because they know that the cleaning crew will take care of it for them. However, I do know that a good percentage of my co-workers would use the bins properly and reduce the amount of trash which ultimately ends up in the landfill.

Going green at the pump should not be as big a deal as UPS makes it out to be. Biodiesel, CNG, flexfuels, propane, hydrogen, etc., are all viable alternative fuel sources which are becoming more readily available and, due to our position in the industry, we should be in the forefront of pursuing changes in the way we fuel our vehicles. We should also be looking for alternative fuels for our aircraft. Virgin Airways recently flew a plane across the Atlantic using alternative fuels as a portion of the overall fuel supply. (I think it was 20%).

People, as well as business, tend to embrace changes slowly (remember the way that us "old-timers" reacted to going to the DIAD--"what, no paper?!") but I feel that the way that our economy is going down the tubes you will see more of a concerted effort to save money, which will include a push toward the use of alternative fuels.
Great post!
 

pakmule

A roller dog for lunch
The new P57 that I drive, made by Workhorse Chassis, has a 454 fuel injected V8. I kid you not. So apparently UPS bought a whole bunch of these. Go figure.
 

SmithBarney

Well-Known Member
I used to fill up with BIO Diesel when I ran in town... it was only like .05 more than regular... and it smelled nice, and smoked less.. When I asked my OnCar.. he didn't seem to care one way or another... so I filled up there when I could.
 

thom1842

Well-Known Member
My center had a ton of blue "paper recycling" cans around. I asked one of my supervisors if I could throw a sticker backing in there and he said "Go ahead, we don't actually recycle paper we just get the bins to look like we do."

I just threw my trash away, shook my head and went on my way.
 
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