dudebro
Well-Known Member
So while digging for my 9th stop on my 7400 shelf on Friday, here's my 2 points on losing RDO and getting the turn by turn maps. Since UPS is all about the numbers.....All hypothetical just like every number at UPS.
Point 1. Say ORION is great and saves 10 miles per route per day. Gas averages at $3/gallon and we save 1.5 gallons of gas per route per day. That's a savings of $4.50. But labor increases 1 hr per day to dig for packages at an average OT rate of $40/hr.
Loss per route: $36.50 / day.
Weekly increase in cost on a 50-route center per week: $9,125.00 Dollars
Putting 60,000 drivers in the USA per week: $10,950,000 ADDED COST PER WEEK
Point 2. Turn by turn maps and directions are coming per my center manager very soon. What no one has mentioned is that if you skip stops / scroll down to do things efficiently and make service - THE MAP DIRECTIONS KEEP TELLING YOU TO GO TO THE STOP AT THE TOP OF THE DIAD!!! You can never hit a stop and then keep going without following exact ORION trace. This is truly asinine.
So the solution to Point 1 is to load the car in ODO, and point 2 is for ODO to be somewhat dynamic - upon stop complete it reruns the solution for remaining stops. The trick to this is, the solution in point 2 will have to be pretty close to the original one or the driver will STILL be searching for packages out of sequence order, or, the driver simply has to live with the original ODO.
The bottom line is the ability to run a route correctly needs to be socialized across the company and not solely in the head of one or two individuals. Also, as you add services and delivery customization, the routes will become more complex, change on a daily basis, and the routines good drivers use won't apply anyway.
The company will have to gamble that the money they spend in the transition will be worth everyone's time when (if) the solution works like it's supposed to and revenue continues to rise.
One thing we know we can't do, is just "leave everything alone" in RDO and be complacent. Other companies will eventually beat us at customization and win the business in that case.
The market is changing to where customers, right or wrong, will expect a motorcycle to come up next to an Uber they're riding in and hand their package through the open car window because they bought a Panic! at the Disco ticket and couldn't be home that day.