UPS has been taking steps to go green for years now, but this Christmas season, they’ve taken their fuel-saving efforts to yet another level. In order to keep up with the holiday mailing demand, they continued a program that they tested out last year – using bikes to deliver packages.
Obviously, this can’t be done everywhere, but in locations with seasonally warm weather, this is an option that is saving 17 gallons of fuel per every three bikers on the road. On top of that, they’re saving money on vehicle maintenance costs and cutting down on emissions.
UPS bikes are on the road in Washington, California, Tennessee and Oregon, as well as in Maine and New Hampshire as long as the weather holds up. Each biker can carry up to 20 packages per trip. Right now, UPS is shipping about 20 million packages per day, which is about 4 to 5 million more packages per day than normal.
As a small business, your shipping choices do matter. Whether you’re shipping internationally or just sending a package down the street, there are ways in which to go green. Sometimes, shipping is a necessary evil, but when possible, buy and sell local to cut down on the amount of packages shipped, both during the holiday season and at other times of the year.
Image via William Grimes at en.wikipedia
Fantastic! Bike delivery is a great way to go, especially in congested cities with lots of deliveries to make! Reminds me of living in Berkeley, and Pedal Express(http://www.pedalexpress.com/).
On a personal note, I’ve chosen to use US Postal Service for our business deliveries because:
1. we’re located in a rural area – the post office comes here every day, but UPS and Fed Ex have to make special trips (more petroleum, more resources).
2. Many of our shipments go to smaller towns which are on the daily route for USPS but may involve a drive for UPS or FedEx.
If I knew that UPS would use bike delivery on the other end, I’d be a lot more inclined to use their services. Thanks for sharing this news!
Great news for saving energy and pushing bicycle usage.
The delivery companies should also benefit greatly by using hybrid vehicles due to the huge amount of stop/go driving.
We’re also hoping to get UPS interested in our soybean oil based lubricants.
UPS needs to be using Ethos FR. that would save them a lot of money on gas and would cause their vehicles to run better all the while helping the environment in the process. (www.wisconsingreenfuelsaver.com)