UPS Is Going Green!

United Parcel Service of America, Inc. (UPS) on the 13th of November, 2008, anounced plans to go paperless when tracking packages.  They are going to use a new combo scanner paperless printing device, that will print directly on the packages themselves, replacing the standard labels.  They say that  leveraging technology innovation is critical in a tough competitive market and that the new scanner, made by HP, will increase efficiency, create less waste, and save money and time of loading the paper in the old device.

UPS and HP have worked together for 18 months to develop a mobile, wireless printing/scanning solution called the HP Handheld sp400 All-in-One.  UPS then built a custom business application to support the device.  HP worked with them to develop a practical solution that improves processing time and reduces the rate of mislabeled packages to virtually zero.  UPS will save 1,338 tons of paper per year, once the printer is fully deployed and millions of dollars in annual operating costs. There are probably millions of companies around the world that could implement similar plans or just simple ideas that could save a little paper, here and there, that would grow into saving millions of trees every year. 

UPS is also the first in the Industry to Purchase Hydraulic Hybrid Vehicles. The technology behind these vehicles should raise gas mileage from 8 miles to the gallon to 12 to 13 miles per gallon.  When you think about how many delivery trucks UPS has and the millions of miles driven each year, the amount of energy saved could be staggering.  The videos below explains in detail how the hydraulic hybrid vehicle works.