One of the many things I enjoy and appreciate about reading is the thrill of constant discovery. If you’re reading the right material, it’s quite obvious that the more you read, the more you learn.

For instance, like so many others, I spent years seeing those busy bee UPS drivers dressed in their dull brown uniforms driving their oversized, unattractive brown trucks all over the country delivering packages. Little did I know that, behind the scenes and unbeknownst to most of us, Big Brown was changing the world by focusing on logistics of all things.

Forbes Magazine says: “UPS used to be a trucking company with technology. Now it’s a technology company with trucks!” This, of course, is an excellent example of the needed change we’re hearing so much about in today’s media.

In his best selling book The World Is Flat, author Thomas. L. Friedman shares a few perfect examples of what UPS is doing in its new role of flattening the world.

For quite some time, the Toshiba Corporation suffered from a major image problem as a result of simply taking far too long to repair the broken laptops. Today, if you happen to own a Toshiba laptop computer that is under warranty and you have a problem with it, you’ll be happy to know that all you have to do is call Toshiba to have it repaired. That much hasn’t changed. However, from that point on there’s a world of difference in procedure. They will tell you to drop it off at a UPS store and have it shipped to Toshiba. However, here’s what they don’t tell you:

UPS will pick up your computer and deliver it to its hub in Louisville, Kentucky. That hasn’t changed either. However, once it arrives at the hub, it’s no longer shipped on to Toshiba for repair. UPS employees, trained and certified by Toshiba, will repair computers and printers right there at the airport in their own workshop. If you could visit that hub repair facility, you’d find UPS employees dressed in blue smocks, in a special clean room, replacing motherboards in broken Toshiba laptops.

UPS analyzed the time factor and then suggested to Toshiba that it simply cut out the many middle steps that were causing the disturbing delays. Those steps of course consisted of shipping the computers from Louisville to the Toshiba repair facility, repairing it at that location, and then shipping it back to Louisville before being returned to the customer. In certifying Big Brown technicians, it is now possible to send your Toshiba laptop in one day, get it repaired the next, and have it back the third day! As a result, Toshiba’s customer complaints have been reduced dramatically!

While you’re digesting that example of “thinking out-of-the-box,” don’t make the mistake of thinking that its creativity stops there. Due to increasing gas prices and time challenges, many people have chosen to avoid the local mall when shopping for tennis shoes. Now you can simply go online and order a pair of Nikes from its web site. That order is then routed to a UPS-owned warehouse near the Kentucky hub and a UPS employee picks, inspects, packs, and delivers your shoes for Nike.

The same procedure holds true if you happen to order your underwear from Jockey.com. UPS employees, trained by the good folks from Jockey, will actually fill the order, bag it, label it, and deliver it to you from another large warehouse in Louisville!

So the next time you’re comfortably sitting in your living room decked out in your underwear and tennis shoes working on your laptop, gives thanks to your very creative friends at Big Brown!

Harry K. Jones is a motivational speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of motivational speakers who provide custom-designed seminars, keynote presentations, and consulting services. Harry's top requested topics include change management, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork, and time management.  For more information on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2MAX or fill out our contact form.

The purpose of this series of articles on thinking out-of-the-box is to continually point out the numerous examples of creative thinking that we can find in our daily environment. I find something every day that reminds me that there’s no limit to the creative solutions we, as a nation, can produce to solve problems, overcome obstacles, and navigate the speed bumps of life.

I may be rare in the fact that I just naturally draw assumptions from time to time. For instance, ask me to quickly toss out the name of an organization I would consider as creative and innovative, and I might offer up something like Disney or Google, and I would obviously be correct. Both of those choices were relatively safe bets. However, you might be stunned at the number of tremendously enterprising businesses that dot the landscape from coast to coast … companies which, at first glance, appear to be Clark-Kent-like in their daily mild-mannered appearance. However, under closer scrutiny, their “super” inner-structure is remarkably focused on ingenious and revolutionary outcomes to cope with an ever-changing and increasingly competitive environment.

One such company today is UPS—The United Parcel Service. Mention “Big Brown” and many folks think of the Kentucky Derby winner that captured hearts and headlines earlier in the year. Others immediately envision the traditional over-sized brown delivery truck which has been manipulating our streets for decades to deliver packages and documents to customers worldwide.

Creativity probably does not come to mind as you visualize one of those vehicles or those who navigate those monstrosities along their daily routes. You might be surprised at what goes on within this organization. UPS is breaking ground every day with its cutting-edge technology and innovative breakthroughs. Let me share just one of the many.

UPS boasts a delivery fleet of 93,637 package cars, vans, tractors and motorcycles worldwide. Can you imagine its concern over rising gas prices the past few years? Rather than sitting back waiting for someone else to solve this rapidly growing dilemma, UPS put their heads together in an effort to deal with this critical challenge.

UPS apparently made the right choice. Literally. After deliberate research and study, UPS discovered it could squeeze the most out of each gallon of gasoline by simply turning right as often as possible. Stay with me here.

UPS drivers are trained to map their routes to turn right whenever possible. It saves fuel and reduces emissions by minimizing the length of time their trucks are idling. And it’s safer too, because they don’t have to cross traffic. With left turns, more time is spent idling while waiting for oncoming traffic, and right-on-red regulations also help save fuel.

UPS drivers have been doing this for several years, and they say the savings are substantial. In the beginning it was an informal trial and error approach. Now they have a combination of not just experience but computers, codes, and programs that allow them to plot out right-turn routes in seconds. UPS dispatchers map out directions on tablets known as DIAD boards. Every route is designed to take right turns whenever possible.

The company estimates that in 2007, UPS saved 3.1 million gallons of fuel and avoided discharging 32,000 metric tons of emissions into the air by turning right whenever possible. Do the math. In the U.S. alone, UPS has 61,000 drivers so if it can save one gallon of gas on each of those 61,000 routes, that’s a lot of fuel. Last year alone, it saved over $12 million on fuel costs! You can bet UPS has also saved a bundle by avoiding accidents by not having to turn into oncoming traffic thousands of times a day.

Can you imagine the tremendous amount of gas we could save in this country if everyone would practice this very simple technique?

Harry K. Jones is a motivational speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of motivational speakers who provide custom-designed seminars, keynote presentations, and consulting services. Harry's top requested topics include change management, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork, and time management.  For more information on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2MAX or fill out our contact form.