

What UPS Drivers Can Tell Us About the Automated Future of Work - mathattack
http://www.wired.com/opinion/2014/02/dont-fear-work-automation-overlords-welcome/

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zwieback
If I remember correctly UPS already pre-determines the shelf location of the
package inside the delivery van before they even show up in the destination
city so to some extent the drivers' routes have already been predetermined but
their system is capable of last-minute changes pretty much every step of the
way.

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at-fates-hands
I had a buddy whose Dad was an Industrial Engineer who specialized in
efficiency systems. He worked a lot in the mid 90's on completely revamping
UPS's warehouse sorting and ability to get packages into the trucks and on the
road faster.

I'm pretty sure what your referring to was probably the next phase on a larger
scale of what he was originally working on. He always joked that, "When your
an efficiency expert, people don't like it when you show up at their
business."

~~~
mathattack
"Efficiency gains" -> "Strategic workforce rightsizing" -> "Here is a week's
salary for every year that you worked for us"

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mathattack
I worked on a project for a firm with a large base of field technicians. Their
scheduling system didn't allow options. You were told where to go, in which
order, and in what route. The drivers were told to turn off their minds.

I find this article interesting because the drivers are being recommended a
solution, rather than mandated a solution. I draw the analogy to a person and
a chess computer playing a match together, rather than one or the other.

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latj
15 years later and the UPS-no-left-turn story is still going strong.

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zeckalpha
This isn't just about UPS. This is about Trello, and Basecamp, GitHub, and
email.

