
The $30,000-A-Night Jet That Flies Empty - jrs235
http://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewcave/2016/08/29/the-30000-a-night-jet-that-flies-empty/#4accc7677995
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thaumasiotes
> Across the U.S., more than 95% of packages ordered over the internet are
> delivered by three organizations: FedEx, UPS and the U.S. Postal Service. A
> similar percentage of the logistics operation to get these packages to their
> destinations happens before the last mile.

So... 95% of US internet purchases get delivered by one of three
organizations... and 95% of the logistics of delivering a package occurs
before the last leg of the delivery.

I don't get what's going on in the article here. These aren't comparable
things. It's like saying "men are under 50% of the population, and vowels are
under 50% of the alphabet".

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jrs235
They are saying the majority (95%) of the logistics and complexity occurs
before the package arrives at the local distribution center (local Fed Ex,
UPS, Post Office).

You are correct though, it is strange that they intertwine that in; it just
makes it confusing. "These two unrelated things have similar percentages so
lets make that point."

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jrs235
One of the commentators on the story says: "An empty plane flying every night
– an excellent example of the value of spare capacity. But I wonder how many
organisations would have taken a narrow view, classified this as “waste” and
cancelled it?" is so on point. Reminds me of Tom DeMarco's Slack: Getting Past
Burnout, Busywork, and the Myth of Total Efficiency (
[http://amzn.to/1H4qRld](http://amzn.to/1H4qRld) ) which is all about having
slack (spare capacity, which means not having 100% efficiency) in order to
deal with unplanned issues. Failing to have slack results in a slow grinding
process when issues arise and has enormous opportunity costs.

