I remember writing about this a while ago, but can’t find it and now the issue has come up again.  United Parcel Service UPS saves millions of dollars a year on fuel costs by avoiding left hand turns and idling.  Here are the details.  

In 2007, UPS route planning technology, which minimizes left hand turns:

- shaved nearly 30 million miles off already streamlined delivery routes;
- saved 3 million gallons of gas; and
- reduced emissions by 32,000 metric tons of CO2 – the equivalent of removing 5,300 passenger cars off the road for an entire year.

Perhaps newspapers can follow suit?  It won’t save the industry, but if physical distribution is part of their business model, they must implement these policies.

Related posts:

1. Christian Science Monitor Editor John Yemma Explains Print and Online Costs
2. Year Over Year Newsprint Consumtion 2006 to 2007
3. Reduce Ink Usage To Maintain/ Minimize Costs
4. New York Times to Offer Developers API Key For Data Mash-Ups