I hope we see an article in two or three weeks about how this trial went. Started on Tuesday, which is kind of exciting, but I'm certain I've seen more articles about trials started than articles about how the trials went.
Self-driving trucks begin mail delivery test for U.S. Postal Service
161–169 of 169 posts
Re: Self-driving trucks begin mail delivery test for U.S. Postal Service
#162Earlier quoted context omitted.
You could also just have lockers.
I'm not sure I've ever seen a hotel with lockers. Part of it is probably not wanting to become a public luggage storage facility. The other is probably that, while lockers work well for modest-sized carryons, once you get into bigger suitcases like a lot of people travel with, you can't really lift them up to a locker that's off the ground. Lockers (or luggage storage generally outside of hotels) are, in general, pre…
They're very common in hostels, particular backpacker hostels, but that fits with having limited luggage. I've seen them once or twice in the cheapest hotels.
The main railway station in a European town sometimes has luggage storage. In Germany that's usually lockers, in countries with more history of terrorism (like the UK) it's a room with a metal detector and an attendant.
Re: Self-driving trucks begin mail delivery test for U.S. Postal Service
#163Earlier quoted context omitted.
USPS delivers packages too. You're either not looking closely enough at the shipping labels or you don't order from a variety of merchants. In general, USPS seems to make sense for smaller businesses that ship small packages. There is also MailInnovations/SmartPost where UPS/Fedex dumps packages at the local "inefficient" post office for last mile delivery. Raising the lowest price for sending junk mail to the prices…
You advocate for regulating the USPS to reduce the delivery of SPAM if you want. I'm happy to just see them disappear. Why should I care to have government regulate a service provider into providing a better service when a better service already exists? In practical terms I cannot stop having a mailbox, because a few times a year a check or something comes in the mail. That means I would have to go get my mail from t…
What is this better service that delivers letters for around the current clearing price (< $1) and prevents/polices spam? AFAIK Fedex is around $30, which is the overwhelming reason spammers don't use them.
Re: Self-driving trucks begin mail delivery test for U.S. Postal Service
#164Earlier quoted context omitted.
You advocate for regulating the USPS to reduce the delivery of SPAM if you want. I'm happy to just see them disappear. Why should I care to have government regulate a service provider into providing a better service when a better service already exists? In practical terms I cannot stop having a mailbox, because a few times a year a check or something comes in the mail. That means I would have to go get my mail from t…
What is this better service that delivers letters for around the current clearing price (< $1) and prevents/polices spam? AFAIK Fedex is around $30, which is the overwhelming reason spammers don't use them.
FedEx letter is $7-10.
http://www.costhowmuch.com/ps/fedex-letter.htm
Of course, that comes with a guaranteed delivery date, insurance, tracking, etc. I'm sure the private carriers would charge more than the USPS if they were servicing the lowest end mail, but currently the USPS is monopolizing that.
Also important to note that the USPS is subsidized by the spam they deliver which primarily winds up in the landfill. If the USPS wasn't filling everyone's garbage bin with bulk rubbish every day, their clearing price would be closer to private shippers. To put a scale on that, I have one trash can in my house that is at my desk and only winds up getting garbage mail tossed in it. Every two weeks I have a 13 gallon garbage bag full of mail garbage. What is the time-cost of every household in my city dealing with that much extra junk? What is the environmental cost?
Re: Self-driving trucks begin mail delivery test for U.S. Postal Service
#165Back in 1987, at my first job at Hewlett-Packard, they had a little robot that would deliver mail. This was their plant in Loveland, CO, I believe it was the first non-California site HP opened. Along the main hallways there was some sort of retroreflective tape laid down, and the robot, which looked like and equipment cart, would follow that tape. At every stop it would sound a chime and the secretary for that secti…
Similar systems are used in hospitals for delivering pharmaceuticals from the main pharmacy to floors.
What kind of security measures do they afford, to prevent targeting by addicts?
Re: Self-driving trucks begin mail delivery test for U.S. Postal Service
#166>> A safety driver will sit behind the wheel to intervene if necessary and an engineer will ride in the passenger seat. This is how you know a vehicle is self-driving: there are two people sat in the front.
The in-vehicle monitor will likely be a standard part of autonomous and semi-autonomous trucking for the foreseeable future. A monitor can be paid less than a driver, as they’re doing less work, and can respond to onsite issues more promptly and accurately than could a remote one.
Salary in a free market is not determined by amount of work done, value produced, or credentials, but rather the supply of people who could fill that role.
Re: Self-driving trucks begin mail delivery test for U.S. Postal Service
#167"possible solution to the driver shortage and regulatory constraints faced by freight haulers across the country" - mmm, every industry is facing worker shortage huh -.-
Unemployment is very low right now. However, the most accurate statement is always, "shortage of people that have the qualifications we want that are willing to work for the payment we're offering."
This is why it cracks me up when the tech industry (or any other) publicly whines about not being able to find good employees. Raise rates & publicize it, and you'll see them appear as if by magic!
Re: Self-driving trucks begin mail delivery test for U.S. Postal Service
#168"possible solution to the driver shortage and regulatory constraints faced by freight haulers across the country" - mmm, every industry is facing worker shortage huh -.-
This technology seems like it would do employ less people. Is there really a driver shortage that this wouldn't affect the employed drivers of USPS?
It would mean that they wouldn't have to raise rates to fix the shortage.
Re: Self-driving trucks begin mail delivery test for U.S. Postal Service
#169Earlier quoted context omitted.
Similar systems are used in hospitals for delivering pharmaceuticals from the main pharmacy to floors.
What kind of security measures do they afford, to prevent targeting by addicts?
They’re more or less mobile ATMs rolling through a hospital. Also, the security is in large part from reducing the overall number of people with any access.