Would you like your technicians or crews to drive their routes more efficiently? Save on fuel? Get in fewer accidents? Then you may want to consider implementing something like UPS’s decade-old policy of avoiding left-hand turns.

“Why UPS Trucks Don’t Turn Left”
Priceonomics blog
I’ve long been aware of the storied UPS mandate to favor right-hand turns over lefts. I have to admit, I’ve been skeptical. Does it really make sense to drive all the way around the block making right-hand turns if you can just turn left to your destination? Apparently it does. According to this Priceonomics blog post and the Mythbusters segment it cites, a right-hand route may take more time and even cause you to drive more miles, but there are fuel savings to be had.

I realize your landscape company doesn’t have a hundred thousand trucks on the road every day like UPS does, so the fuel savings may seem minimal. Still, if you could save a few gallons of fuel per vehicle per day, at the end of the season that’s a nice boost to your bottom line.

Have you ever tested no-left-turn routes? If so, how did it go?

Image: UPS