Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
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Garbage Delivery Trucks

Making the world more effecient one package (or sack of garbage) at a time...
 
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How about this...

Cities could reduce traffic and costs by merging two services together.

Garbage Pickup and Package Delivery.

Redesign multi-purpose trucks that can carry both packages to be delivered and collect garbage.

This would effectively reduce the total number of vehicles on the road, and provide a subsidy to the garbage collection process which could reduce taxes.

Since garbage trucks have to stop at virtually every house anyway, just load them in the morning with the packages that are for that route (get those from Fed-X or UPS).

I think you'd have to redesign the shipping labels so that there were check boxes for... Priority, 2-Day Express, and Garbage.

Junk mail could be delivered this way too, effectively cutting out the middle man. People could leave notes on their doors saying they didn't want junk mail, and the delivery person/garbage collector could just leave it in the truck.

zigness, Feb 19 2004

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       Problems: You'd only get your packages (and apparently mail) one day a week, and they'd smell like garbage.
Worldgineer, Feb 19 2004
  

       Good point, [Worldgineer]... I'm starting to smell fish bones already.
zigness, Feb 19 2004
  

       Does this mean you take your packages out to the treelawn on Tuesday night?
k_sra, Feb 19 2004
  

       I think this would work with regular mail, which comes once a week anyways.....
SystemAdmin, Feb 19 2004
  

       Where do you live? It comes here every day.
Worldgineer, Feb 19 2004
  

       I like it. However, it seems like the truck would have to be huge, and the package processing facility would somehow have to be located close to the airport and the landfill both. And to deliver within three days, it would have to run three times a week, which might raise the payroll.
ConsultingDetective, Feb 20 2004
  

       Probably would work in some places (just not where I'm living). [+]
spacecadet, Feb 24 2004
  

       I like efficiency. This idea would work if it was an integrated system. You would still have delivery-only trucks running around, but not on the route where the day's garbage run is.   

       As far as the size of the truck goes, it would be a two-compartment truck, and as the packages were removed, the divider wall between the compartments would move to enlarge the garbage side. So the trucks could be the same size as now.   

       This would give a new meaning to the phrase, "The Power of Brown".
ZomGlo, Feb 24 2004
  

       Hmm, I agree about the smelly packages, 'specially with a divider in the truck (see above) but there might be a solution.   

       In the meantime, how about a gas meter checker who also (optionally) cleans the windows, mows the lawn and checks your smoke detector battery?   

       :o/
not_only_but_also, Feb 25 2004
  

       Has anyone tried throwing around Baking Soda in the "Stinky" garbage containers. Probably a Lawn Seeding device would do this quite well. (Modern Age Technology)! blueswag
blueswag, Jul 14 2004
  

       I like the instant junk mail disposal service - bun for that! In the UK it is possible to opt out of receiving junk mail by contacting the MPS (Mailing Preference Service). Bulk mailers are obliged to use this opt-out list. However, junk mail is the only thing that the post office actually makes money out of, and as the postal service is at the point of collapse anyway (I get post about twice a week - in central London) I have decided to keep getting the junk mail and recycling it. Sad isn't it?
wagster, Jul 14 2004
  
      
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