The Little Things: Motorcycles

Japanese streets are narrow, long, and have tight intersections in residential areas almost everywhere. Turning around takes a long time.

The Japanese postal service not only has to make it's regular rounds, it also has to make delieveries for packages, such as the ones my AWESOME Grandmas have sent me. So you can't use a big postal-truck. You can't even really use a big postal car, hardly. To make the most efficient route in these complexes cut into ever nook and cranny of the mountainside you need something smaller if you want to be efficient.

Motorcycles. I don't like motorcycles. They are dangerous. However, for the postal service, 50cc and 100cc
engines can cut gas costs down to less than 1/3. That adds up! And in the end, service is provided faster, and cheaper, allowing the system to set their rates lower for everybody else. They don't really have set routes even. It is up to the driver to do what they think is most efficient. And they do. I've seen package deliveries in one neighborhood turn around after going a short ways up a street, go along the best route to get where they are going. If they see some traffic in one place, they just take a different route if they need to. And here, where it hardly ever seems to freeze over, that works. And it works great. Now, if we could get the US to adopt some gas-saving techniques...any word yet if the postal service is going to adopt any hybrid or full-time electrics any time soon? This could be of serious help!