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Video Interview: USPS Chief Sustainability Officer on "Coopetition"
TriplePundit attended the Sustainable Brands 2013 conference earlier this month. Follow along on this page for ongoing video interviews with sustainability thought leaders, corporate change agents and entrepreneurs who are leading the way to a more sustainable future.
"Coopetition" is a term that essentially means cooperating with one's competitors for some kind of larger societal benefit. The United States Postal Service has figured out that the best way to reduce their environmental footprint - as well as save money - is to cooperate with both UPS and FedEx on various logistical matters.
For example, the USPS has an efficiency advantage when it comes to delivering to remote rural areas where someone like UPS rarely treads. In such a case, UPS might contract with USPS to make a delivery for them. Likewise, on larger air deliveries UPS may use aircraft owned by competitors to get things done faster.
The result is clearly monetary as well as carbon savings - though the exact calculation of the latter is a little bit difficult to date but year-over-year measurements are underway.
Learn more in Grant Rickett's article here and in my short video interview with Tom Day, the Chief Sustainability Officer for the USPS below...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5SazNxvbFA
Nick Aster is the founder of TriplePundit. Prior to launching 3p, Nick worked for Mother Jones magazine, successfully re-launching the magazine's online presence. He worked for TreeHugger.com, managing the technical side of the publication for 3 years, and has also been an active consultant for individuals and companies entering the world of micro-publishing. He also worked for Gawker Media and Moreover Technologies in the early days of blogging. Nick holds an MBA in sustainable management from the Presidio School of Management and graduated with a BA in History from Washington University in St. Louis.
