British Airways estimated that by switching from glass miniature liquor bottles to plastic bottles, the airline saved $625,000 in 1984.
British Airways said the minor change saved the airline about $25,000 per year in fuel costs alone for each of its 26 jumbo jets used on transatlantic flights. The miniature plastic bottles weigh only nine grams each, or 600 per cent less than a typical 63-gram miniature glass bottle. On a normal flight, 1,000 miniature bottles of liquor are on board. The plane is therefore 54 kg lighter.
$240,000 for Ditching Wine Bottles
Air Canada says it can save as much as $240,000 a year by ditching the empty wine bottles from its planes at foreign airports instead of hauling them back to Canada to be disposed off. The airline, which has been searching for innovative ways to save money, estimates that as many as 40 bottles of wine are consumed by passengers on some of its flights. Including carts, that translates into several kilograms per aircraft, the airline said recently in an employee bulletin.
An idea also being considered by airlines is to reduce weight by stripping paint off some of the planes in order to reduce consumption of pricey fuel.
Data Protection
Don't leave your company secrets in the trash
Whether you're recycling, selling, or trashing your computer you may be sending it out the door with a wealth of sensitive information onboard. A small business computer can be positively dripping with juicy information. A client database is loaded with personal information, and your e-mail inbox and outbox may also be filled with confidential information, passwords and other things that could compromise your security or the security of your clients. Obviously, you wouldn't just go and give this information away to random people on the street, so why would you just give it away with your old computer?
All it takes for identity theft to occur is name, address and date of birth, Credit card numbers and banking records are like gold for the crooks.
You should treat computer hard drives the same way you would paper files."
If you leave a client database on your machine and someone is able to use it for illegitimate purposes, you may be held partially or fully liable. If you end up the victim of data theft it could come back to compromise your company.
When "deleting" sensitive information, many people do just that: delete. But that's not good enough. Deleting data only removes the pointer to the information, not the information itself.
Data thieves are after client databases containing personal data, credit information, extended payment histories and the like.
It's worth remembering that no amount of hard-drive cleansing will protect your data if you treat your backups carelessly.
"If you're using CDs to back up your data, you should physically destroy those don't just chuck them in the garbage. If you have e-mail files on your hard drive, even on a backup disk, it's a wonderful way to learn a whole lot about you and your habits, who your friends are and who you deal with from a business perspective."
Physically damage the hard drive using either a hammer or a drill so it can never be reused. The drill and hammer is very effective."
It might sound excessively paranoid, but if a hard drive has been subjected to a few crushing blows from a hammer, there's no potential for data recovery at all.
Registered Mail Versus Special Delivery
If you want fast mail delivery do not use Registered mail. The service guarantees security not speed.
Registered mail safeguards the package consequently every transaction must be signed for and recorded. Sometimes the strict security measures delay the package to the point that delivery is is even slower than regular parcel post. For faster delivery use one of the special delivery services like express mail or priority mail. These packages marked special delivery always sit up front with the driver. No paperwork is required and unless specifically required no signatures are needed for delivery. This type of mail is delivered two to three times faster than registered and regular mail.
Picking Brains While Ripe
When an indispensable trouble shooter quits, retires, or dies, the loss is more than purely emotional. Often, because the boss failed to record his or her knowledge or procedures, there are devastating financial implications.
Certain employees excel in their work and many times prove to be indispensable. While these employees are in their prime and in a co-operative frame of mind, they should be invited to share their expertise with potential replacements.
The information these experts reveal should be stored on computer, and should become part of a master trouble shooting system that would allow anyone to type in questions and get answers. If the work involves repair operations, for instance, the employee performing and describing the operation could be videotaped.
