Don't use Drive-thru's

McDonald's, Taco Bell, Starbucks and other junk-food havens all have drive-thru's. Everytime I pass by these establishments, I notice that there is often a long line of cars. Since, the line moves slowly, no one ever turns their car off. It takes 5 to 10 minutes to make the journey of a 100 feet. This is a collosal waste of fuel! (Muda)

On average, I would guess that it takes about 2 minutes to serve one customer. If there are 4 cars lined up, you are better off parking and taking your business inside. You get some human contact and are likely to get your order taken care of in lesser time (say 5 minutes) than waiting for the 8 minutes with your car running. You could burn a few calories, save fuel and time!

I can also bet that you can fix a healthier (and more economical) meal/snack for yourself than Starbucks can. Take it as a challenge and avoid these places or at least their drive-thru's for a week. It will feel better. Oh! you also helped the world by saving energy!

Muda

My father introduced me to this concept called Muda. It is a Japanese term that means "activities that are wasteful or activities that are unproductive". It is one of several great concepts used by Toyota. Essentially, steps in a process are put into 2 buckets: productive or wasteful. There are various types of wastes. Attempts are made to eliminate the waste. See Wikipedia Article & Article in DMReview Magazine (Sep 2005)

I can think of lots of ways I can change my life to get rid of Muda in my daily life. I drove to the gas station today during the lunch hour, I could have just filled up on the way home. I consciously used the concept today - I used this as the theme for the day in our ToastMaster's meeting. I printed the agenda and voting slip using 1/4th the paper we typically use. It seems that Muda is just one of several wastages. I definitely plan to learn more and implement it in my life.

Join me in eliminating Muda!