If you are old sufficient to remember the 1980s, you will recall that mail utilized to be delivered in Jeeps. They may have looked cooler than the boxy mail vans on the road nowadays, but they have been dinosaurs. Now, the current delivery vehicle—the Grumman Long Life Vehicle, or LLV—has grow to be a dinosaur itself. Constructed on the chassis of the Chevy S10, the aging and obsolete LLVs have puttered past the anticipated finish of their run.
Built among 1987 and 1994, the LLVs are in rough shape. A report released more than the summer by the USPS Workplace of the Inspector Common estimated that in 2013, the upkeep expense for its 142,000-car LLV fleet was close to $ 452 million—or more than $ 3000 per truck. Fuel efficiency was also listed as a concern. LLVs were developed to typical 17 mpg (not poor), but the actual quantity has been about 10 mpg (terrible).
So the U.S. Postal Service is buying for a new truck, and it has issued a request for details from producers interested in supplying the new mail-delivery automobile. The replacement process is still in the extremely early stages, but the contract promises to be a profitable 1 for the winning bidder. The USPS said it plans to obtain 180,000 cars at $ 25,000 to $ 35,000 every single, a prospective $ 6.3 billion worth of new mail vans.
The USPS stated that it wants the new car, like the LLV, to have correct-hand drive, an enclosed van-style body, a heavy-duty automatic transmission, and a sliding driver door. It also wants to be low-cost and effortless to preserve and be in a position to withstand 20 years of extreme use, other LLV attributes. But the similarities end there. The new vans will have safety attributes now normal on passenger automobiles and light trucks, including a front airbag, tire-stress monitors, a backup camera, daytime operating lights, and ABS. The postal service has also known as for more fuel-effective, significantly less-polluting powertrains and is thinking about alternative-fuel autos for a big portion of its fleet.
So what does all this imply to the typical letter carrier? We asked a carrier who has been delivering mail for 35 years. Speaking anonymously to steer clear of ruffling feathers at the prime of the postal pyramid, he stated that when it was introduced, the LLV was a vast improvement over the old Jeeps, which he described as “pieces of crap” with no power steering and a wide turning radius. But the LLVs, he mentioned, are past their prime.
“Right now, they’re rattle traps,” he said. “The heat does not operate half the time they break down a lot when it rains, water comes in about the windshield and the doors. Occasionally the packages get all wet.”
He also ticked off a laundry list of issues with the LLV, which he believed could have been avoided if letter carriers had been involved in the design and style method. For starters, he stated, the exhaust pipe exits on the proper side of the vehicle.
“They require a carrier to help style the truck, not a bunch of pencil necks that do not know what it’s like to carry mail,” he stated. “The Einstein that invented it place the exhaust pipe on the very same side as the driver, so we’re always sucking exhaust.”
LLVs also are not equipped with air conditioning, which this particular letter carrier stated causes drivers a considerable quantity of discomfort on hot summer days. The USPS mentioned in its report that it wanted to include air conditioning in the new trucks. It also claims to have completed a nationwide survey of letter carriers in coming up with new design and style priorities.
What did our intrepid courier consider about the proposed changes?
“I’m glad somebody’s lastly starting to feel about our comfort, as well, since if you are comfy, you are a lot more productive,” he stated.
Sadly, letter carriers must not anticipate speedy delivery of their new rides. The 1st LLV replacements aren’t scheduled to hit the road until 2018.
The U.S. Postal Service Is Going New-Truck Buying
