The USPS Is Going New-Truck Shopping

If you are not young enough to remember the 1980s, you will recall that post was once delivered in Jeeps. They were dinosaurs, although they might have seemed cooler in relation to the boxy post vans on the way now. The present delivery vehicle-- LLV, or the Grumman Long Life Vehicle --has eventually become a dinosaur itself. Built on the chassis of the Chevy S10, out-of-date LLVs and the aging have puttered past the anticipated end of the run.

Constructed between 1994 and 1987, the LLVs are in rough shape. Fuel efficiency was likewise recorded as a concern. LLVs were made to average 17 mpg (not bad), but the particular amount has been about 10 mpg (awful).

The contract vows to be a successful one for the winning bidder, although the replacement procedure continues to be in the early phases. The USPS said it intends to buy 180,000 vehicles at $25,000 to $35,000 each, a possible $6.3 billion worth of new post vans.

The USPS said that it needs the vehicle that was newest, just like the LLV, to have right hand drive, an enclosed van-design body, a heavy duty automatic transmission, as well as a slipping driver door. In addition, it must be simple and inexpensive to keep up and have the ability to resist 20 years of use that is intense, LLV that is other characteristics.

We requested a mailman that is delivering mail for 35 years. But the LLVs, he explained, are past their prime.

"Right now, they are rattle traps," he said. Occasionally the bundles get all wet."

He also ticked off a laundry listing of issues if letter carriers were active in the design procedure using the LLV, which he believed could have been averted. For starters, he explained, the exhaust pipe leaves on the correct part of the car.

"They want a postman to aid design the truck, not a couple of pencil necks that do not understand what it is like to take post," he said. "The Einstein that devised it set the exhaust pipe on the exact same side as the driver, so we are constantly sucking exhaust."

LLVs additionally aren't equipped with air conditioning, which this special letter carrier said causes motorists a significant amount of suffering on hot summer days. The USPS said that it wished to include air conditioning in the newest trucks. In coming up with new design precedence, in addition, it promises to have finished a national survey of letter carriers.

What did our intrepid courier take into account the changes that are planned?

"I am happy somebody's eventually beginning to consider our relaxation, at the same time, since if you are comfy, you are more productive," he said.

Sadly, letter carriers must not expect quick delivery of the new rides. The first LLV replacements are not scheduled to hit the road.

21.02.2015
ID:1552

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