U.S. Postal Service to award
$6.3B contract for new mail
truck this year. See the finalists
Fox News,
by
Gary Gastelu
Original Article
Posted By: Pluperfect,
8/14/2020 3:53:54 AM
Their delivery may be a little late, but the new mail trucks are almost here.
The U.S. Postal Service has confirmed that it plans to award one or multiple contracts for the Next Generation Delivery Vehicle by the end of this year. The Next Generation Delivery Vehicle (NGDV) will replace the long-serving Grumman Long Life Vehicle, which went out of production in 1994, but has soldiered on at great maintenance cost all these years. Approximately 180,000 vehicles will be purchased over five to seven years at a cost of $6.3 billion.
The USPS had been aiming to make a decision last year, but had
Reply 1 - Posted by:
chumley 8/14/2020 4:18:55 AM (No. 509348)
I liked the old right hand drive Jeeps. Wish they'd bring those back. And I once saw a Smith and Wesson model 1917 revolver in .45 that said "US Postal Service" on it. They should bring those back too.
5 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
PChristopher 8/14/2020 5:16:21 AM (No. 509366)
What's wrong with what they've got now. For an institution that always seems to be in financial hot water, it seems awfully tone deaf.
8 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
Mushroom 8/14/2020 5:18:03 AM (No. 509368)
Looking at the choices I note they all have too much of a 'nose'. I imagine for most it is to ease maintenance, but man, that's a lot of space needed for parking. The Ford one is most egregious, that large a nose and you can't even see over it. If they made me pick, I'd probably got for the Gruman/Turkish one. Look at a UPS package car. They are built to last and easy to maintain. What they lack in creature comforts they make up for in economy.
3 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
fordtran 8/14/2020 5:35:55 AM (No. 509378)
How can you afford to buy a new truck when you are bankrupt?
13 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
franq 8/14/2020 6:04:04 AM (No. 509381)
Works out to just under $38k per unit. The ones they are running now had a very long service life. I'm betting the new ones won't last half as long. Just as long as they are not electric. Propane wouldn't be bad.
2 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
MMC 8/14/2020 7:49:35 AM (No. 509472)
For a company that runs in red ink, loses mail- 6 billion on trucks seems- irresponsible
4 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
ROLFNader 8/14/2020 8:22:30 AM (No. 509511)
I say we sub out the delivery of the mail ( it's all shiny ads, anyway) to UPS or FedEx. Those profit driven companies pass by my house at least twice a day. All of the tax dollars we spend on the USPS goes mostly to goonions that have ruined this organization as they have sunk nearly everything. When was the last time you received an actual letter?
5 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
joew9 8/14/2020 8:22:51 AM (No. 509512)
And all the examples pictured are bigger. Why are all new vehicles bigger? Always bigger. This has been going on for decades. The new Ford Ranger is essentially as big as an F-150. The BMW 3 increased it's size a few years ago to be nearly as big as a BMW 5. For decades every year when they advertise new vehicles words guaranteed to be in the ads: bigger, longer, more room, roomier.
Frankly I want a pickup the size of the 1970's Datsun pickup. 12 inches shorter than the shortest thing on the market today. Then in order to meet absurd EPA requirements they make the engines smaller and put on turbo chargers. Giving the engines at best a 100k lifespan. Honda has just ruined the CRV with a turbo charged small engine.
5 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
Rumblehog 8/14/2020 8:40:02 AM (No. 509544)
Perhaps USPS should go back to carriers walking with that heavy leather bag full of mail, like they did when I was growing up. How many females could tote that beast like male carriers did? That was back when people actually gave their mail carriers presents at Christmas time in gratitude!
3 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
JunkYardDog 8/14/2020 9:10:50 AM (No. 509587)
The new vehicles are bigger because the USPS is the main delivery system for Amazon. Every mailtruck you see driving in your neighborhood is full to the brim with boxes and packages, as well as mail and advertisements.The 2 months before Christmas see the USPS trucks completely loaded with parcels-and there are usually 100 or more. Fitting them in, and then having to retrieve it when you get to the stop, are a challenge, especially in inclement weather.
3 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
Strike3 8/14/2020 9:25:27 AM (No. 509608)
Only government assistance can allow anyone or anything to buy stuff while living in a state of perpetual bankruptcy. It's a good thing the US Taxpayers are easy going.
4 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
clayusmcret 8/14/2020 9:42:48 AM (No. 509633)
Got some butt-ugly finalists there.
5 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
felixcat 8/14/2020 10:11:42 AM (No. 509674)
The bigger the better in order to carry all those millions of mail in ballots... /sarc
5 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
hershey 8/14/2020 10:25:14 AM (No. 509693)
Years ago I worked for a short time as a Rural Carrier...we were required to use our own vehicles...talk about a job to drive, sitting in the passenger seat with the steering wheel and controls in their normal positions, yeah, I knokw, you could modify the vehicle for $$...and the worst part was the packages, trying to stack them in delivery order...now I understand all rural routes have the old boxy trucks, at least my route does. Oh, and pay, back then you got paid by the boxes on the route, not by how long it took you to run the route....
2 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
Starboard_side 8/14/2020 11:07:46 AM (No. 509760)
If there was any one type of vehicle which should be electric, it's these daily delivery vehicles.
They can install charging system at every post office, which would then enable them to always be ready with full charge, and if they're smart, have some additional stalls for other vehicles to charge.
Most don't ever drive more than a few miles each day, and gasoline or diesel shouldn't be an additional expense of the postal service.
It would help reduce their carbon footprint too.
I'd suspect it would help a company develop more electric vehicle capacity, with the government helping with the initial investment of a production run.
1 person likes this.
Reply 16 - Posted by:
DVC 8/14/2020 11:48:55 AM (No. 509831)
They got a lot of long service out of those Grumman trucks. Time for new ones. PLEASE get a diesel, not some stupid hybrid thing.
#1, those were probably used by the US Air Mail pilots in the early 1900s, just after WW1. Lots of them available surplus and the pilots had to protect the mail bags if they were forced down by weather or mechanical problems, common in those early Air Mail days.
0 people like this.
Reply 17 - Posted by:
Penney 8/14/2020 1:29:49 PM (No. 509977)
So, the P.O. is not broke after all?! They are getting snazzy new trucks. Best to ignore more their union's(D) complaints & usual demands leading up to the Presidential election.
2 people like this.
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