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Why the new USPS mail trucks look so weird

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Re: Why the new USPS mail trucks look so weird

#81
post #26
post #2

No mention of increased crumple zone, which was probably the entire reason for the redesign in the first place? Sheesh. I assume the article was written entirely based on a press release together with a nice pack of product photos. The previous models were injury/death traps.

Was wondering why not cab-over-engine, I guess this is the answer.

Also wouldn't that raise the height of the driver's seat? Would make it harder to reach standard-height mailboxes from the driver's window.

Re: Why the new USPS mail trucks look so weird

#83

I'm reminded of the quote: "A camel is a horse designed by committee."

Isn't that kinda the opposite of the issue here? The people doing the designing were given strict requirements for heights and clearances; there aren't many designs that would have fit those requirements.

Re: Why the new USPS mail trucks look so weird

#84

I'm always in disbelief at the sheer volume of waste they deliver. I maybe get one meaningful or useful piece of paper a month, the rest is hundreds of pounds of paper, hauled by thousands of gallons of diesel fuel. How this organisation continues to exist in is current form is mind blowing. Nearly everything it hauls could be emailed. And don't forget the cost to have trash trucks haul the thousands of pounds of was…

I disagree that the USPS shouldn't exist in its current form, but I am always dismayed at the quantity of mail I immediately chuck in the recycling bin (easily 95% or greater). I bet if USPS raised their bulk mail pricing, we'd have a lot less junk.

Re: Why the new USPS mail trucks look so weird

#85
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These vehicles rarely make it above 40mph and the drivers often don't use seat belts. Spending an extra hundred bucks per vehicle for a nice N-way adjustable seat or spending engineering hours making the seat-belts more convenient will have far greater benefits than throwing random safety technologies at it. The previous models were designed in the 1980s. All 1980s work vehicles are/were death traps by modern clipboa…

> These vehicles rarely make it above 40mph That speed is quite deadly with zero crumple zone.

No. It's really not. Unless you're a frail elderly person (not the post office's hiring pool, this should go without saying). If you're wearing a seat-belt that's an "I'm sore the next day" speed.

If you're not wearing a seat belt then you're going through the windshield and it doesn't matter how the vehicle is equipped.

Re: Why the new USPS mail trucks look so weird

#86

I had never seen a USPS vehicle until I was a legal adult and moved to college. I grew up in a very rural part of New England, America - on a dirt road. Winter had plenty of snow and plowing wasn't a guarantee at all . Considering the USPS Creed "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds" -- Snow is the first one ! Our "mail lady"** drov…

Okay I'm genuinely curious why "mail lady" wouldn't fly today.

...why not?

Re: Why the new USPS mail trucks look so weird

#87
post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The millions of existing mailboxes installed at regulation height certainly play a big part of it.

My rural carrier had no problem putting mail in my mailbox from a modified jeep. They would stop and get out for packages of any size (putting them by the house). In town here, it's all walking routes. I wonder what the numbers are on curbside vs walking?

Your rural mail carrier selected the vehicle based on a known defined mailbox height.

Re: Why the new USPS mail trucks look so weird

#88
post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same with Canada Post AIUI. How often does the right-hand driver's seat thing come into play? Seems like the procurement for this kind of custom vehicle couldn't/won't be cheap.

RHD is pretty common. That's how all vehicles sold in the UK, Japan, and Australia (and some other places) are sold. There there are conversion kits for common rural postal vehicles (jeeps)

Not to mention India
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