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Yes, it ‘looks like a duck,’ but carriers like the new USPS mail truck
71–80 of 156 posts
Re: Yes, it ‘looks like a duck,’ but carriers like the new USPS mail truck
#72Earlier quoted context omitted.
iPod was famously both though? The click-wheel was pretty unique and worked great to make an accessible UIx for the masses. It may have been somewhat limiting in edge cases, but for normal usage I don't recall anyone complaining about it outside of hardcore tech circles.
"No wireless? Less space than a Nomad? Lame" Seriously though, the iTunes integration and cross platform compatibility kind of sucked. It would have been much more useful if you could just mount it like a hard drive without special library management software. The click wheel was cool.
> Seriously though, the iTunes integration and cross platform compatibility kind of sucked. It would have been much more useful if you could just mount it like a hard drive without special library management software.
I very much preferred this, actually. file management is really annoying compared to custom-built software with all the tagging etc built-in. Subjective, obviously, but I really miss that every time I'm managing music on linux or windows and get frustrated when labeling invariably changes (even if only subtly) when moved to a device.
Granted, itunes could have also done a much better of unifying the tagging etc with the files to avoid this entire fiasco.
Re: Yes, it ‘looks like a duck,’ but carriers like the new USPS mail truck
#73I wondered why other delivery companies use commercial vehicles instead of NGDVs or LLVs, and the answer is that commercial vehicles are more capable while being significantly cheaper. NGDVs cost $60,000 each, and that's for half of them being ICE vehicles and half EVs with a 70 mile range (35 miles if you use the heater). The ICE version gets 14.7 miles per gallon (8.6mpg if you turn on the air conditioning).[1] The…
As usual when you take a dismissive stance ("this is obviously a waste of money!") you are ignoring lots od details. The use case of a mail carrier is not well suited by a massive eSprinter. They have no need for something so large. They want to be seated at the height where most mailboxes are so they can make many deliveries without getting out of the car. Whenever you find yourself going "why would they make THAT d…
I used the eSprinter as one example, not the only option. Maybe something like the Ford eTransit or the Rivian EDV is a better fit for postal deliveries. My point is that other delivery companies and postal services use commercial vehicles, most likely because that's the most cost-effective option.
Considering the NGDV's atrocious efficiency, lack of hybrid option, and high unit costs, it seems far more likely that this is a pork project for a defense contractor than that everyone else is doing it wrong.
Re: Yes, it ‘looks like a duck,’ but carriers like the new USPS mail truck
#74According to this video[0] the shape is because there's a requirement for 95th percentile males to be able to stand up inside and the front is low for 5th percentile females to be able to see a specific distance in front of the hood. The shape makes perfect sense.
Re: Yes, it ‘looks like a duck,’ but carriers like the new USPS mail truck
#75After driving a new Mercedes Vito (I can't describe how insane the controls of this vehicle are, but it has capacitive-touch buttons that you have to swipe to change the stereo volume ON THE STEERING WHEEL), I long for controls that look like this: https://static01.nyt.com/images/2024/11/20/multimedia/00xp-m...
Tactile controls should be the default. I was actually interested in the Lincoln Corsair until I saw how much they rely on touch - even for things like the climate control, same as the Teslas. Instantly took it off the list.
Re: Yes, it ‘looks like a duck,’ but carriers like the new USPS mail truck
#76I wondered why other delivery companies use commercial vehicles instead of NGDVs or LLVs, and the answer is that commercial vehicles are more capable while being significantly cheaper. NGDVs cost $60,000 each, and that's for half of them being ICE vehicles and half EVs with a 70 mile range (35 miles if you use the heater). The ICE version gets 14.7 miles per gallon (8.6mpg if you turn on the air conditioning).[1] The…
One key difference between USPS and UPS/Fedex is that USPS does not do freight, and they do a lot more lightweight items (i.e. letters), so cargo capacity is much less of a concern. The fact that junk mail is so common actually reduces the need for cargo capacity since their routes tend to be made long not because of physical volume/distance so much as dwell time (that is, if someone is using EDDM[0] to target a neighborhood, you have to stop at every mailbox in that neighborhood, even if it's just to deliver that one piece of junk mail which will immediately get thrown away, and this takes far more time than delivering a bundle of packages to a handful of houses).
I remember reading about the NGDV, and one of the reasons it looks so weird is because USPS wanted a vehicle that was low to the ground (to make it easier to climb in and out of) and easy to see over the hood, even for very short drivers[1]. Given that they are in residential areas (and thus, in proximity of kids playing outside) far more often than UPS/Fedex, I can't say I disagree with that requirement. (Also, if you have a tall truck like UPS and Fedex typically roll, good luck delivering to the average mailbox while staying in your seat.)
USPS has certainly evaluated more traditional designs; in fact, they are actively using ~20k Ram ProMasters (a rebadged Fiat Ducato), which are quite similar to the Mercedes Sprinter, alongside ~9k mini vans[2].
[0]: https://www.usps.com/business/every-door-direct-mail.htm
[1]: https://x.com/Nir_Kahn/status/1364465483911675905
[2]: https://www.uspsoig.gov/sites/default/files/reports/2023-01/... (PDF page 6)
Re: Yes, it ‘looks like a duck,’ but carriers like the new USPS mail truck
#77Earlier quoted context omitted.
As usual when you take a dismissive stance ("this is obviously a waste of money!") you are ignoring lots od details. The use case of a mail carrier is not well suited by a massive eSprinter. They have no need for something so large. They want to be seated at the height where most mailboxes are so they can make many deliveries without getting out of the car. Whenever you find yourself going "why would they make THAT d…
I used the eSprinter as one example, not the only option. Maybe something like the Ford eTransit or the Rivian EDV is a better fit for postal deliveries. My point is that other delivery companies and postal services use commercial vehicles, most likely because that's the most cost-effective option. Considering the NGDV's atrocious efficiency, lack of hybrid option, and high unit costs, it seems far more likely that t…
Is it inefficient? Would it be more worthy to have two chassis designs, one for ICE and one for EV, to make it more efficient for the gas version? Would any hybrid drivetrain provide higher efficiency for similar build costs on the same chassis?
My point would be that they weighed a lot of design considerations and I assume this is the best they could get that meets all of them. Like others said, other commercial delivery vehicles don't have the same use case as this. Who cares about range when the use case for this vehicle is ~20 miles a day?
Everyone else isn't "doing it wrong", they're doing it differently, for different needs.
Re: Yes, it ‘looks like a duck,’ but carriers like the new USPS mail truck
#78After driving a new Mercedes Vito (I can't describe how insane the controls of this vehicle are, but it has capacitive-touch buttons that you have to swipe to change the stereo volume ON THE STEERING WHEEL), I long for controls that look like this: https://static01.nyt.com/images/2024/11/20/multimedia/00xp-m...
Tactile controls should be the default. I was actually interested in the Lincoln Corsair until I saw how much they rely on touch - even for things like the climate control, same as the Teslas. Instantly took it off the list.
That's why I won't even consider a Tesla. Test drove a few vehicles and it's amazing how many do touch screen everything now. Will -not- buy.
The one I ended up buying is all tactile except changing the radio stations. Even that gets really annoying, as you have to take your eyes off the road to change stations. I end up just poking it in random places blind until something happens.
Re: Yes, it ‘looks like a duck,’ but carriers like the new USPS mail truck
#79I thought it was going to be about duck typing.
Re: Yes, it ‘looks like a duck,’ but carriers like the new USPS mail truck
#80I've read so much knocking their appearance, which is so confusing to me. It's ultimately function over form in this case; who cares if you don't like how it looks? I can only dream that the visibility and safety of having features like such a low hood and large bumpers would be incorporated into other vehicles (i.e., every SUV ever).
The low hood is almost definitely to help prevent scraping mailboxes and other objects, but especially mailboxes. My dad was a rural USPS carrier that used his own vehicle, and despite him having been an excellent driver with no accidents on record in his life, he still ended up swapping minor paint with mailboxes a few times.
Can't imagine how often it happens across the country.