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Yes, it ‘looks like a duck,’ but carriers like the new USPS mail truck

nytimes.com

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Re: Yes, it ‘looks like a duck,’ but carriers like the new USPS mail truck

#101

Post by evan_ »

fencepost wrote: post #50
rectang wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cultural hostility among a subpopulation to electric vehicles as "woke"? Ordinary sentimentality and the natural human discomfort with change?

I have great faith in the ability of ahem some individuals to harm themselves out of spite or inability to recognize inbound leopards, but I'm pretty sure that even those would find the new vehicles to be an improvement even if they're EVs - at least if they're actually driving the old and new vehicles.

plenty of folks will soil themselves if it means the people they dislike will have to smell it

Re: Yes, it ‘looks like a duck,’ but carriers like the new USPS mail truck

#102

Post by evan_ »

imp0cat wrote: post #56

Needs just one thing - light blue paintjob with an orange beak and a tiny purple hat. ;)

I was just thinking they need a special green and yellow variant for the southern Willamette Valley...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Oregon_Duck

Re: Yes, it ‘looks like a duck,’ but carriers like the new USPS mail truck

#103

Post by reaperducer »

ggreer wrote: post #68
KK7NIL wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you not read the article? The NGDVs aren't Sprinter vans, they're purpose made mail delivery vehicles, with ergonomics and cargo space setup for that, which makes a massive difference for the drivers, especially when it comes to repetitive motion injuries, which is a huge cost for USPS. Amazon went away from commercial vans to purpose made vehicles built by Rivian for many of the same reasons and they've been wid…

The Rivian vans are commercially available.[1] Like the NGDV, they have a side door and an 80 inch interior height so that nobody has to stoop while in the cargo bay. 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rivian_EDV

The Rivian vans are commercially available.

If you follow the link in your link, you'll see that while new Postal Service trucks are $60,000, the Rivian vans START a $83,000†, and it's simply not possible for the driver of one of those vans to reach a mailbox from inside the vehicle, which is how vast majority of what the new Postal Services will be used.

Paying a 40% premium for less capability? That doesn't sound smart.

† https://rivian.com/fleet

Re: Yes, it ‘looks like a duck,’ but carriers like the new USPS mail truck

#104

Post by Terr_ »

dylan604 wrote: post #11
garciansmith wrote: post #7

I'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).

for utilitarian purposes, like the guy was quoted "it gets the job done", but for soccer moms and their SUV looks are important.

Vehicle choice is probably much more of a personal-identity / status thing for the soccer-mom.

To riff off of a Bujold quote about uniforms: "Fleet vehicles are always correct, or, if not exactly correct, clearly not the driver's fault, since they have no choice."

Re: Yes, it ‘looks like a duck,’ but carriers like the new USPS mail truck

#105

Post by Retric »

bsder wrote: post #100
abeppu wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know that efficiency is really an explanation. If you look at a list of very aerodynamic cars, there are a bunch of older ones with very different designs. https://carbuzz.com/features/most-aerodynamic-cars/ And the still-not-released Aptera looks very distinctive and is claimed to have a drag coefficient of 0.13. https://electrek.co/2020/12/07/aptera-super-efficient-electr...

It's aerodynamics and safety combined. Those bars that you smack into everytime you get into your car and those bars that give you enormous blind spots to hit pedestrians? Yeah, they're there because of safety regulations. When you put the requirements to be able to roll over and not cave the roof along with aerodynamics, the design constraints are pretty heavy.

Being able to roll without crushing the cabin doesn’t take that much. It’s airbags that are causing wide blindspot inducing pillars and there’s options that maintain good visibility.

Re: Yes, it ‘looks like a duck,’ but carriers like the new USPS mail truck

#106

Post by Animats »

The job of delivery services today is delivering small packages, not information. So everybody (USPS, UPS, Amazon) is converging on the same feature set:

- Van big enough to stand up in

- Door between driver compartment and package storage

- Bin/shelf type package storage, not bags or piles

- Good visibility

- Battery electric

- Optimized for 0 to 30 MPH with lots of stops. Aerodynamics don't matter much. Regenerative braking does.

Amazon has some cute features. The driver wears some small RFID device, and when they step out of the truck, the door to package storage closes and locks, and the truck won't move. Amazon's new vans also have very high visibility from the rear, with many LEDs, so it's hard to rear-end them by accident. Good because they double-part frequently.

Re: Yes, it ‘looks like a duck,’ but carriers like the new USPS mail truck

#107

Post by PrismCrystal »

tantalor wrote: post #40
phil21 wrote: post #23

Earlier 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.

> It would have been much more useful if you could just mount it like a hard drive without special library management software.

When I got my first iPod in 2006, I immediately put Rockbox on it, where the iPod indeed mounted like a hard drive and files (including all my .oggs, remember those?) could be dropped right onto the device. Never used Apple’s own UI even once.

I still miss the iPod. It let you really immerse yourself in the music without all the distractions inherent in a smartphone. I occasionally considered getting a used one and installing larger storage and a new battery, but by now I think that ship has sailed.

Re: Yes, it ‘looks like a duck,’ but carriers like the new USPS mail truck

#108

Post by 8ytecoder »

garciansmith wrote: post #7

I'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).

Subarus use a boxer engine that drastically increases the visibility. I have a short torso with long legs and finding a car where I felt comfortable with visibility was a priority for me. I settled on the Subaru Impreza 10 years ago. Still has the best visibility of all the cars I’ve driven. I’d expect EVs to also have better visibility - may be eventually - since they can drop the height of the hood as well.

Re: Yes, it ‘looks like a duck,’ but carriers like the new USPS mail truck

#109

Post by NotSammyHagar »

hoherd wrote: post #37

This is great news! The design is interesting though. Why would they choose such a hard angle for the hood and windshield vs something more gentle? Does anybody know why they made that design choice?

read other comments, so talk people can stand up in the back and short people and see over the hood.

Re: Yes, it ‘looks like a duck,’ but carriers like the new USPS mail truck

#110

Post by reaperducer »

postoplust wrote: post #6

The seat height in the banner image looks too tall for the mailboxes. I wonder how the seat height in the NGDV compares to the Grumman LLV.

The seat height in the banner image looks too tall for the mailboxes.

The very first image in the article shows a driver putting mail in a mailbox. What more proof do you need?

https://static01.nyt.com/images/2024/11/20/multimedia/00xp-m...

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