Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Why the new USPS mail trucks look so weird

thedrive.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 398 posts

Re: Why the new USPS mail trucks look so weird

#61

Post by gambiting »

FDSGSG wrote: post #42
meepmorp wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I saw that, but those constraints don't seem to be necessary for postal vehicles in other countries. The person I was responding to was wondering why other countries seem to just fine with regular looking vans that have postal branding. It's worth asking about, isn't it? Just because those things are spec'd as they are, that doesn't mean they need to be.

Most countries don't really have US-style mailboxes either.

And yet.....everyone manages. Houses in rural areas have mailboxes outside of the property, sure they are not the iconic american half-pipe shape, but properties all over the world have mailboxes too.

Re: Why the new USPS mail trucks look so weird

#62

Post by Centigonal »

chrisseaton wrote: post #37
marcinzm wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The same reason Amazon runs its own shipping network instead of relying on UPS or Fedex. At a certain scale it is cheaper to get a custom option that specifically fits your needs rather than retro-fitting something else. The USPS bought 100,000 of the last truck and, for example, one of the requirements was long service life. Building a truck you can use for 30 years is probably much cheaper than buying multiple lowe…

> The same reason Amazon runs its own shipping network instead of relying on UPS or Fedex. Amazon use off-the-shelf vehicles though. > one of the requirements was long service life I wonder how they require that. Does the manufacturer have to warranty them all for 30 years? That's extraordinary!

> I wonder how they require that. Does the manufacturer have to warranty them all for 30 years? That's extraordinary!

In 1986, they road-tested the contract competitors' trucks for 24,000 miles, and the Grumman LLV (the truck that this new vehicle replaces) was the only one running at the end. Definitely not proof that they'd run for the intended 24 year lifespan, but I guess the USPS got lucky with the LLV (they even stretched it 6 years past the original retirement date!).

https://www.nytimes.com/1986/04/09/business/postal-contract-...

Re: Why the new USPS mail trucks look so weird

#63

Post by BadInformatics »

xxpor wrote: post #39
BadInformatics wrote: post #29

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.

I'd wager ~75% of mailboxes are delivered to with a RHD vehicle. So it matters a lot.

TIL, thanks. Maybe it's different for rural areas, but here in (sub)urban Canada postal workers hit a few houses at a time (and you can tell because most of them wear comfortable walking shoes too). I just looked it up and it seems like their new electric vehicles aren't RHD either, would be curious to know how that decision transpired :)

Re: Why the new USPS mail trucks look so weird

#64

Post by lostapathy »

TylerE wrote: post #49
BadInformatics wrote: post #29

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)

You can buy right-drive jeep wranglers new in the US today, even. They aren't real common but can be ordered.

Re: Why the new USPS mail trucks look so weird

#65

Post by toast0 »

chrisseaton wrote: post #37
marcinzm wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The same reason Amazon runs its own shipping network instead of relying on UPS or Fedex. At a certain scale it is cheaper to get a custom option that specifically fits your needs rather than retro-fitting something else. The USPS bought 100,000 of the last truck and, for example, one of the requirements was long service life. Building a truck you can use for 30 years is probably much cheaper than buying multiple lowe…

> The same reason Amazon runs its own shipping network instead of relying on UPS or Fedex. Amazon use off-the-shelf vehicles though. > one of the requirements was long service life I wonder how they require that. Does the manufacturer have to warranty them all for 30 years? That's extraordinary!

Amazon, UPS, and FedEx all have custom vehicles. Amazon started with off the shelf vehicles, but once you get to ordering 50,000 of something, you may as well make the design fit your needs instead of only meeting them.

Re: Why the new USPS mail trucks look so weird

#66

Post by xxpor »

BadInformatics wrote: post #63
xxpor wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd wager ~75% of mailboxes are delivered to with a RHD vehicle. So it matters a lot.

TIL, thanks. Maybe it's different for rural areas, but here in (sub)urban Canada postal workers hit a few houses at a time (and you can tell because most of them wear comfortable walking shoes too). I just looked it up and it seems like their new electric vehicles aren't RHD either, would be curious to know how that decision transpired :)

I heard a few years ago that Canada Post was forcing everyone to use a communal mailbox at a semi-central location close to their house, even in fairly rural areas. If that's the case, it'd also make a lot more sense to just have a normal van, IMO.

Re: Why the new USPS mail trucks look so weird

#67

Post by TylerE »

BadInformatics wrote: post #63
xxpor wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd wager ~75% of mailboxes are delivered to with a RHD vehicle. So it matters a lot.

TIL, thanks. Maybe it's different for rural areas, but here in (sub)urban Canada postal workers hit a few houses at a time (and you can tell because most of them wear comfortable walking shoes too). I just looked it up and it seems like their new electric vehicles aren't RHD either, would be curious to know how that decision transpired :)

On all but urban routes US mail carriers never get out of their vehicles, unless they have something too big to fit in the box.

Re: Why the new USPS mail trucks look so weird

#68

Post by jn1234 »

chrisseaton wrote: post #37
marcinzm wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The same reason Amazon runs its own shipping network instead of relying on UPS or Fedex. At a certain scale it is cheaper to get a custom option that specifically fits your needs rather than retro-fitting something else. The USPS bought 100,000 of the last truck and, for example, one of the requirements was long service life. Building a truck you can use for 30 years is probably much cheaper than buying multiple lowe…

> The same reason Amazon runs its own shipping network instead of relying on UPS or Fedex. Amazon use off-the-shelf vehicles though. > one of the requirements was long service life I wonder how they require that. Does the manufacturer have to warranty them all for 30 years? That's extraordinary!

>Amazon use off-the-shelf vehicles though.

Not for long, they even invested in Rivian, an EV manufacturer, who is going to build vehicles to their spec.

Re: Why the new USPS mail trucks look so weird

#69

Post by meepmorp »

imwillofficial wrote: post #41
meepmorp wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

US mail trucks have the driver on the right hand side (as opposed to the left), so that they can deliver mail without having to get out of the driver's seat. Which naturally means we can't just reuse trucks made for the UK or other Commonwealth markets because... China or socialism or whatever.

“ China or socialism or whatever.”? What do you mean?

[flagged]

Re: Why the new USPS mail trucks look so weird

#70

Post by bigiain »

teruakohatu wrote: post #3

"Oddly-shaped mail trucks seem to be a staple of Americana." As a non-American I have always found this amusing. Here in New Zealand Post was until a few years ago delivered by bicycle in cities (SUVs or vans in rural areas). They have since moved towards small electric vehicles called Paxster. Basically large four wheel scooters that can ride on both the road and pavement. https://jobs.nzpost.co.nz/paxster

In Australia the Honda CT90->CT110->NBC110 "Postie Bike" was, up until 2015 or so, the best selling motorcycle for decades, so much so that it almost always got left out of motorcycle market share reporting.

Australia Post used to buy ~2000 of them a year, but recently have replaced most of the motorcycles with bicycles and electric bicycles (and the volume of ordinary letters that are suitable for motorcycle/bicycle/walking delivery has also plummeted, these days an enormous (literal) volume of mail is parcels from China/Amazon, which don't fit as neatly/efficiently in a motorcycle pannier an are mostly delivered by contractors in generic white vans.

"In terms of actual numbers, a major contributor to the fall has been the Australia Post ‘postie bike’ fleet. After artificially inflating new bike sales figures for years, sales of the postie bike (formerly CT110, now NBC110) fell 43 per cent in 2017 and a further 52 per cent last year. Australia’s top-selling ‘road bike’ for years, the NBC110 only scraped into the road category’s Top Ten last year and didn’t even figure in the overall Top Ten." -- https://www.justbikes.com.au/news-and-reviews/2018-australia...

and:

"For years, the CT110 was Australia’s top-selling motorcycle, but almost the entirety of those sales went to Australia Post. With the decline in letter delivery and Australia Post’s move to electric trikes better suited to parcel delivery, CT 110 / NBC 110 sales have fallen rapidly in recent years, including a 52 per cent drop in 2018 alone. The NBC 110 didn’t even appear in the ‘Top 10’ listings provided by the FCAI, suggesting less than 500 units were sold last year. That compares to 1,447 sales just two years ago." -- https://www.justbikes.com.au/news-and-reviews/motorcycle-sal...

Post reply on HN