Build back better proposes 6 billion to electrify post office fleet 70%

[aerohead]

It may be a COPOUT-26 climate gesture. A 'small' gesture, and signal to the rest of the climate community that, the USA will put your money where their mouth is.
By the way, NASA has picked up a recent spike in satellite-monitored carbon-dioxide emissions from Denton, County, Texas.
The new source is rural US Postal Service mail carriers, borrowing a trick the Public School buses use : stopping along 60-mph two-lane arterials, in no-passing zones.
Swarms of 70-mph traffic ( nobody obeys speed limits, and nobody enforces them either ) must come to a complete halt, while the mail trucks deliver.
Texas Department of Public Safety officers are on the ready to issue traffic citations, if anyone attempts to pass the mail carriers.
In other Universes, counties provide alcoves, off the thoroughfare, onto which a school bus or mail carrier could pull onto, without bottling up operating tailpipes, a major contributor to global warming according to the US EPA.
My heart just swells with joy as I witness such brilliant public policy at work! Such a warm, fuzzy feeling.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by oil pan 4

I heard the last one of those little white postal vans rolled off the assembly line in the early 1990s.

Those vans are definitely among the most underappreciated vehicles in the world. Their design is so smart, and with just a few improvements it could still be a good workhorse even for private enterprises.

[freebeard]

They are like the Fridolin:


http://st.hotrod.com/uploads/sites/2...-side-view.jpg

The wedge-nosed Grummans are an aluminum body.

[Hersbird]

Originally Posted by oil pan 4

I heard the last one of those little white postal vans rolled off the assembly line in the early 1990s.
If the post office needs tax payer money every 30 years or so for a new fleet vehicle then that's a great use of tax payer money, they make it last, everyone benefits, no special interest groups or identity politics.

Ours are all 1994 models which was the last year of the Grumman LLV. Side note if you see any postal vehicle look at the first number of the truck number. That number is the last number of the year it was made. So ours are all 4317xxx so the 4 means either 1984, 1994, 2004, or 2014 in our case 1994. Our newest trucks are 2020 Dodge Promasters which are 0341xxx. Actually I take that back we just got 2 2021 Mercedes Metris vans. When I say "our" vehicles, I mean our specific office.

I think you are totally wrong on your 2nd part though. Not everyone benefits. Not UPS or FedEx. Not small town mom and pop competition to Amazon, Walmart, or Target.

[Hersbird]

Originally Posted by aerohead

It may be a COPOUT-26 climate gesture. A 'small' gesture, and signal to the rest of the climate community that, the USA will put your money where their mouth is.
By the way, NASA has picked up a recent spike in satellite-monitored carbon-dioxide emissions from Denton, County, Texas.
The new source is rural US Postal Service mail carriers, borrowing a trick the Public School buses use : stopping along 60-mph two-lane arterials, in no-passing zones.
Swarms of 70-mph traffic ( nobody obeys speed limits, and nobody enforces them either ) must come to a complete halt, while the mail trucks deliver.
Texas Department of Public Safety officers are on the ready to issue traffic citations, if anyone attempts to pass the mail carriers.
In other Universes, counties provide alcoves, off the thoroughfare, onto which a school bus or mail carrier could pull onto, without bottling up operating tailpipes, a major contributor to global warming according to the US EPA.
My heart just swells with joy as I witness such brilliant public policy at work! Such a warm, fuzzy feeling.

What they should do is install a central cluster delivery box every 1/2 mile or so with a place for cars to pull over. Not 1 delivery every 300 feet or whatever, 30 deliveries every one 1/2 mile. Unions and Congress won't allow any changes to established delivery standards even if it make the whole system more efficient. Heck making the whole system more efficient is exactly why they won't allow it.

[JSH]

Originally Posted by Hersbird

What they should do is install a central cluster delivery box every 1/2 mile or so with a place for cars to pull over. Not 1 delivery every 300 feet or whatever, 30 deliveries every one 1/2 mile. Unions and Congress won't allow any changes to established delivery standards even if it make the whole system more efficient. Heck making the whole system more efficient is exactly why they won't allow it.

In my area the USPS is steadily replacing individual mailboxes with community boxes. My house is one street over from that last section of town that was converted - I figure it is only a matter of time.

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by JSH

In my area the USPS is steadily replacing individual mailboxes with community boxes. My house is one street over from that last section of town that was converted - I figure it is only a matter of time.

Seems counterproductive considering those consolidated units only have 2 boxes for parcels for like 16 people. The carrier will go from being able to deliver most parcels in the individual boxes, to having to walk them to the door.

As an aside (I'm probably not the only one), my carrier probably hates that I only check the mail about once a week. I'm in no hurry to collect junk mail. Besides all that, anyone sending a letter is clearly in no hurry to communicate with me, so why should I be in a hurry to read?

[Hersbird]

Originally Posted by JSH

In my area the USPS is steadily replacing individual mailboxes with community boxes. My house is one street over from that last section of town that was converted - I figure it is only a matter of time.

They probably cited some kind of safety concern. Either a carrier was assaulted or robbed or there are too many dog bites. Normally they can't get away with changing established deliveries unless the neighborhood agrees to the new. Sometimes parking is so bad the neighborhood itself wants to free up places in front of the box. We still have 1/2 the town here with carriers walking door to door with the mail. That definitely needs to he changed. The central cluster deliveries is definitely faster even with limited parcel lockers which can always be added where needed. We have routes with mostly clustered deliveries with over 1500 stops and routes that are all door to door walking with 1/3 that many stops.

[redpoint5]

I feel like deliveries of all sorts aren't well planned. It's like nobody realized people will get something delivered even though that's been standard for over a hundred years. It's like how homes are still built with no consideration for where things like TVs will go. Everything is designed for a visual aesthetic with no consideration for functionality.

There should be some standard box in front of the home that is accessible to any delivery service an owner grants access to. Everything from letters, to packages, to food delivery should go in there. No clustered boxes, no door deliveries. It should be designed with autonomous delivery in mind for future proofing.

[JSH]

Originally Posted by Hersbird

They probably cited some kind of safety concern. Either a carrier was assaulted or robbed or there are too many dog bites. Normally they can't get away with changing established deliveries unless the neighborhood agrees to the new. Sometimes parking is so bad the neighborhood itself wants to free up places in front of the box. We still have 1/2 the town here with carriers walking door to door with the mail. That definitely needs to he changed. The central cluster deliveries is definitely faster even with limited parcel lockers which can always be added where needed. We have routes with mostly clustered deliveries with over 1500 stops and routes that are all door to door walking with 1/3 that many stops.

When the city updates sidewalks to make them ADA compliant the individual mailboxes are removed.