How those new mail trucks coming along

[Concerned American]

Most of the old Mailcats in my AO all sound like they are on their last legs.....My carrier bought hers when they surplused off a couple and had it PMed properly so she does not have to wait for one to become available.

They are so short on Mailcats that they issue them out on a seniority basis. If you have a new carrier then it might be dark by the time you get your mail because they have to wait till the more senior carrier gets done their route before they can get a truck.

Grumman LLV - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Carriers in our area use their personal vehicles for delivery. Some are modified to right hand drive. IDK if they get reimbursed for the modifications but I would guess that they do.

 

[Harry Dresden]

Carriers in our area use their personal vehicles for delivery. Some are modified to right hand drive. IDK if they get reimbursed for the modifications but I would guess that they do.

you have to be a rural route....that kind of stuff was stopped for the city carriers long ago....everyone got a truck...

 

[flewism]

Years ago, I had a buddy with a Maaco body shop franchise making a small future annually repairing, painting rusted out mail trucks he would do 6 or 8 a month plus his regular insurance work. The mail trucks took priority over other work because of the profit margin.

 

[Jarlaxle]

No, in town.....Plenty and running are two different things.

They are woefully neglected. My carrier would do oil changes at her own expense before she got her own LLV.

Not neglected, they're OLD-the newest has been in service thirty years! Some date to the 1980s. (The ones with the clattering engines are the pre-93 Iron Dukes, the timing gears are quite durable, though noisy-the trucks ran 1986-1994, first digit of the vehicle number is the model year.) Having been in fairly-hard daily use for decades, they're simply worn out.

My mail carrier doesn't have an LLV-she usually has a Mercedes Metris.

 

[AZrailwhale]

No, in town.....Plenty and running are two different things.

They are woefully neglected. My carrier would do oil changes at her own expense before she got her own LLV.

My carrier’s Grumman died in front of my house one day. It took the post office four days to get a mechanic out to work on it. It turned out the fuse block was rotted away, the roof on the Grummans leaked and the water ran down the A pillar right into the fuse block and corroded it. The mechanic said almost all of them had the same problem. He “ fixed” it by taking pieces of paper clips to jam the fuses into place. He also said they were held together with hope, duct tape and bubble gum since they hadn’t been able to source parts for over a decade. It took him two full days to “fix” the fuse block.

 

[Deplorable Yankee]

Carriers in our area use their personal vehicles for delivery. Some are modified to right hand drive. IDK if they get reimbursed for the modifications but I would guess that they do.

We have those around here to
One old Toyota 4x4 that's probably got a million miles on it

Rural areas If you have a right sided car the post office will hire ya...like a contractor

 

[saveliberty]

lol....he had some good points but he also sounded like a disgruntled postal carrier....he could have just said what he said at the end and leave it at that.....get the dam congress out of the business and let the PO be run by the people they put in charge and let it sink or swim....the quotes by the so called employees was pretty funny....

Hello Harry, ex postal worker. Greetings from a curent one. The EVs may have a place in metropolitan areas. Here in rural America we don't have the infrastructure. Further the things weigh 1,000 ponds more than other delivery vehicles. Easy to get stuck on dirt roads or dicey road sides and drives.

 

[saveliberty]

I have had mail delivered on Sunday. It's rare, but it has happened.

If we're far enough behind it is a thing.

 

[Harry Dresden]

Hello Harry, ex postal worker. Greetings from a curent one. The EVs may have a place in metropolitan areas. Here in rural America we don't have the infrastructure. Further the things weigh 1,000 ponds more than other delivery vehicles. Easy to get stuck on dirt roads or dicey road sides and drives.

were do you work and clerk or carrier?...

 

[saveliberty]

were do you work and clerk or carrier?...

Window clerk (PTF) in Michigan.

 

[Jarlaxle]

My carrier’s Grumman died in front of my house one day. It took the post office four days to get a mechanic out to work on it. It turned out the fuse block was rotted away, the roof on the Grummans leaked and the water ran down the A pillar right into the fuse block and corroded it. The mechanic said almost all of them had the same problem. He “ fixed” it by taking pieces of paper clips to jam the fuses into place. He also said they were held together with hope, duct tape and bubble gum since they hadn’t been able to source parts for over a decade. It took him two full days to “fix” the fuse block.

The block is available.

 

[AZrailwhale]

The block is available.

I would think so, but apparently the Post Office won't buy them. I'm just passing on what the Post Office's mechanic told me.

 

[Concerned American]

I would think so, but apparently the Post Office won't buy them. I'm just passing on what the Post Office's mechanic told me.

I wouldn't think a fuse block would be specific to any model of car. They could put in-line fuses if worse came to worse. Makes me wonder about the competence of the maintenance group/workers.

 

[Jarlaxle]

I wouldn't think a fuse block would be specific to any model of car. They could put in-line fuses if worse came to worse. Makes me wonder about the competence of the maintenance group/workers.

It's an S10 fuse block.

 

[my2¢]

Amazon sure has a bunch of EV's on the road which has proved there is no excuse for Biden's failure.

 

[AZrailwhale]

It's an S10 fuse block.

S-10 ended production in 2004. Manufacturers are only required to produce parts for ten years. There are very few S-10s on the road today, so I'd bet even junkyard parts are hard to come by. I drove an S-10 for ATT until they couldn't get parts for it. They replaced it with a 3/4-ton van pending the acquisition of a Ford C-Max.

 

[Jarlaxle]

S-10 ended production in 2004. Manufacturers are only required to produce parts for ten years. There are very few S-10s on the road today, so I'd bet even junkyard parts are hard to come by. I drove an S-10 for ATT until they couldn't get parts for it. They replaced it with a 3/4-ton van pending the acquisition of a Ford C-Max.

There are many enthusiasts with S-10s. There are even more with square-body (87) and GMT400 (1988-98) trucks, which I recall use the same fuse blocks. Reproduction parts are quite common.

I drive a 50-year-old car and have little to no trouble getting parts.

 

[Dr.Destructo]

I haven't seen any new USPS vehicles around my area.

But I have seen the EV vans for UPS, Amazon, and FedEx.