Dejoy may well have some kind of corrupt deal going on, but this looks at least superficially less bad than if the deal went to one of the likely rivals. From Jalopnik:
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The fact that they are not all electric is a travesty. Mail truck are the PERFECT application for an EV. Lots of stop and go, no route longer than 190 miles I believe, the ability to recharge overnight… just the lower operating and maintenance cost alone should have tilted the table to a full EV fleet. In a time where states like California, Washington and Oregon are looking at looking at a sunset petrol vehicles in the next decade, these will be spewing toxic emissions for decades.
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postal service governors serve fixed terms and can only be replaced when their term ends. firing one for cause is a bureaucratic thicket which will take time and congressional action but is absolutely doable. regrettably, this is not something biden is likely to do while he’s still trying to get the rest of his appointees approved and his biggest legislative priorities enacted. the process is a lot like trying to fire one of the governors of the federal reserve. it will probably be this summer before we can get rid of him unless he were to resign in shame . . . oh wait, he’s a republican so he has no shame.
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Came here to say something similar, and am surprised no one said it up-thread first. I’ve thought for years, if not decades, that an all-electric fleet of postal delivery vehicles is such low-hanging fruit in the carbon reduction game. I understand if rural, remote locations need combustion engine vehicles, but for urban/suburban areas like the one I live in, electric vehicles make so much sense.
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Neat, but how has Biden not replaced the postmaster general?
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I agree, to an extent. There will always be someplace where the infrastructure doesn’t quite yet support EV charging, but yeah, I’d like for at least 95% of them to initially be EVs, increasing to 100% within 5 years.
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My area mostly has RHD Subarus and Jeeps to navigate the dirt/mud roads. The neighboring town is still delivered to by an early-80s Grumman KubVan with a VW engine similar to this one:
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See above – it’s not something he has the power to do unilaterally. It needs to be voted on by the USPS board of governors, and Biden might need to pack that in order to have enough votes to get DeJoy removed. I think it may happen eventually, let’s hope so. Mail delivery has been very spotty for months (maybe slightly improving over the last month).
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They’re certainly DIFFERENT, but I’m wondering if going with something custom like this is going to be more expensive than just getting something off the shelf like a high-roof Ford Transit or something like it.
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According to my friend who is a postal carrier, DeJoy is not popular among postal workers. Maybe the board of governors are.
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Yeah, he has reduced overtime I think, of course trashed a lot of the mail-sorting machines as we know, authorized the removal of many blue mailboxes around the country. I definitely get the sense my local carriers are not happy with the current state of affairs. Although things here in Baltimore do appear to be getting better over the past month, I’d say.
If anybody here has not signed up for USPS’ Informed Delivery service (free, but not available in all areas) I highly recommend it.
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no idea how long this has been in the works, but given dejoy id wonder if this is meant to a) drain more funds from usps, and b) to stop biden’s administration from mandating ev.
ev would have been a huge boon id think to usps, and ev infrastructure. the private services are already heading that way which will help the latter a bit. but not if the government is dragging its feet
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Are there still post offices with delivery routes that are without electric power? The delivery vehicles begin and end their route at the exact same location every day. It’s not like they are doing cross-country road trips. The only infrastructure needed is a plug.
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True, but then I read about the insane prices being quoted to set up EV chargers:
- The charging stations will cost an estimated $103,420, with as much as $30,000 paid through a grant program.
I am not privy to the details, but I do sense an attitude that “plugs” cost $26K each. BTW, I drive an EV and it costed me only about $500 to install a level 2 charger for my personal use. Yes, it is for personal use and not hardened for encounters with morons. It doesn’t have any access control or LCD display, etc., but still, why does a public one cost 50x as much as a private one? I sense gouging.
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No deal that was negotiated during the Trump administration was ever going to be for 100% electric vehicles, but the good news is that from what I’ve seen it hasn’t yet been determined/announced how many will be electric and how many will be gasoline fueled, so the Biden administration can probably push to have the vast majority be electric.
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There is absolutely nothing wrong with that vehicle. Not that that would ever stop anyone from complaining about it on the internet.
If anybody here has not signed up for USPS’ Informed Delivery service (free, but not available in all areas) I highly recommend it.
I have, and while I agree it is, on the whole, a useful service, it is sometimes frustrating to know something is on the way, but not to know whether I’m getting it later today, or tomorrow, or maybe a week from now. It is interesting to see mail on its way still addressed to the former (deceased) owner of my house, which never actually makes it to my mailbox, because even though the system hasn’t figured it out, my mail carrier has.
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The biggest use I’ve had for it over the past half-year or so is being able to definitively know and prove that some mail is getting lost. I’ve had to file a number of reports. I’d prefer to know something was lost (if it hasn’t shown up within a week or so of Informed Delivery notification) than not even know if something was sent in the first place.
I’ve also found that they do a pretty good job letting you know what packages are slated to arrive today. Those seem to almost always be same-day if they show up in the email. We have a lot of mail stolen in Baltimore, mostly packages, so this helps me plan to be around to grab those as quickly as I can when they’re placed in front of my door.
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They should be required to play Yakkety-Sax whenever they are in operation.
