New USPS Delivery Vehicle

Looks like when you dig through the LEGO bin to build a car but combine different kits. Windshield would look good on a John Deere combine.
 
It looks like they extended the vehicle height and in doing so fitted in some special side window arrangement for the driver. Hard to tell from the picture and shadows.
 
Chip Foose,
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Yeah, one might wish it looked less awkward, but as long as they do their job, that's secondary.

It was clearly chosen to 1) have adequate capacity to facilitate the USPS' role as a package delivery service (vs letter carrier), and 2) better cater to the operator.
 
They will be replacing a lot of airbags in these things. Mail carriers bump into things all the dang time.
 
I saw a picture of the new Jeep delivery vehicle and the first thing that came to mind was that Johnny Cash song....the one where he worked in an automotive assembly line and he stole parts over the years to make his one-of-a-kind vehicle.
There won't be any new Next Gen postal vehicles where I live. Here, the carriers deliver mail using their own personal vehicles.
 
Why do they call it "next generation"? 20, 30 years from now, will its replacement vehicle be the "the generation after the next generation" or TGATNG?
 
Once, when the topic of the new USPS vehicle surfaced, I chatted with a mailman.

He told me that a few years before (2015ish?) Grumman, which made the aluminum bodies, removed their name placard from all of them. Here and there I could see the faded outline of the name.

He underscored the long service time these trucks have seen. I mentioned the upcoming auction and the desirability of them.
He mocked his particular truck by referencing how many repairs it had seen.

"This truck has a new transmission and a new motor. Who'd want it?"

Clearly NOT a car guy.
 
My father, a retired mail carrier, described it as, "A sperm whale, wait no, a duck; yeah that beak looks like a duck. And it has a huge windshield."

He didn't seem to see the functional appeal to the odd design.
 
They will be replacing a lot of airbags in these things. Mail carriers bump into things all the dang time.
That would depend on how the system is configured. They could always have the manufacturer crank up the delta-V threshold.
 
I have a brother who's been a maintenance guy for the USPS for close to 30yrs. Not vehicle maintenance, but he's close with those guys as well. Lots of funny stories on the LLVs The brake pedals get mashed so often that the pedal mounts need to be replaced/rewelded on them among other things. Each has probably been though 10 iron dukes and (I believe 3spd?) autos by now. The bodies last forever, but they were horrible vehicles from the start, like anything else USPS.
 
Unfortunately, I doubt new vehicles are going to improve the perfomance of the postal service.
 
So, where does the postal service get the millions and millions of dollars to pay for these trucks? I hear every night on the news the post office is going broke and people are still receiving christmas cards.
 
Wow, brutal remarks for the hard working people at the USPS.
Not sure why but you can always use FedEx or UPS if unhappy 🙁
I agree, most are hard working, especially that mail carrier who has to deliver mail door to door on foot in all kinds of weather. The ones I have seen working at the post office know only one speed, slow and many(not all) are just passing time.
 
I new the decision had been made (although not announced) when Ford leaked the new V6 Diesel for the new Transit was being shelved in the USA (The postal contract required Diesel for ICE combinations).
 
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