Most autos within the US Postal Service really need this. The cars were intended with a 24-year life cycle, and are simply getting old. Replacing the entire fleet would cost $ 4.2 billion. Is replacement the only option?
Postal Service and LLVs
The right handed delivery trucks that the postal service uses are known as LLVs — Long Life Autos. The trucks were designed with a 24-year lifecycle of daily driving. That 24 year cycle is almost over. The Postal Service Inspector General has said that, over the span of the next eight years, the Postal Service would spend repairing the autos than replacing them.
Price of repairing USPS automobiles
In 2009 alone, the Postal Service spent $ 524 million on LLV repair. Usually it is better to repair vehicles instead of replace them. The average repair bill that comes for each LLV is about $ 5,600, with some going as high as $ 40,000. The autos do not typically require any kind of specialized maintenance, though the right-handed driving setup can cause more expensive maintenance at times.
The LLV fleet being replaced
The cost to benefit comparison of continuing to repair the LLV fleet is quickly turning upside down. Within the next eight years, the postal service will really lose quite a bit of money if it repairs rather than replaces any vehicles that have a repair bill of a lot more than $ 3,500. Straight-across replacement of the full LLV fleet would cost $ 30,000 per truck.
Car alternatives for US Postal service
New alternatives for the Postal Service are being researched. The USPS has offered a reward of $ 50,000 to five different firms for providing a working prototype of a USPS vehicle by August. Letter carriers in many other areas are testing three-wheeled electric cars, bicycles, and also some more traditional minivan-style vehicles for delivering the mail, rain or shine.
