Oshkosh unveils new USPS trucks [replacing Grumman & Jeep]

I encountered one the other day and all I could think of is how much that windshield will cost to replace.

 

There is a reason why them old Grunmans lasting so long. Them old Pontiac built Iron Dukes are indestructible. Electric doesn’t sound like they gonna be around that long. At least not out in the sticks.

 

Oh, 10 hours, boo-hoo, not like in the old days where the carrier never had a cushy air conditioned van. I lived in a big city, and the Jeep got them close, but they schlepped that bag around for blocks,,,for years. The old Jeep "Dispatchers" did just fine. And no, I doubt service will improve. The brain dead hicks that must be applying for those jobs( at $30/hr. plus benes, mind you) must have barely got out of 3rd grade. I routinely receive other peoples mail, and vice versa, I mean, how hard is it to put a letter clearly marked in the correct clearly marked mailbox?

 

The funny thing about the ac is it better be really strong. with that fish bowl windshield and the right door glass always open because mail boxes in most nieghborhoods are only 50’ apart its gonna be running full blast. Most likely like any thing else gubment owned once it breaks it ain’t getting fixed anyway.

 

The USPS could easily be made profitable. Just charge what it actually costs to mail a letter from Point A to Point B, who cares if residents of Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, the Dakotas, Montana, Idaho, and West By God Virginia get charged $5 a stamp? Or only get mail delivered once a week? It's the free market at work. [sarcasm]

 

We live a long way from town and our mail box is the last one on the route. I told the mail lady that once or twice a week delivery would be fine. Nope, she can't do it. She's a contractor and bids the route for a certain number of miles. So, rain or shine, snow, ice, chained up or not, she comes all the way out here...usually with junk mail.
The route must be profitable for her. She gets a new Jeep every other year, raises three kids as a single Mom and lives in a nice house.

 

You prove my point. It would be more profitable to make you (and your neighbors) drive into the county seat to pick up/send your mail at the post office, but the USPS is MANDATED to provide a service to all Americans.

If the USPS could eliminate unprofitable rural routes and consolidate service centers it could easily turn a profit. A quick search tells me that using Fedex or UPS to send a letter to Stanley, ID will cost me $53. Sending it to Grass Valley, CA is $43 while LA is only $35. Or I can us USPS to them all for 73 cents.

If we want the Post Office to be profitable, okay - let it run like a business. That $7 billion "loss" will just move from a 'government expense' to a 'consumer expense' - which will be felt in increased costs and decreased service. Just look at the Royal Mail or Deutsche Post over the last 10 years. You really think that Chase, JP Morgan, Vanguard, or Blackrock are going to eat the real cost of sending out statements?

The USPS is a service we pay for, just like roads, Police, Fire, and the Military. Privatization of these things results in HOAs, and I don't know anyone who likes HOAs.

 

DOGE is the 2nd best thing to happen in this country, in decades.

 

Used a local auto mechanic who has the local 'authorized postal repair' sign on his shop.

The chassis was basically an S-10.

He has a stock of Post Office parts that they replace as used all through the postal system, everything is priced/timed out in the contract and he must have a small wrecker.

It turned into a good portion of his business.