Little mail trucks

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My mail person pulls up to my mailbox, shuts the engine off, engages parking brake, walks 10 feet to my mailbox, deposits mail, walks back to the little truck, disengages brake, starts truck, drives to the next house, rinse and repeat. This has to be one of the most brutal oil, engine, brakes, transmission destroying routines on the planet. Anyone know a USPS mechanic?
 
I guess it takes the risk of theft away. It also adds a lot of wear on the starter and battery I imagine.
 
Quote:

I guess it takes the risk of theft away.


I know a postal carrier. There are a lot of things 'like this' written into procedure; Imagine a running vehicle being hit by a car and there is no one in the cab. Hundreds of thousands of carriers in vehicles all day and that calls for a very strict regimen. There are no unattended vehicles running on an AF flight line either.
 
Around here they walk to the homes and deliver the mail. Carry around a huge bag full of mail. Park the drug nearby and keep filling up the bag.
 
I read they get an average of 22 years out of their vehicles.

The "boxy" ones with staggered wheelbase are some Grumman thing built on an early 90s S10 chassis with "iron duke" 2.5.

Previously were some 2wd AMC inline-6 "jeep" based thing.

That postman might be doing it exactly right, maybe he's six months from his pension and doesn't want discipline, or maybe he's trying to break his truck by following SOP and get a new one.

I had a cool mailman as a kid, real smart guy, had time to philosophize. To him, walking the mail was an "occupation", something to do while his mind wandered.
 
Perfect guy to ask about this, or anything else:

tZmfOQy.jpg
 
Originally Posted By: eljefino

I had a cool mailman as a kid, real smart guy, had time to philosophize. To him, walking the mail was an "occupation", something to do while his mind wandered.


I imagine there isn't too much stimulating thought ...
 
The system when I lived in Buffalo was a uniformed carrier would walk a block and deliver mail door to door.

The system out here in Texas is a group of mailboxes at the entrance of every little community.

Non uniformed workers load all the mailboxes at once. The houses around here do not have mailboxes on each home, they are all at the front of the community.

Seems like that system is better.
 
I talk religion with my mailman, who is from Iran, and converted to Christianity. Nice guy. I think they do it for one reason, to save gas. They are going that way on more cars now, engine turns off at stops, restarts.
 
Originally Posted By: Bottom_Feeder
Perfect guy to ask about this, or anything else:

tZmfOQy.jpg



Amazon has the entire season for $75!
 
S10 chassis with a TBI 2.5 Iron Duke(Pontiac designed motor) and a TH200 automatic trans. We supply some parts to a small shop that takes care of the local fleet. They are pretty much bullet proof. He handles everything but engine & trans replacements. They are handled by USPS themselves. Stop, put flashers on, shut off engine, get out with mail, close door, and lock it ....repeat at every stop unless the stop has curb side mailbox. Always outside(in MN) and they use bulk dino(5w-30 Mobil) year round and a Wix ProTech or Napa ProSelect oil filter. Most get 200-300K before a motor swap is done.

The USPS is in the design phase for a replacement. The current model is getting old and they need a larger door for the greater number of packages delivered today vs less first class mail. I'm sure the tree huggers in the Gov will pick some over priced "clean" vehicle i.e. custom designed natural gas or electric vs an off shelf solution like a Ford Transit.

Dave
 
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Originally Posted By: gman2304
My mail person pulls up to my mailbox, shuts the engine off, engages parking brake, walks 10 feet to my mailbox, deposits mail, walks back to the little truck, disengages brake, starts truck, drives to the next house, rinse and repeat. This has to be one of the most brutal oil, engine, brakes, transmission destroying routines on the planet. Anyone know a USPS mechanic?


Why don't you have a mail box on the road?
 
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They are required to do that so they don't have a "runaway" if the vehicle shifts into gear while they aren't in it. They call a vehicle that is not running a " rollaway". There have been situations where knuckleheads jump into unmanned postal vehicles and cause mishaps. If a carrier is out of sight of their vehicle, they are required to roll up windows and lock it. Also, required to have the sliding door closed anytime they drive through any intersection.
 
UPS always lets their trucks idle. The USPS must have some pretty sketchy transmissions. Probably USSR military surplus. Lol.
 
Hello, To bmod305: It ain't the tree huggers per se.
It'll be a camouflaged consortium of HUGE businesses which collude to assemble the new design vehicle and rig the bidding process.
They'll taylor the press releases and probably use the term" tree hugger" just to keep knee-jerk reactives like you angry.

Remember, you're of no use to the right if you're not angry. Kira

ps Tell me what's wrong with hugging trees? Shouldn't something like a big government contract help to develop effective tree hugging?
 
Originally Posted By: dlundblad
UPS always lets their trucks idle. The USPS must have some pretty sketchy transmissions. Probably USSR military surplus. Lol.
Not here they don't, UPS shuts them off on every stop. Then they fire them up again & STAND on the throttle to go 200 feet to the next stop!
 
Originally Posted By: bullwinkle
dlundblad said:
UPS always lets their trucks idle. The USPS must have some pretty sketchy transmissions. Probably USSR military surplus. Lol.
Not here they don't, UPS shuts them off on every stop. Then they fire them up again & STAND on the throttle to go 200 feet to the next stop! [/quote

Same here, UPS has done this for years here. Until approx 5 years ago our USPS drivers had to use their own vehicles, then they got a load of them S-10 bodied things. We all have mailboxes at our homes so they deliver to the box.
 
Originally Posted By: Donald
Originally Posted By: gman2304
My mail person pulls up to my mailbox, shuts the engine off, engages parking brake, walks 10 feet to my mailbox, deposits mail, walks back to the little truck, disengages brake, starts truck, drives to the next house, rinse and repeat. This has to be one of the most brutal oil, engine, brakes, transmission destroying routines on the planet. Anyone know a USPS mechanic?


Why don't you have a mail box on the road?
Everybody's is different. My neighborhood was built in 1979 and the mailboxes are by the street. My grandmothers neighborhood was built in 1950 and they're all on the house
 
Our "posties" deliver the mail using Honda CT110 scooters. Australia Post own thousands of the things. They ride right up to the mailbox, so pretty much never have to get off the bike.
 
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