All the vehicles need this to happen real badly. The cars were intended with a 24-year life cycle, and are simply getting old. Agency reports say that replacing the entire fleet with similar automobiles would cost $ 4.2 billion. Is the replacement going to be the only option?
Postal service LLVs
The trucks the postal service uses are called Long Life Autos, or LLV. The trucks had a 24 year life cycle. The 24 year cycle is about to end. The Postal Service Inspector General has said that, over the next eight years, the Postal Service would spend a lot more repairing the cars than replacing them.
The price of repairing all of the USPS vehicles
In fiscal year 2009, the U.S. Postal Service spent $ 524 million on LLV repair. Typically it is better to repair automobiles rather than replace them. The average repair bill for each LLV is about $ 5,600, with some going as high as $ 40,000. The cars don’t generally require specialized maintenance, though the right-handed driving setup can cause a lot more expensive maintenance at times.
How to replace the LLV fleet
The cost to benefit comparison of continuing to repair the LLV fleet is turning upside down really quickly. In the next eight years, the postal service will really lose money if it repairs rather than replaces any autos that have a repair bill that cost a lot more than $ 3,500. It would cost $ 30,000 per truck for straight across replacement.
Car alternatives for US Postal service
There is many research going into US Postal Service delivery vehicles. The USPS has offered a reward of $ 50,000 to five different firms for providing a working prototype of a USPS automobile by August. Letter carriers that are in numerous other areas are testing three-wheeled electric vehicles, bicycles, and a lot more traditional minivan-style vehicles for delivering the mail, rain or shine.
