Friday, June 25, 2010

U.S. Postal Service searching for automobile replacement

Most autos within the US Postal Service really need this. They’re all getting old as they were intended with a 24 year life cycle. $ 4.2 billion is what would be required to replace all of the vehicles. Is the replacement going to be the only option?

Resource for this article: U.S. Postal Service searching for car replacement

Postal service LLVs

The trucks the postal service uses are called Long Life Automobiles, or LLV. The trucks were intended with a 24-year lifecycle of daily driving. That 24 year lifecycle is coming to a close. The Postal Service Inspector General explained that, over the next eight years, the Postal Service would spend a lot more repairing the autos than replacing them.

The price of repairing all of the USPS vehicles

In 2009 alone, the Postal Service spent $ 524 million on LLV repair. Instead of replacing them, it is typically better to just repair them. The average repair bill for each LLV is about $ 5,600, with some going as high as $ 40,000. The automobiles do not usually require any kind of specialized maintenance, though the right-handed driving setup can cause more expensive maintenance at times.

Replacing 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 quite a bit of money if it repairs rather than replaces any automobiles that have a repair bill of more than $ 3,500. Straight-across replacement of the full LLV fleet would cost $ 30,000 per truck.

Vehicle alternatives for US Postal service

The alternatives for U.S. Postal Service delivery automobiles are being heavily researched. The USPS has offered a $ 50,000 reward to firms for providing a working prototype of a USPS car by August. Letter carriers in many other areas are testing three-wheeled electric vehicles, bicycles, and more traditional minivan-style cars for delivering the mail, rain or shine.



No comments: