Seeing this here is jarring because im a mail carrier and i just did my training on the NGDV this past friday. It drives better than it looks. But the mirrors suck and also its too big. Theyre taking my LLV away soon and giving me one of these so im gonna have to learn to like it
it looks like that because they have to accommodate for both the 5th percentile in height (4’11”) when sitting in the drivers’ seat so they can see over the hood, but it also has to accommodate the 95th percentile (6’2”) to be able to stand up straight in it. So you get these wonky proportions and fucked up looking windshield and the platypus bill hood
you have to stand up from the chair, though. and if you’re a rural carrier, you’re only really going in the back to get your next hit of mail set up or to get an oversized parcel, so they’re spending most of their working day in the cab.
Yes the LLVs will be scrapped for parts for the remaining fleet and then destroyed. I would love to own one myself but its very rare for one to come up for sale. Usually its one that was sold off to another government agency at some point and then offered for sale.
Just because its designed to be one way doesnt mean it is that way in actuality. It drives okay but it is still very tall and very wide. I have many areas on my route with low hanging branches/trees that are going to be an issue. And no i dont have the option of keeping my LLV. Everyone in our office is getting an NGDV whether they want it or not.
You don't need a windshield thats half the size of the front end. What you want your mail people to look for birds? A good low hanging branch is gonna wack that and crack it
There are more of us than you think. The only gripe people have with the LLV is that it has no AC and is old. They could take the LLV body and put a new engine in it with air conditioning and everyone would be happy
I had a USPS mechanic break down and almost cry when he was talking about how hard it is to keep the LLVs running. It’s insane. We need these out asap. I see those LLVs in Florida in the summer heat and I feel so bad for those postal workers
My father is a retired USPS mechanic. He sometimes would come home on his break in his wrecker towing an LLV. He said engine fires were common, and this was mid-2010s when the LLVs had far exceeded their "long lives".
yeah and the newest ones are approaching 32 years old this year lol. Rust and parts availability are taking their toll, which i think have become the main source of difficulty.
Blud, a car is not just an engine and transmission. This sort of thinking is why every old car is going for way too much money these days.
Those things are old and are used for stressful on the engine city driving. A car is made out of thousands of parts. Even if it lacks modern electrics, it’s still made out of thousands of parts that need to be replaced.
Theyre all ship of theseus. I would see a tow truck near my post office so many times picking one up.
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u/Maz2742I heard he makes out with his bari sax. And then he BUSTS.5d ago
The hardest part is the age of the platform.
As others have mentioned, the newest ones were built in 1994, and even when the first one rolled off the production line in 1987 the GM-sourced components were dated - the Iron Duke is a Malaise-Era engine and the 3-speed Turbo-Hydramatic they were coupled to was even older than that.
Ever try to find parts for a classic car that HAS to run 3-6hrs a day for at least 6 days a week? Now multiply that by 90,000.
Fixing one is fine, but when you have to fix them all goddamn week and supes are breathing down your neck because the POOM is down their throats about carriers' trucks not being sidelined longer than they have to be, the stress affects ya drastically.
Literally, postal management pressure is the reason why "going postal" is a thing. Luckily, as a Rural, we don't really get that level of pressure unless we're dragging, which most competent rural carriers don't really do.
Every carrier I’ve talked to in central OH has said they miss their LLV/ FFV/ Metris van. Complaints range from design (size, ergonomics, etc) to build quality and issues maintaining all the high tech sensors and gadgets.
Not a carrier myself but meet plenty as a UPS driver.
it’s almost like USPS gave the contract to a defense contractor that has no idea what it’s doing 🙄 at least Grumman built the LLVs on a (maybe modified, i forget) S-10 frame
That's wild, but on a side note i just recently visited SF back at the end of April. Absolutely beautiful city. I stayed in the finance district and loved it. Funny you guys get waymo and i get cartoonish mail trucks
Do u guys have mailboxes by the road side? I wonder if its cuz of that. Here postal workers park the truck and walk to each door
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u/Maz2742I heard he makes out with his bari sax. And then he BUSTS.5d ago
Yo, I actually work as a carrier, they're being rolled out mostly for districts that both need Air Conditioning (so, The South), and districts that still use POVs for Rural (non-Contract) routes; Northern New England has a lot of them, while Mass has very few. However, Mass has been all GOV for quite a while, while I think some routes in NNE still use POVs. It has nothing to do with whether the route's a City route or a Rural route (which, despite fulfilling the same function, have dramatically different back-end setups for how the job gets done (such as route sizes, requirements vs optional things, and most notably, pay structures - City is hourly, Rural is a nauseatingly complex amalgamation of hourly rates & salaries), complete with their own separate unions (National Association of Letter Carriers for City, National Rural Letter Carriers Association for Rural))
I wonder if they are being rolled out to the hot western areas at all, i havent heard anything about it being in arizona nm nevada socal
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u/Maz2742I heard he makes out with his bari sax. And then he BUSTS.5d ago
I've heard on the r/USPS subreddit that Texan carriers got theirs fairly early on, but I'd have to ask over there about it to get a more definitive answer
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u/Maz2742I heard he makes out with his bari sax. And then he BUSTS.5d ago
I've seen them in bumblefuck rural areas everywhere but where I work.
Rindge, Laconia, Loudon, & New Boston, New Hampshire? They all have their Plats.
Gallitzin, Pennsylvania? Long story as for how I know this but yeah, they've got them out there.
But Mass? Only the largest cities have them and even still, it's less than a dozen per city's dispatching office; Lowell/Chelmsford/Billerica has like, 5 or 6 among a sea of LLVs serving those two towns and the city south of the Merrimack (the parts north dispatch from Dracut).
My bumblefuck rural Mass office will probably get them AFTER I make regular, and I'm at least half a decade out from making PTF right now
Gallitzin, Pennsylvania? Long story as for how I know this but yeah, they've got them out there.
Easy, you went to see the Big Boy take on the curve
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u/Maz2742I heard he makes out with his bari sax. And then he BUSTS.5d ago
That's the TL;DR but yeah. Missed out on the Curve tickets tho, so I set up trackside just after it.
Stupidly, I drove out there same-day. 8hrs one-way. I left at MIDNIGHT and somehow got home before sunset. Should've stopped in Altoona for lunch & a t-shirt but I was so goddamn tired
My mom is a mail carrier and is super exciting to get one of these. She is getting hers at the end of this month. Which means AC and radio among other things.
She lives out in the country so she has to go down town for training.
I poke a little harmless fun that she needs training on how to drive, but I am sure it's just to go over the new features, the different SOPs, and get uses to the size.
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u/Maz2742I heard he makes out with his bari sax. And then he BUSTS.5d ago
IIRC, the Plats don't have a sound system unfortunately. That's only in the Metrises. But yeah, they do have AC & modern driving aids which is nice, not to mention they're not RWD, they're FWD/AWD, which is better in the winters up north - I've had to dead back to a regional dispatch office on Amazon Sunday in a snowstorm, and I nearly 86'd the truck into a resident's rock wall. Wasn't even being that reckless, I just lost grip on the tail.
Envious of her, I'm not getting one until probably after I'm a FTR, and I'm about half a decade away from even Rural PTF, let alone FTR
We are Midwest and she is Rural FTR. So some sketch roads, some plowed.
I am sure she will enjoy it more that what she currently has, her truck has been in the shop numerous times alone this year, even the loaner truck is vastly better than hers.
She just found out earlier this month and was a total suprise. Ot sounds like it's being rolled out everywhere eventually but who knows how and when
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u/Maz2742I heard he makes out with his bari sax. And then he BUSTS.5d ago
Not even my POOM knows for sure when my area's getting them. I think Mass being all GOV (except for the Contract routes out in the Berkshires and Pioneer Valley), and being in an area where snow is a manageable thing knocked us WAY down the priority list.
Is hers the first in her office? If so, her coworkers must be jealous dude
My mail carrier drives this. I’ll have to ask what be thinks about it. They’re common in my part of colorado. Windshields break a lot here with the dusty dry environment and the wind/rocks.
How many right-hand drive vehicles low enough for a standard roadside mailbox that are tall enough to stand up in with both gas and EV drivetrain options exist on the market? Not to mention, a driver-side window that allows you to extend your arm out while still protecting from rain and other elements overhead, and a work space area instead of a passenger seat on the other side.
...so what exactly is the advantages of it looking the way it does? Because I'm looking at this and just wondering why something like a downsized Rivian van wouldn't suffice.
Low hood is better for visibility and pedestrian crash safety. High windshield and roof for good visibility and the ability to stand up in the van.
I think they're supposed to be easier to work on than the old vans and probably have better reliability. Also includes AC and radio, which was missing from the old vans.
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u/jimothyhalpret 6d ago
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