Posted on 08/14/2020 6:59:25 AM PDT by re_tail20
Their delivery may be a little late, but the new mail trucks are almost here.
The U.S. Postal Service has confirmed that it plans to award one or multiple contracts for the Next Generation Delivery Vehicle by the end of this year.
The Next Generation Delivery Vehicle (NGDV) will replace the long-serving Grumman Long Life Vehicle, which went out of production in 1994, but has soldiered on at great maintenance cost all these years. Approximately 180,000 vehicles will be purchased over five to seven years at a cost of $6.3 billion.
The USPS had been aiming to make a decision last year, but had do delay several steps in the process, most recently moving the deadline for NGDV production Request for Proposals to July 14, due to COVID-19. An analysis of the proposals and negotiations with the bidders will now ensue. USPS won’t comment on the specifics of the process, or what automakers are left, but three candidates remain, according to Trucks.com.
The automakers are also tight-lipped on their involvement, but Fox News has acquired images of the finalists’ prototypes. The original request for proposals called for a right-hand-drive van with an aluminum or composite body, sliding curbside doors for both the passenger compartment and cargo area, a payload capacity of 1,500 pounds, ceiling height of 6 feet, 4 inches, an overall length of 19 feet and an all-wheel-drive option. A specific type of powertrain was not specified, but the cost of operation is part of the overall assessment and the trucks must be built in the U.S.A...
(Excerpt) Read more at foxbusiness.com ...
And the third finalist is a cross between a bread truck and a Ford Transit Van.
19’ long???
I guess they need all that room to schlep all those mail-in Democrat votes.
All three of them could easily be converted into small RVs.
Want to speculate how much a mirror replacement will be two of the three proposals? $1000.00 ?
There better be solar panels on that roof or grrrrrreta will not be happy. :-)
The post office of my hometown used Jeep-style vehicles. A pizza joint got a used one and made a delivery truck of it.
That’s the Pontiac Aztek of mail trucks.
So approx $35k each. Why don’t they use a vehicle that is already designed and manufactured? are their needs that specific?
Ha ha. That is seriously ugly.
Seems a bit high to me for one truck.
Look better with a mini-gun. But i guess that goes without saying.
Right-side driving would be one of those needs... that’s probably a big hitter.
Probably some extra security for the cargo. Hard to believe it needs to cost that much.
Maybe another requirement is that it be so ugly no one would want to steal one.
Maybe that's the minimum "bench fee" which is not part of the later actual price. A place started to quote me a price for looking at my sound system years ago (early 1980s?). The "bench fee" to look at it was $100 then (I declined). Now home computer problems have a minimum to see if a virus or internal part breakdown is at fault. Nice racket.
I have such a home made conversion on a Sprinter (Mercedes) that has traveled 260k miles and is still going strong. We have traveled coast to coast and North to south
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