The consequences of letting DeJoy continue to kill the USPS

[Bluetus]

4. USPS has nearly a quarter-million vehicles.

I don't know exact numbers,, but I bet they have at least 200,000 of the smaller route carrier vehicles. These are almost all over 20 years old now. Recently they have bought some newer vans from Ford and maybe some others, but the big purchase was to be from Oshkosh in the form of the next-generation delivery vehicle.

These should all have been electric. DeJoy intervened early on and tried to make it about 80% gas powered IIRC. There was a lot of push-back and they settled on a lower percentage of gas vehicles, but even that should not have happened. Oshkosh never wanted to do electric because it was easier for them to just keep doing what they had always done. The Governors should have pushed back and said they would send the contract to Ford or GM if Oshkosh didn't want it.

But now it looks like DeJoy has rigged it, with the spineless acquiescence of the Governors, most of whom are Biden appointees, to make it almost all gas vehicles. That means that, besides not setting an example that would change thinking in the rural areas, we will be stuck with another 25 years of gas vehicles delivering the mail while Amazon, Fedex, UPS and others move ahead with cleaner, more efficient vehicles.

You can bet some serious money was passed below the table for letting Oshkosh keep the contract without fulfilling the main requirement.