Driving the Rural Delivery Route
The U.S. Postal Service has almost 80,000 rural delivery routes serviced by some 133,000 rural letter carriers. For some of those routes, USPS provides the vehicle; for others, the carrier uses a private vehicle and receives a maintenance allowance from the Postal Service for wear and tear. In fiscal year (FY) 2020, the Postal Service paid out nearly $583 million in maintenance allowances — a rise of $71 million, or 13 percent, over FY 2015.
Not long ago, the Postal Service started converting some private-vehicle rural routes to USPS-vehicle routes, estimating the change would save $888 million over six years. For a recent audit, we reviewed a sample of these completed conversions nationwide as well as future conversions, and found that the Postal Service’s strategy for these changes was generally effective. We also discovered a few shortcomings.
For instance, maximum savings weren’t realized because USPS wasn’t implementing conversions in a timely manner, and we determined that some of the future conversions wouldn’t be the most cost-effective. We made a couple recommendations to improve the process, and Postal Service management agreed with both.
Are you a rural letter carrier, or do you know one? How does a USPS-vehicle route compare with the private-vehicle route? Does one seem more cost-effective from your point of view?
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The Metris is the VFM's job security vehicle. Windows, sensors, doors, internal controls get filled with dust and stop working. The fueling turns into a headache. Something fills with dust and prevents normal fueling. Makes the fuel pump shut of every time you pull the handle. Wasting time and money.
I have preferred my POV. Yes, it can be expensive for me to maintain. And yes ,EMA doesn't always cover the expenses. But I know that when the maintenance is done correctly. I most likely will not be stranded on the side of the road Waiting for the VMF for hours. This includes a simple flat tire that I can change if necessary. In addition, I live in Iowa where we have some bad winter's. I have been able to perform my duties because of my well maintained vehicle with the right tires and do it safely. This task is very difficult with a government vehicle with rear wheel drive.
Many rural offices have insufficient space and infrastructure to accommodate the full electric fleet that has been proposed. With the epa estimated fuel economy of the ngdv and the repair costs of modern vehicles the post office cannot touch my running costs of 22 cents per mile I get in my 1995 jeep cherokee.
In summary, the metris was one of the worst out of the box vehicles that could of been put on rural routes, the ngdv needs to be brought back to the drawing board, and it may never be cost-effective to convert some routes from pov.
HANDS DOWN LLV is Best