What Should Be The Next Mail Truck When The Post Office Gets Privatized?
After lengthy delays, the Oshkosh NGDV finally made its delivery debut with the U.S. Postal Service last September. The oddly proportioned truck quickly won over postal workers while being deemed an ugly duckling by online commentators. However, they could become an endangered species during Trump's second term in office. The budget-slasher-in-chief made moves last week hinting at a potential privatization of the USPS.
What do you think the next mail truck will be after the Post Service inevitably gets privatized? While Oshkosh's machine is practical for couriers toiling away to ensure that your mail reaches its destination, there will certainly be corporate number crunchers dissatisfied with its terrible fuel economy of 8.6 miles per gallon. There were plans to transition the Oshkosh-built fleet to an EV powerplant over the next 10 years with $3 billion in funding provided by President Biden's Inflation Reduction Act. It wouldn't surprise anyone that Trump wants to cancel that deal.
It was nice knowing the Post Office while it lasted
For the procurement specialist in the comments, there are plenty of viable options. With Amazon's exclusivity deal ending, the Rivian Electric Delivery Van is now available for anyone to order. You could convince Northrop Grumman to restart production of the venerable LLV. Maybe there are enough Pontiac Azteks still on the road to assemble a postal fleet. I only have two rules: it has to be a single-model fleet, and it has to be feasible to get 100,000 vehicles.
The U.S. Post Office was deemed vital enough during the country's founding that it was enshrined in the Constitution. The service helped connect our continent-spanning country in an era before the Internet or even the telegraph, arguably the country's greatest achievement. Today, it still serves a crucial role as the federal government's final mile outpost in communities big and small. Now, imagine the worst possible scenario in the comments below for what an equity firm C-suite is willing to shove out onto our roads.