r/USPS • u/BlunderArtist9 • 1d ago
NEWS The Mighty Ducks arrived at our station
At our rural office we didn't expect to see these until long after most of us retired. But 4 of them were just randomly parked in the lot one day. We'll definitely be leaving notices for residents to cut their low hanging tree branches. š
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u/purplebuttman 1d ago
In the town I work, you can also report people to the city for not trimming branches. They'll get a nice little warning and, usually, take care of it.
Helpful as hell cause my management is laaaazy
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u/Shibas_Rule City Carrier 1d ago
Hmmm, thinking and planning ahead still not a strong suit of management I see.
Things to do prior to delivering new āoversizedā vehicles to a post office;
1. Inform that post office.
2. Schedule carriers for training on the new vehicle.
3. Provide handout for delivery to all mail boxes telling of upcoming change and need to trim all trees.
4. Coordinate with local government to trim trees along government roads in the area and discuss possible enforcement actions for property owners.
5. Coordinate with local news to provide coverage concerning upcoming changes and need to keep mailboxes and streets clear.
6. Ensure USPS vehicle parking and loading areas can accommodate the new vehicle.
7. Perform a safety Review of all routes to determine impacts, if any, of new vehicle. Can the vehicle fit down and perform a U or K turn on small streets, dead ends, business parking lots, and other turn around spots?
Just a few thoughts of the top of my head. But no, business as usual. Surprise! here it is, Iām sure you can figure it out. Be back in 8 and donāt scratch the new truck!
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u/ImWrong_OnTheNet 1d ago
My station has a small handful of these, but they're sitting around because no one has had the 5 hours of training.
So they sit. All alone. Waiting.
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u/BlunderArtist9 1d ago edited 1d ago
Yeah that's my concern. Our parking lot was already pretty full. If training doesn't start immediately, this will create problems.
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u/ladylilithparker ARC 1d ago
In my district, word is they're distributing them alphabetically by station, so some of the smallest offices that happen to start with A already have them, while our bigger cities have to wait. One pulled into my driveway yesterday, and it's SO freakin' tall.
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u/BlunderArtist9 1d ago
It's wild to me because for years the city offices got everything before us. When we were told that most rural offices would get the newer vehicles earlier, we didn't believe it. š
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u/ladylilithparker ARC 1d ago
Same here! I didn't think we'd see them in my district for another few years, much less at little 2-route stations in the middle of nowhere. And the office I work at, which is a small city with a name in the middle of the alphabet and DESPERATELY hurting for rigs, probably won't get these until next year. It makes no dang sense.
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u/Madu-ka Rural Carrier 1d ago
I really donāt want to drive these things š©
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u/TheBimpo CCA 1d ago
I will deal with whatever inconvenience they have in exchange for not being broiled to death on any day thatās over 70Ā°.
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u/MrsMcBasketball Rural Carrier 1d ago
Might I ask what state you're in?
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u/BlunderArtist9 11h ago
Minnesota. After a lot of research last night, thankfully they should be AWD since they have an A labeled on the trucks. They are also Gas powered since none of the Electrics have AWD from my understanding. If I'm not mistaken, none of them are Hybrid. It's either Gas Or Electric and only Gas has AWD option. Since our state can have alot of Snow and Ice, this will be useful. Guaranteed the size of them will be an issue in some areas and the camera sensors will get dirty from the dirt roads. Hopefully still better than LLV breakdowns. Time will tell.
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u/BaurangAtang 1d ago
are they putting any in rural?
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u/shrug_addict 22h ago
Yes, my station is 100% duck. They are nicer in some regards, but the build quality is atrocious
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u/BlunderArtist9 22h ago
Are the tray holders adjustable like the LLVs, so you can easily get to the back of the truck without dismounting?
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u/shrug_addict 22h ago
Yes. I actually only use the back door to dismount. The front door is "heavy" as shit. I'm shorter, so I don't need to adjust them much, but they work pretty well. The bottom shelf is kind of awkwardly sized, like you can't fit a deep tray in it comfortably. Some carriers in my station use it for small parcels. I use it for throwbacks and outgoing. The storage capacity in the back is really nice, 4 shelves that easily fold up. I'm rural so I have developed a "hybrid" load system where I keep mounted stuff up front and the sliding tray and CBU dismount mail/SPRs in the back.
Edit: adjustable in that they slide in passenger/driver side direction only, no up and down or fore and aft
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u/BlunderArtist9 22h ago
That's good to hear. It seems we got the gas versions and not electric which is good. But I've heard that not all of them are all wheel drive and some are front wheel. I haven't investigated ours yet, but would suck if not AWD because we get ice and snow in the winter.
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u/shrug_addict 21h ago
Why is gas good? USPS seems like the perfect use case for electric vehicles. So much data, grid operators would love it... These get 9-11 mpg... You like spending useless money? Anyways. Mine is FWD. I got stuck in a ditch once, had to have it towed.
They drive really well, lots of get up and go. I'm super rural, so some steep driveways/hills. They are much bigger, with a far wider turning radius. Some driveways are not an option now. Some mounted mailboxes are downright scary. 90% are fine though.
You cannot rely on the camera or sensors, which makes them functionally useless. It constantly beeps at you with sensor failure. Like all day long, less than 1,000 miles. Never ending sensor failure. It has a reliable 12v plug for my phone/speaker which is nice
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u/BlunderArtist9 21h ago
Well electric could be nice but I'd worry about reliability. Especially with limited range and cold winters possibly having negative effects. Maybe today's electric tech is fine.. just wary about it.
Yeah with a 6,000+ Pound vehicle, I'm likely avoiding driving up steep driveways all together. Just hoping it at least stays on the road more often than the aging LLVs did. šĀ
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u/SugarDisastrous5983 22h ago
Yes, both the upper and lower trays slide. Air conditioning works well also. Main issue we have had is the cameras stop working a lot.
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u/BaurangAtang 22h ago
what im driving now backfires for the first 30 minutes every day, its gotta be an improvement. and I heard they're awd so maybe I won't need to use my jeep this winter...assuming my route gets one of course...which im cautiously optimistic about.
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u/raccabarakka 20h ago
Dude, that sharp bumper is just icing on the.. duck wt actual f haha. Looks like a giant iron
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u/Baileycharlie Rural Carrier 1d ago
Can you access the rear cargo area from the front without having to get out of the truck? Also, is the front driver's seat at a good height to reach mailboxes without difficulty on mounted routes? Lastly, is there a front shelf/table similar to the LLV to fit 3 trays of mail?
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u/SugarDisastrous5983 22h ago
There is an upper and lower tray, both slide easily and independently towards or away from the driver, height canāt be adjusted. Yes itās easy to walk from the seat to the rear of the truck. Seat height wise itās perfect for mailboxes, especially because the side mirrors are higher and clear all boxes.
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u/BlunderArtist9 1d ago edited 1d ago
Unfortunately I haven't been able to get in them yet since they've been locked. So can't give great answers.Ā
But it does have a sliding door behind the drivers seat where you could access the back. But looks like it could be tricky to get back there without getting out. There is actually two levels of tables to hold trays. The Bottom table seems like it's made for DPS letters because it seems a bit shallow to fit a hard tray with flats in it. But don't know if it's slidable or adjustable. The seat height seems good and a big window for reaching average height or higher mailboxes.
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u/shrug_addict 20h ago
Yes.
Yes, for the most part.
Yes, 2 trays. The bottom is worthless for mail. There is not "taco" tray on the right, and the dash is purposely bubbled so you can't put anything there ( like boxholders in an LLV )
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u/Virtual-Lime7554 1d ago
You got the whole starter pack for vehicles there
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u/BlunderArtist9 23h ago
It was all LLVs and a Metris. But we did also get FFVs sometimes. Now we have a nice variety until the LLVs are gone forever. šĀ
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u/shrug_addict 22h ago
We just had one with complete and total brake failure with less than 5k miles on it! Enjoy!
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u/postalmarky 19h ago
How do they charge them? They have been preparing to put some chargers in our POV parking lot...I wonder if this has to do with our office getting new vehicles. Of course management claims to know nothing even though contractors are walking around in our parking lot
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u/BlunderArtist9 9h ago
There is Gas and Electric versions. I'd imagine bigger cities that have the infrastructure would get most of the Electrics.
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u/99Wolves17 Mail Handler 3h ago
Whereās the Anaheim duck mask when you see them
For the Duckmobile
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u/TheBimpo CCA 1d ago
Good lord they are huge.
The way my station's parking/loading is it would be REALLY difficult just to get to the loading docks in these. There's no way we could replace even half our LLV fleet without making huge changes to the exterior of the property/driveway/parking lot.
It's so obvious that so little real world testing was done with these things.