The posts in this thread have been split from another discussion to maintain continuity. Electric Postal Vehicles Now I will inject another crazy idea. What if we took those huge sums of money we just wasted on these two ship projects, and used to to create a new electric postal delivery vehicle. Surely we could take a little break of a few years of creating new surface ships to build some vehicles that would likely benefit all Americans in the long run?
Brian The money should have been spent on better projects. I do prefer your thought in post #65, an anti-missile ship along side existing missile ships. Electric mails trucks would be another endless hole to pour cash into. Reducing the paper mail and garbage received in our mail boxes would be of greater benefit.
I think it is very important to MANY Americans to save our post office: 1) It very shortly needs new vehicles,...why not start that transition to electric vehicles made by Americans,...and the increase in longevity and fuel savings, etc 2) Maybe a little boost in the fees for that junk mail, but don't eliminate it as many folks depend upon it (not me, but many do) 3) Cut out the practice of putting highly paid political appointees in there that no nothing about postal business 4) Do away with one day of postal delivery, perhaps the middle of the week, say Wed? The vehicle thing would offer a big jump start to the EV industry that is an eventuality in our future. Think of how ideal the electric motor matches the need to these delivery vehicles,...thus the size and power of that electric motor can be VERY small,...and thus the battery power can be smaller.
We may need a new thread here but I'm going to type on; The energy and resources required to make an electric car are enormous and will never be paid off. The environmental damages in mining the battery resources from the earth will never heal. The environmental damages in disposal of these short lived products into the earth will never heal. This does not include the cost and further damages to make work the already stressed and uncertain infrastructure to charge the darn things that would require larger (more robust) power grids and more power generation stations. Like wind and solar farms, it will never pay for itself and cause more damage than good. Now, Sell off USPS and make it a private company. See how streamlined they can work then.
The purpose of the USPS is not to turn a profit. In fact quite the opposite. It's purpose is to provide a vital service at a reasonable price to the consumer, not controlled by foreign interests, and to employ Americans. As for the resources needed to make an electric car, somehow we managed to make cars that burn fossil fuels and build a huge infrastructure to support them, but which is dependent on a dwindling resource while it pollutes our air. The infrastructure for electric is already there and is using renewable sources more and more as the technology improves. Like everything the cost of converting to renewable energy goes down the more complete the conversion. I believe I just heard that either Chevrolet or GM just announced that their entire line will be electric by 2035. How long before every car maker follows?
About 0230 local time (CA), there will be a sudden brown out when the battery mail trucks start taking their last charge. Many hoods around each station will be in the dark (if not already from other issues) and the delivery fleet will be undercharged before start of day. Grid amperage management will result in improper battery charge (Prius Syndrome) and battery replacement will occur more often than forecast. 2 years later the government will blame the 2016 fed government and demand a new electrical infrastructure to be paid by the red necks in the swamp, that knew better.
Who is paying for that? The car owner or the tax payer? At least it's not drawing from the grid. Back to the mail trucks; You going to have a bunch of gen-sets running to charge the mail trucks a couple times a day? Where is any savings or service in this?
Stepped in What?? That is a gen-set running behind that service plug. Can one of the Mods please copy all to a new thread? Even though battery mail trucks and a government run business may be in topic with waist, it is not a Navy thing.
The diesel generator hooked up to a DC fast charger hooked up to an EV is more of a proof-of-concept: https://principia-scientific.com/wh...tric-car-charging-station-a-diesel-generator/
Proof of lunacy. Again, the cost of making it happen is counter all that it is suppose to fix (or help). More non-green than a gas car.
#1 we should put and keep a professional in charge of the post office, perhaps hire someone from UPS or Fedex or promote someone from within, but not make it a political appointee. #2 we should face the reality. The post office at times has made suggestions and Congress has refused them. Other than priority mail, we don't need Saturday mail and likely could do fine without Wednesday. You don't use first class for urgent items. People have become much less dependent on the post office. It's like landlines on phones. #3 Privatizing sounds great in many ways. However, it likely would mean a substantial rise in stamp prices to get more in line with other countries and true costs. The junk mail we all hate is what pays for our mail. The true customer of the post office is direct mail. As individuals and businesses using first class, we're just people the post office is forced to serve. We'd also have to enforce continued service to every inch of the country, including areas that clearly are costly and don't pay for themselves. #4 It is potentially an excellent potential use for hybrid vehicles but that would need a very careful study.
Do you have statistics on households with landlines? I have one because the power goes out here a lot and I don't like cranking up the generator or turning on my internal combusion auto to charge the cellular phone. I am dealing with a DHL issue right now on a shipment from London. It was placed on someones' porch and not delivered to my office. The professionals, FedEx, Brown and DHL have plenty of issues too. Not that I think USPS is the bomb but my local office where my PO Box is is the bomb. Having said that, my local Postal Annex franchise does a super job with delivery, receiving and packaging and accounting, maybe that is one model to explore and add to the list of providers. I don't deny for a second that direct mail and mass marketing is a big piece of the USPS biz.