vehicle shortage

[psd181]

If you’re experiencing vehicle shortages in your office, you deserve clarity.​

A lot of carriers and supervisors are being told some version of: “VMF isn’t fixing trucks,” or “maintenance is behind,” or “we just have to make do.”
That’s not the full story.
At the national level, many LLVs were never intended to be repaired long-term.
When USPS awarded the Oshkosh NGDV contract, it formally acknowledged that it did not have the space, funding, or capacity to operate and maintain two fleets at the same time. Because LLVs are federal property, they could not be sold to the public, so USPS entered into scrap and destruction contracts instead.
As a result, tens of thousands of LLVs were designated for disposal, not rebuilding.
According to USPS Office of Inspector General Report 24-092-R25 (Fleet Modernization: Disposal of Long-Life Vehicles):
-Over 11,000 LLVs were disposed of without proper salvage payments
-At least $452,500 in revenue was lost due to missing or incomplete documentation
-Approximately 95,000 additional LLVs were scheduled for disposal with millions of dollars in salvage revenue at risk
The OIG specifically cited poor asset tracking and documentation failures
This information was formally reported to Congress it is not speculation and it is not a local management decision.
Now combine that with:
NGDV rollout delays
Aging LLVs already marked as disposable
No replacement fleet ready at scale
And you get exactly what many offices are experiencing today: vehicle shortages with no quick fix.
This isn’t a carrier problem.
It isn’t a VMF problem.
And it isn’t a local supervisor problem.
It’s the result of high-level fleet transition decisions and asset-management failures that are now showing up on the workroom floor.
You’re not wrong for being frustrated but the frustration needs to be aimed at the right level, with the right information.

If you want to read the OIG report for yourself, you can find USPS OIG Report 24-092-R25 (Fleet Modernization: Disposal of Long-Life Vehicles) here: https://www.21cpw.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/24-092-r25-llv-disposal_oig.pdf

 

[psd181]

The bad part is one of the crushed llv's was the best one I used to new driver training. It did have an exhaust manifold gasket leak, but after it warmed up it was fine.

 

[DownFall]

"This isn’t a carrier problem. It isn’t a VMF problem. And it isn’t a local supervisor problem.
It’s the result of high-level fleet transition decisions and asset-management failures that are now showing up on the workroom floor. You’re not wrong for being frustrated but the frustration needs to be aimed at the right level, with the right information."

It's not a matter of what did what, who did what , or who did who,.....As carriers, we simply go to work and if there is no equipment, no vehicles to use, or if the NRLCA contract is abused/broken, It's difficult or near impossible to complete the routes and/or maintain respect and dignity toward management,..... and their management,..... and their management, ad infinitum.
What you do want is a happy carrier/employee....then you know you are doing something right. Whatever that takes. It's shocking to many customers when they discover that the vehicle I am using is my own personal vehicle. They think that is insane. Many Rural carriers have to invest lots of money (10, 20, $30,000) just so they can do the job. Now they have to pay it all back, which could take years. Insane.
It's a tough job. It's a tough life.

 

[Surprise!]

9. MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING
BETWEEN THE
UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE
AND THE
NATIONAL RURAL LETTER CARRIERS’ ASSOCIATION
Availability of USPS Surplus Vehicles
The parties recognize the value of rural carriers operating right-
hand drive vehicles on rural routes and the responsibility to pro-
vide for the safety of the rural carriers while in the performance
of their duties. Therefore, the following represents the revised
policy as it relates to the sale of surplus postal vehicles to rural
carriers.
When right-hand drive vehicles become surplus, the Headquar-
ters Office of Fleet Management will determine their disposition
as operable vehicles, parts-only vehicles or scrap. Fifteen days
prior to offering surplus right-hand drive vehicles for public sale,
the local Manager, Vehicle Maintenance Facility, will notify all
local offices with rural delivery in the VMF service area that rural
carriers may purchase these vehicles exclusively for two (2)
business days immediately preceding the start of a general sale.
The rural carrier must certify that he or she intends to use the
vehicle in conjunction with his or her duties and responsibilities
as a rural carrier.
146

 

[EthelAnne]

I don't hear anything officially, of course, but wasn't a decision made a couple of years ago to total LLVs if repairs exceeded $3000? Maybe that's included in the "Over 11,000 LLVs were disposed of without proper salvage payments"?

Anyway, apparently this was a short-lived directive, as they soon realized there were no vehicles to replace the ones they were sending off to the scrap yard, so they continued fixing them.

The postal service makes a lot of bone headed decisions, of which this was one. The organization is really dysfunctional and front line managers (Postmaster, etc.) are absolutely treated with disdain and disrespect. It continues beyond POOMs yelling at PMs on weekly telecons. My experience with district management has been that they believe all local management are truly idiots (and many of them are) and their opinions and experience are worthless.

The whole vehicle fiasco is very complex, but I've never understood why the USPS has allowed these companies to just stop making postal vehicles. Surely a customer as large at the postal service would be able to say, "Hey, don't stop production of that vehicle. I'm going to buy 30,000 of them next year" and yet it has happened time and time again (with Grumman, and more recently with Mercedes).

 

[Unclewolverine]

As I've said before, this 'purpose built' ngdv is going to be a disaster; they are going to be wildly less reliable than the llvs they are replacing. As good as it is, the llv design is well past its prime. Over seas there are many very excellent rhds already in production, with millions of miles of real world testing already done. The best decision would of been to do a little research and bring over something already in existence, rather than try to design something new on a unrealistic arbitrary wish list of features. I add the research caveat because whoever aquired the metris obviously did none; seeing as how it is one of the most unreliable, universally hated vans across the world.

 

[psd181]

"This isn’t a carrier problem. It isn’t a VMF problem. And it isn’t a local supervisor problem.
It’s the result of high-level fleet transition decisions and asset-management failures that are now showing up on the workroom floor. You’re not wrong for being frustrated but the frustration needs to be aimed at the right level, with the right information."

It's not a matter of what did what, who did what , or who did who,.....As carriers, we simply go to work and if there is no equipment, no vehicles to use, or if the NRLCA contract is abused/broken, It's difficult or near impossible to complete the routes and/or maintain respect and dignity toward management,..... and their management,..... and their management, ad infinitum.
What you do want is a happy carrier/employee....then you know you are doing something right. Whatever that takes. It's shocking to many customers when they discover that the vehicle I am using is my own personal vehicle. They think that is insane. Many Rural carriers have to invest lots of money (10, 20, $30,000) just so they can do the job. Now they have to pay it all back, which could take years. Insane.
It's a tough job. It's a tough life.

I know what you mean, I had a 30K newer vehicle and a 15K older vehicle. Management would complain about me making 3rd trips and using my older vehicle which was smaller. I told them the new vehicle was my back up when the old one quit. Somedays when it was 110 degrees, I would use the new one with good a/c for 2nd and 3rd trips. The last 2 years, I saw about 8 new RCA's get regular routes and not even have ONE vehicle. Mangement would coddle them and let them wait (and pay them to wait) until someone came back with a metris or LLV.

 

[psd181]

As I've said before, this 'purpose built' ngdv is going to be a disaster; they are going to be wildly less reliable than the llvs they are replacing. As good as it is, the llv design is well past its prime. Over seas there are many very excellent rhds already in production, with millions of miles of real world testing already done. The best decision would of been to do a little research and bring over something already in existence, rather than try to design something new on a unrealistic arbitrary wish list of features. I add the research caveat because whoever aquired the metris obviously did none; seeing as how it is one of the most unreliable, universally hated vans across the world.

The metris was a product line that was already in the world. The PS contracted with company and then about 2 years later, said company decided it didn't want to keep the Metris line, thereby making parts unavailable. Should have sued them to continue making parts. The LLV was the best design for delivery in my opinion. Since it was an aluminum body and didn't rust, they should have adapted the GMC Sonoma chasis to fit the LLV body. This would have given newer safety equipment with the LLV body.

 

[psd181]

I don't hear anything officially, of course, but wasn't a decision made a couple of years ago to total LLVs if repairs exceeded $3000? Maybe that's included in the "Over 11,000 LLVs were disposed of without proper salvage payments"?

Anyway, apparently this was a short-lived directive, as they soon realized there were no vehicles to replace the ones they were sending off to the scrap yard, so they continued fixing them.

The postal service makes a lot of bone headed decisions, of which this was one. The organization is really dysfunctional and front line managers (Postmaster, etc.) are absolutely treated with disdain and disrespect. It continues beyond POOMs yelling at PMs on weekly telecons. My experience with district management has been that they believe all local management are truly idiots (and many of them are) and their opinions and experience are worthless.

The whole vehicle fiasco is very complex, but I've never understood why the USPS has allowed these companies to just stop making postal vehicles. Surely a customer as large at the postal service would be able to say, "Hey, don't stop production of that vehicle. I'm going to buy 30,000 of them next year" and yet it has happened time and time again (with Grumman, and more recently with Mercedes).

No they continued to crush the LLV's. As a clerk in the Motor Vehicle division the last 2 years, I had to deal with 3 VMF's, and several DM's to try to keep a training vehicle. LLV's would show up and get used for months only to have them disappear. Good running vehicles, but they had the wrong engine or transmission in them and VMF's didn't have parts to fix. So they crushed them. At first I thought the VMF managers were lying to me so I wouldn't bother them anymore.

 

[shoe72]

As a carrier in the heart of snow lands, my biggest issue with the metris, even the llv, is how did anyone think these would be great delivery vehicles in the northern states? South of the Mason-Dixon line I bet they are awesome. 3 inches of snow and they are a liability, anything over that and they are downright useless. I got 3 inches of snow Saturday night here and, of course, some people don't shovel or plow, and today was a disaster. Why can't someone(looking at you, rural union) work with the PO to provide a safe, reliable and working 4 wheel drive or at last front wheel drive alternative for the upper US? How do carriers in towns with lake effect snow storms do it?

 

[Shannonboy]

As a carrier in the heart of snow lands, my biggest issue with the metris, even the llv, is how did anyone think these would be great delivery vehicles in the northern states? South of the Mason-Dixon line I bet they are awesome. 3 inches of snow and they are a liability, anything over that and they are downright useless. I got 3 inches of snow Saturday night here and, of course, some people don't shovel or plow, and today was a disaster. Why can't someone(looking at you, rural union) work with the PO to provide a safe, reliable and working 4 wheel drive or at last front wheel drive alternative for the upper US? How do carriers in towns with lake effect snow storms do it?

Keep in mind....you are asking the po to do something SMART, and GOOD for its carriers RIGHT!!!!???? Hate to be negative, but that's NOT what the po does....we all know it, and most of us are sick of it. It would be great if the po gave a rip about us, but SADLY, that's not where we all are...

 

[Pween]

They handle pretty good in the snow provided:

-You have snow tires

-they like cold dry snow more than wet slushy snow, so up north most of the winter they're great because we have hard packed cold snow dirt roads

-you keep traction control off, and know when to gun it, when to feather it, when to pulse it, and when to creep it

-you put weight over the rear axle

-you know how to drive rear wheel drive in the snow

 

[LEFTINGUTTER]

They handle pretty good in the snow provided:

-You have snow tires

-they like cold dry snow more than wet slushy snow, so up north most of the winter they're great because we have hard packed cold snow dirt roads

-you keep traction control off, and know when to gun it, when to feather it, when to pulse it, and when to creep it

-you put weight over the rear axle

-you know how to drive rear wheel drive in the snow

and know how to start out in second gear

 

[EthelAnne]

The PS contracted with company and then about 2 years later, said company decided it didn't want to keep the Metris line, thereby making parts unavailable. Should have sued them to continue making parts.

This is what I don’t understand. Why would the USPS have to sue them? Why isn’t the buying power of the USPS enough to get these companies to keep making these vehicles ? Is it because the USPS said “We’re not going to buy any more of these vehicles, but we still need you to make the parts for them.” And Mercedes says, “No, manufacturing just the parts for a vehicle we no longer produce is not profitable for us.”

I guess that would make sense. Mercedes would not want to dedicate manufacturing and labor to a dead end product.

 

[Unclewolverine]

This is what I don’t understand. Why would the USPS have to sue them? Why isn’t the buying power of the USPS enough to get these companies to keep making these vehicles ? Is it because the USPS said “We’re not going to buy any more of these vehicles, but we still need you to make the parts for them.” And Mercedes says, “No, manufacturing just the parts for a vehicle we no longer produce is not profitable for us.”

I guess that would make sense. Mercedes would not want to dedicate manufacturing and labor to a dead end product.

The metris has never been a good van and was an extremely poor seller, probably why the po got them cheap in the first place. Manufacturers are required to make replacement parts for a specific period after a vehicle has been discontinued but we are probably at the end of that for the metris.

 

[Unclewolverine]

The metris was a product line that was already in the world.

Yes, and it was already know across the world as unreliable junk. That's why I said someone at the po should of done at least a little research. A rwd turbo van known for shoddy quality was not a smart move, especially in a world where toyota hiace, mitsubishi delica, and honda odyssey exist.

 

[stillfirstclass]

my son, a engineer for g.m., ... his father in law a plant manager for stellantis... told of high shelf wineing and elbow rubbing with the postal execs in charge of designing and bidding on the new postal ride over a decade ago,,, it was a crock of sh/t of fakeness and fraud from the beginning and homebrand companies got sick of it.... to the point po went with the metris because the free lunches and trips stopped

 

[Unclewolverine]

my son, a engineer for g.m., ... his father in law a plant manager for stellantis... told of high shelf wineing and elbow rubbing with the postal execs in charge of designing and bidding on the new postal ride over a decade ago,,, it was a crock of sh/t of fakeness and fraud from the beginning and homebrand companies got sick of it.... to the point po went with the metris because the free lunches and trips stopped

I'm pretty sure at the end of it only the Oshkosh and canoo were really the only prototypes submitted. I read somewhere that gm looked at the unrealistic requirement list and decided to not even try.

 

[johnwayne]

my metris went to vehicle maintenance 10 days ago. It had a bad thermostat. We are 100 miles away, so a auto dealer diagnosed the problem before they picked it up. why does it take 10 days to fix a thermostat?

 

[psd181]

The metris has never been a good van and was an extremely poor seller, probably why the po got them cheap in the first place. Manufacturers are required to make replacement parts for a specific period after a vehicle has been discontinued but we are probably at the end of that for the metris.

They haven't made replacement parts for the Metris for close to 2 years. And the aftermarket hasn't started to make many of the parts either. A strut went out on one in the lot. It was almost a year before they had one available. I think they took it out of a wrecked one.