gas prices, gas prices, and more gas prices.

Ah, don't want to pay for, versus can't afford. Got it. Travel and fishing are nice, I agree

 

I wouldn't count on a Tesla lasting more than 6-8 years without factoring in a potentially major outlay (but most likely declining year over year) in battery replacement costs.

 

When considering vehicle purchases, I like to look at what the big taxi companies invest in. I have yet to see a tesla driven by a taxi company, other than those providing chauffeur services. Lots of Priuses in the fleets, some with over a million miles on them. Most of those were bought used, after the first owner wore down the batteries. The big taxi fleets can switch the batteries in house for relatively cheap, so they get a great deal and a car that runs for just about forever.

 

I agree that government plays a critical role in the economic system. What im talking about is the specific migration from almost half of us working in agriculture to manufacturing (and then later to service). This wasn’t a planned transfer program. It happened spontaneously over time. If anything, government probably tried to slow the progress, with efforts to stop job replacements by machines and international trade.

 

No they didn't, WWII did (thanks to the massive industrial capacity from the war effort and our isolation from the destruction), and as soon as Europe, Japan & China recovered, the void was no longer there for the USA to fill, and then the hollowing out began.

 

I suspect there will be a lot of broken down Postal and Gov't. vehicles for sale cheap in about 5-6 years with the new "mandate." Car manufacturers aren't going to care if they sell the feds junk as long as the check clears.

 

Who shed their blood and won WW2...oh yeah, the Greatest Generation did. They provided the capital, muscle, labor, and blood to accomplish that. Europe and Japan only recovered as quickly as they did due to the Billions of greenbacks that the U.S. purposely pumped into their economies (China not until the 1990's due to their self imposed communist isolation).

 

The funny thing is the postal service (with that Trump lackey still in charge) went the other way and signed a contract on a laughably inefficient vehicle. If postal vehicles flood the market in 5-6 years, it won’t be for the reason you think!

That custom designed postal vehicle looks so dumb, and makes such little sense (even before factoring in the poor MPG and gas prices), it almost has to be an intentional attempt to sabotage the postal service. Almost certain that thing will be seen as folly if it isn’t squashed.

I’m not even some nutter who think the postal service needs all EV’s. Although in cities I think they mostly should. It’s all about where it’s practical. Basically, in cities all carriers should be on foot or driving an EV. In rural areas they likely need a gas vehicle. But a vehicle that gets as low as 9mpg with the A/C on seems grossly incompetent in 2022. You could probably convert any number of existing consumer or commercial small vans to
RHD and do much better than that abomination.

Next-gen USPS mail trucks are only capable of 8.6 mpg, EPA says

 

Why on God's green earth are we having defense contracters designing and manufacturing postal vehicles? Doesn't the govt know we have actual manufacturers of street vehicles in this country? I know that "going Postal" is a catchphrase, but does this van have IED proof armor or something?

BTW, I'm glad you aren't a "nutter!"

 

I agree. Especially when I see an army of Amazon Prime vans (usually Ford Transits) that seem to be working just fine.

 

Odds are they are already made since other than the US and Australia I think it is, the rest of the world is RHD.

 

I've been checking out those Transit with a desire to make a camper van out of one.

 

Its actually the opposite. Mostly they are former British colonial territories. Interestingly, Japan was never a British colony.

 

Well you can tell how much traveling abroad I have done! lol.

 

No worries...when I first heard this it surprised me too. I had previously thought that left hand drive was mostly an American thing.

 

How much does the proposed vehicle cost?

 

He meant the Trump design, and the answer is around $35,000. So $15k difference per before factoring in fuel savings.

 

The math isn't even close there. Even if we assumed the accuracy of all of this (and used only Gainesville's population), we would end up with about 1/4 of a million, not millions. Which, I checked, is about right.

Top 13 Things: Postal Vehicles - U.S. Postal Facts.