- The humble mail truck
is one of the most recognizable vehicles on the road.
They're icons,
and they've been used continuously since 1985.
But why?
They're obviously outdated, they don't have AC
and they get horrible gas mileage,
and they still use a 43-year-old engine
notorious for starting on fire.
(flame roars)
Today we're breaking down how this became
the country's official courier truck,
what makes it the worst truck for the job,
and: why don't we have a new one yet?
Huge thank you to Omaze
for sponsoring this episode of "WheelHouse."
We're super stoked to team up with them once again
to give away this 2018 Dodge Demon,
a car I would like very much,
plus taxes and shipping included, plus $20,000.
(Doug growls) (heavy death metal)
- Someone ready to take home a bad demon? Yeah!
- No, Doug, we're giving away this Demon for a good cause.
- What's the big deal?
840 horsepower, 2.1 0-60, but can it do this?
(retro hip hop beat)
(Doug groans)
(grunts) That hurt my knee.
- Doug, I gotta ask,
why are you so competitive with this car?
- Just look at it, man. It's (beep) awesome.
Comes with a crate full of cool Demon stuff,
the NHRA outlawed it for being too fast,
and I'm over here drinking an envelope full of juice.
(juice slurping) - What?
- Who would want this demon? (somber music)
I mean, used to be you "demon" in search engine
and you'd see a picture of me.
Now it's all burnouts
and the largest factory hood scoop ever.
Pretty much ruined my SEO.
- Aw, man. Doug, it...
Don't worry about that. It'll be okay.
- Don't try to console me, Nolan. I'm a demon, all right?
Demons aren't supposed to be emotional, all right?
(Nolan sighs)
Go to omaze.com/donutmedia for your chance to win,
and better yet, every donation
helps the UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center,
just in case you wanna feel good
about getting this badass car.
(Doug groans)
- Can I borrow this to go get groceries?
At least I got you, tomato juice.
(juice slurping)
(Doug retches)
- There are so many reasons
why the current mail truck has worn out its welcome,
but before we get into the laundry list of problems it has,
let's get into a brief history of mail trucks
and how the current model came to be.
At the turn of the 20th century,
automobiles were popping up all over the place,
and the Post Office started using those as well,
which was a smart move.
But there was no uniformity to it, okay?
According to the Smithsonian's Postal Museum,
by 1921 the U.S. postal fleet
was running 43 different types of trucks
made by 23 different manufacturers.
The variety was a lot for mechanics to keep up with,
and the cost and time it kept to maintain a fleet
was a total drain.
But then in 1953 the USPS wizened up
and commissioned their first official mail delivery vehicle,
the right-hand drive Jeep DJ,
which stood for Dispatcher Jeep.
Fresh off the heels of the Second World War,
the Willys Jeep caught the eye of post officials.
It was rugged, reliable, and inherently patriotic.
It was so reliable, in fact,
that a ton of other four-by-fours were modeled after it,
like the Land Rover and the Toyota Land Cruiser.
Over the next few years, the Jeep DJ kept evolving
and production changed hand from Willys Overland to Kaiser,
eventually to AM General.
The DJ's postal run took it all the way to the '80s,
but as demands for the mail service grew,
so did their need for a versatile upgrade
in the truck department.
I mean, I'm sure you've seen the back of a Jeep.
You can't really fit a lot back there.
Although you can still spot mail Jeeps
running in rural parts of the country,
Dispatcher Jeeps were officially decommissioned in 1984
to make way for a new truck in town.
But the Post Office wanted a truck that was totally unique
and perfectly tailored to their needs.
The only problem was: that didn't quite exist yet.
In the '80s, the powers that be at the Post Office
decided to do something a little crazy,
and instead of shopping for existing models
off the assembly line,
they challenged automakers to make a new truck
from scratch, just for them.
It was a bit of a power move, and I respect that.
The USPS drew up a detailed list of criteria
that was reflective of their every mail-delivering need,
but their biggest goal was to procure a mail truck
that could last at least 20 years in daily dispatch.
After sorting through the losers,
the contestants were narrowed down to just three finalists.
There was Poveco, American Motors,
and a collaboration between GM and Grumman,
a company that had previously built
spacecraft and fighter jets.
The finalists' prototypes were brought to Texas
to compete in a series of challenges and tests,
and let me tell you,
this wasn't your average autocross, okay?
These tests covered 24,000 miles
and tested each vehicle's endurance
and durability, maneuverability, and reliability.
They included trials like passing each wheel
over a pothole 35,000 times,
driving almost 6,000 miles continuously
at 55 miles per hour,
driving over 960 miles over cobblestones,
and hauling a one-ton load for half of the whole road test.
This grueling competition was not only necessary
to see which was actually the best,
there was also a lot riding on it,
namely a $1 billion contract
worth over 2.5 billion in today's money.
Finally, after the vehicles were tested, a winner emerged:
the Grumman LLV, which stands for Long-Life Vehicle.
Grumman built the bodies,
which were made of corrosion-resistant aluminum since,
you know, neither rain nor shine nor heat or all that,
and flaunts a cargo capacity of 1,000 pounds
and 123 cubic feet.
GM provided the chassis, which was actually based
off the 1982 Chevy S-10 Blazer chassis,
with the slight modification of putting the front wheels
closer together for a tighter turn radius,
which is actually pretty cool.
And under the hood was a 98-horsepower,
2.5-liter, cast iron GM four-banger.
By the time the LLV hit the streets in 1986,
this engine was already nine years old, and let me tell ya,
didn't have a great reputation.
The Iron Duke was GM's
overhead cam in-line four of the late '70s,
named for it's cast iron block.
In the '80s and '90s, GM put this engine in everything.
It was in the Camaro, the Pontiac Grand Am,
and the car you probably think of
when you hear the name Iron Duke, the Fiero GT.
Look, it didn't make a lot of power,
but the cast iron construction gave it a high ceiling
in case you wanted to give it a little more power, baby.
Coming out of the oil crisis of the '80s,
the Duke was lauded for its durability,
emission standards, and fuel efficiency,
which is why they put it in the LLV.
But at 3,000 pounds,
with an extra 1,000 pounds in Donut fan mail,
the LLV only averaged nine miles per gallon.
It was nine years outdated at the beginning of the LLV run.
Add 30 to that, and you've got an engine old enough
to have listened to The Postal Service in college,
which is not really a joke I get
'cause I never listened to them.
- [Producer] What!
- Nowadays more than ever,
the Grumman is extremely expensive
and difficult to maintain.
There are about 140,000 active LLVs,
which account for about 74% of the USPS fleet.
Every year, LLVs alone
travel 765 million miles across the U.S.,
and I'm not math boy, but I did some quick math here.
765 million miles traveled divided by nine miles per gallon
equals 85 million gallons used per year by LLVs.
The national average for a gallon of gas
when we filmed this is at $2.16, which is insane.
I need to get out of L.A.
85 million times 216 equals $183,855,000 per year
spent on gas just for the LLVs.
If I snapped and all these vehicles
were instantly replaced by Kia Souls,
they would save $126 million every year in gas alone.
On top of that, a report from USPS said that each vehicle
costs an average of $3,000 per year
in repairs and maintenance.
This is outrageous!
But the dumbest part is that the LLVs
are so old and outdated
that it's kinda hard to find mechanics
who will even work on 'em.
If you thought that's where the problems ended though, hoo,
just wait.
Beyond the engine and maintenance,
these things catch on fire all the time.
Since 2014, a whopping 407 Grumman LLVs
have spontaneously burst into flames.
Why do these things catch on fire?
Well, I'm glad you asked.
I addition to being old as hell,
the windshield wiper fluid reservoir
was positioned over the engine control unit
and was prone to leaking,
causing short-circuiting and sometimes fire.
This is an entirely different issue
than why Iron Duke-powered Fieros caught fire in the '80s.
The issue with those is that they had a short in the oil pan
which caused the oil pan to heat up way quicker,
blah-blah-blah, check out the "Up To Speed" on the Fiero
if you wanna know more.
- 20% of your cars catching on fire
is way too many of your cars catching on fire!
- I mean, look, I actually still love the LLV.
I even bought one of those little die-casts
from the Post Service, but the question still stands:
why haven't these things been replaced yet?
Well, truth is, it should've happened a long time ago.
(shotgun cocking) The long list of delays
in the quest for the Grumman's replacement started in 2009,
just one year before the first generation of trucks'
predetermined expiration date.
The USPS just plain wasn't financially or logistically ready
to replace the vehicles on a large scale,
so they implemented a preventative repair program
to extend the lifetime of the Grumman from 24 to 30 years.
This bought them enough time to get their poop in a group,
and they officially launched a program
to find the next-generation delivery vehicle in 2016.
The idea for the search was pretty much identical
to their setup before.
The USPS put millions of dollars into contracts
for automakers to produce a prototype
specifically suited to the Post Office's needs.
The major difference this time around, however,
is the emphasis on alternative fuel options.
It's no secret that the future of the automotive industry
is gonna have a lot more EVs and hybrids in it,
and choosing the type fuel the USPS mail truck runs on
will be incredibly influential
to the automotive landscape of the country.
Plus, you have to make an improvement
on nine miles per gallon.
Like, please.
Several companies threw their hats in the ring
for a chance at the estimated $6.3 billion USPS contract,
but after years of trials, delays,
funding problems, and more delays,
the search for the next-generation delivery vehicle
is finally...
Postponed again. That's right, already three years late.
The USPS announced in December 2020
that due to complications related to the pandemic,
they are delaying the contract yet again.
But the good news is they are making progress.
They've narrowed it down to three finalists.
The first prototype comes from a collaboration
between Karsan and Morgan Olson.
Their mail vehicle is a hybrid plug-in design.
It's got a super-wide windshield with a tall stature,
and honestly looks kinda like a party bus.
The second prospect comes from a company called Workhorse.
Originally they were partnered up
with commercial truck makers Hackney, but they dropped out,
leaving Workhorse on their own.
I guess Hackney couldn't hack it.
(crowd boos)
This vehicle is battery-powered. It's electric.
It also has a huge windshield and cargo area,
and honestly looks the most reminiscent of the Grumman LLV.
Last but not least is a collaboration
between truck manufacturer Oshkosh and Ford.
It's based of the Ford Transit Van,
with the addition of extra cargo space,
four-wheel drive, and a sliding door.
If I had to put my money on it,
I'd probably say that the Ford Transit
has the best shot of becoming our next mail vehicle.
Ford and Oshkosh are already huge manufacturers
with established relationships with the government,
and when it comes to this kind of stuff
it's really all about who you know.
But the question remains: when is it gonna happen?
Barring additional delays,
we can expect the decision to be made
sometime in the middle of 2021.
This year has forced so many cancellations
and delays across all industries;
no exception for car production.
But there is light at the end of the tunnel
and hope on the horizon
for a new era of mail carrying vehicles.
It's all but certain that they'll be cheaper,
more comfortable, and safer
than the legendary but deteriorating Grumman LLV,
and hopefully they won't burst into flames
quite as often either.
Thank you very much for watching "WheelHouse."
If you'd like to give those LLVs a little more work,
we do have a P.O. box, which I'll place right here.
- [Producer] P.O. Box 64669.
- Yeah, you can send us some fan mail.
Please don't send us anything perishable or alive.
We don't check it that often.
You know, the LLV obviously has a lotta issues,
but I'm just surprised that they've lasted this long.
They're an icon of American culture, in my opinion.
I support the USPS. Here's a picture of me with all my gear.
Stay safe, be kind, I'll see you next time.