Why Pittsfield’s New Mail Trucks Are Not On The Road Yet

I ran into our mailman, Joe, inside the radio station today. I asked him to give me an update on the new mail trucks, something that a lot of Pittsfield folks might be wondering.

You probably remember when the USPS announced their new vehicle fleet? They are called Next Generation Delivery Vehicles, or NGDVs for short. They look nothing like the old boxy Grumman trucks that have been driving our routes since the 1980s (Joe said they said Chevrolet on the inside). The new trucks have air conditioning, better visibility, and safety features the old ones never had. The Postal Service has been rolling them out across the country as part of a huge fleet replacement plan that has been years in the making.

Are the new USPS NGDVs in use yet?

So why haven't we seen them on the road here yet? I asked Joe that exact question. His answer was simple. "We haven't been trained on them yet," he said.

Slater (New mail truck in Fenn Street lot)

Here's the thing. These trucks are not some far off promise. They are already sitting in the garage. I saw one today in the Fenn Street Post Office parking lot. By Joe's count, there are approximately 15 of them in Pittsfield alone, with a handful more in Adams and Cheshire. They are parked and ready to go. The carriers just need to be certified to drive them.

It says something about how big organizations like the Postal Service move. The equipment can show up long before the training catches up to it. For our local carriers, that means driving the same old trucks a little longer, even with the new ones sitting right there.

The organization plans to roll out 106,000 new vehicles by 2028, including 45,000 battery-electric next-generation delivery vehicles and 21,000 commercial-off-the-shelf battery-electric vehicles. -news.usps.com

Joe was telling me that the current delivery vehicles are rear wheel drive and have no AC! The new vehicles will be all-wheel drive (in the Northeast region anyway) and some will be fully electric.