Commercial Vehicles That Power The US Postal Service

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You might have a memory from childhood where a winter storm handed you a “Get Out of Jail Free” card for school. You and the other kids in the neighborhood could go outside at first light and have a blast playing in the freshly fallen snow. School buses weren’t running, parents couldn’t get to work, and nothing seemed to be moving except the people who reluctantly went out to shovel their driveways and sidewalks.

It might have been such a bad storm that it would be days before the snowplows would arrive to reconnect the streets with the main thoroughfares. Yet somehow, while the kids played and the parents labored, a boxy little truck still showed up each day to deliver the mail, performing the seemingly impossible.

It takes a certain amount of dedication from personnel and power from vehicles to keep the U.S. Postal Service, UPS, FedEx, and other delivery companies moving. And it’s why the USPS sticks to their creed, “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds” 250 years after its founding on July 26, 1775.

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It’s Not What You Think

It’s not uncommon for people to think that the iconic truck with the steering wheel on the right that the Postal Service uses to deliver mail is a Jeep. It isn’t. They are Grumman LLVs (Long Life Vehicles). Unfortunately, these are not available for purchase by the public and are generally scrapped for parts when retired. However, there are plenty of other vehicles used by delivery companies that can be purchased for commercial use.

History of Deliveries

Before we jump into the modern era and the trucks that bring so much convenience into our lives, let’s take an interesting look at the historical perspective behind delivery services to understand how we got here.

The history of postal services actually goes back thousands of years, with a system of messengers and couriers arising in ancient Egypt, China, and Persia (now Iran). A more modern service took shape in 15th-century Europe. In the United States, the Postal Service was officially established in 1775 with Benjamin Franklin, who was one of the founders and was appointed the first Postmaster General by the Second Continental Congress. The Pony Express, the precursor to expedited services provided by today’s companies such as FedEx, began in 1860.

United States Postal Service (USPS)

Fast forward to modern times and you’ll see the well-recognized Grumman LLVs and the Ford Utilimaster FFV (Flexible Fuel Vehicle) mobilized by the Post Office. While neither are available to the public for civilian road use, the U.S. Postal Service deploys a number of vehicles to deliver parcels that you can actually utilize. The USPS operates a fleet of minivans and vans, including the Dodge Grand Caravan and the Chevrolet Uplander. While they’ve both been discontinued, you can still find them on the used market.

To modernize its fleet of delivery vehicles, USPS now uses the Ram ProMaster and Mercedes-Benz Metris vans for package delivery. Both are available for commercial businesses as either cargo or passenger vans. The USPS also looks to replace their Grumman LLVs with the Oshkosh NGDV (Next Generation Delivery Vehicle) specifically designed for the line of work.

United Parcel Service (UPS)

Another package-delivery icon is the brown stepvans, sometimes called “Package Cars,” used by UPS. Over the years, these have been built by various manufacturers, including Morgan Olson, Union City Body, and Utilimaster. Older models were based on Ford and GM chassis, while newer versions use Freightliner or Workhorse chassis. These trucks are custom made and are tailored to the profession.

However, some production-model vehicles used for lower-volume routes by UPS include the Ford Transit Connect, Ford Transit, Dodge Grand Caravan C/V vans, and Mercedes-Benz Sprinter box vans.

Federal Express (FedEx)

Keen observers of the FedEx logo will notice there’s an arrow between the “E” and the “x,” which is meant to symbolize speed, precision, and forward movement. Other transportation companies can emulate that spirit with some of the vehicles that FedEx has in their fleet. These include Ford Transit and Nissan NV cargo vans, Ford P700 and P900 stepvans, cutaway trucks such as the Ford E350 and Chevrolet Cutaway, and even Freightliner tractor-trailers for larger shipments.

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