USPS wants to replace LLV chassis, keep the bodies

LLVs, postal 13 Comments

United States Postal Service fleet; U.S.A.USPS management thinks that its existing LLV’s are just fine for delivering mail on many of its routes- they just need new chassis:

The LLV represents the largest segment of the USPS deiivery fleet with an approximate current quantity of 142,000 units. The LLV was produced by Grumman Oison from 198? to 1994. It has an aluminum body mounted on a General Motors modified 8-10 chassis.

The United States Postal Service (USPS) would like to retain the best quaiities of the current right hand drive Long Life Vehicle (LLV) without having to redevelop what has been proven to work. The objective is to provide a new rolling chassis that will seamlessly mate with the existing body while capturing advances in vehicle technologies that have been developed in the last 20 years maintaining the existing vehicle payload requirement. The current body of the LLV is to be retained as it contains optimal delivery features such as the roll up rear door, sliding side doors and correct ride height for curbside deliveries. The USPS desires to reduce the LLV existing chassis shortcomings such as the low miles per gallon‘ poor resistance to corrosion in multiple components and outdated engine diagnostics. The current chassis encompasses inefficient technologies and high maintenance items the USPS would like eliminated.

There is a multitude of routes, primarily rural, where the LLV volumetric and payload capacity is more than adequate. The Postal Service has identified up to 40,000 routes where the LLV is still the ideally sized delivery vehicle. This vehicle will operate in tandem with the next generation delivery vehicle as the two primary light delivery vehicles in the postal fleet for the foreseeable future. The rolling chassis solution will need to have a 20 year+ life.

Request For Information LLV Rolling Chassis – Federal Business Opportunities: Opportunities.

  • zak

    They forgot about the poor snow performance as the front of the LLV is way to low

  • Joe Gibson

    They also forgot we need side-loaders to prevent carriers from getting their legs CRUSHED when rear-ended while rear-loading. . . The also, also forgot we need slightly larger vehicles if our future business model is continuing to grow the parcel market. LLVs are already too small for the entire month of December.

  • Johnny Pyro

    Cheap. Cheap. Cheap. Cheap.

  • GrannySmith

    The first mistake they made on the original fleet was going with the S-10 (8-10 in the story is wrong) chassis. The S-10 was total GM junk.
    The old Jeep that they replaced had the exact same 6-cyl running gear as the AMC Gremlin except for 4-cyl in some of them.. If that tells you anything. Also junk. Easy to work on, but still junk, and you would work on ithem, over and over and over…
    The contract for some LLV shelves has been let. Let’s see how that works out. Just how will they be able to install shelves onto all that aluminum without leaks.

    Hint: Steer clear of GM chassis or perhaps demand that GM include a sprinkler system to put out the GM fires.

  • bigtime

    you have to be a midget to work in the rear of llv or crv s, with a working height of 4.75 feet . many carriers are getting back injuries from getting parcels and fss trays out of rear . management nitwits provide boat hooks , these are small poles that float with a stupid small hook on the end of it , made to grab a rope on dock , to get stuff from back of llv without blowing out your back . its complete crap. you dont see 1 real parcel delivery company driving around in vehicles where you have to crawl in back to get work. then our postmaster is telling us our injuries are the worst in country. who is to blame the carrier or the company that gives you equipment that when used you will get injured ?

  • You’reProbablyWrong

    Besides all the great points stated before me, the wiring in these vehicles is already causing lots of LLV fires across the country. These fires are extremely dangerous and quick moving. Not what we’re looking for.

  • Retired

    with nothing else to use, Yea I guess its proven– Proven piece of(fill in the blank)

  • Norm Lee

    I’ve driven my LLV for 13 years and have been satisfied with it but its getting old and harder to start each morning. The rear shelves have helped but the problem in my station this holiday season was not the size of the vehicle but increasing parcels forcing me to go out to my route twice a day due to the lack of room in the parcel area to process all of our parcels in the morning. As it stands, I ended up working up to 14 hours/day from 630-2030 from mid-November to December thanks to increasing amounts of catalogs which only abated in mid-December after the holiday catalogs diminished.

  • John Wood

    Okay so I just started as a carrier and these are my points. Carriers are the first line of defense in checking out electronics or engine care to be at best performance. Problem is getting them to alert the post office before things get worse.
    1. Seat belts: some are not safe as they get stuck and do not operate correctly
    2. Electronics: They are old and outdated. Some are causing fires. Also this leads to carriers alerting to issues but don’t. So in updating chassis make wiring something to replace.
    3. Aluminum body: you preach safety of employees but you put them in a death trap. I know you have a budget, but the vans are better at safety than the llv. Problem is the left hand drive should be right hand drive.
    4. Heating and air. You have an ice box for a vehicle and wonder why employees get frost bite? Improve heating and air.
    5. We hate distracted driving. Install hands free blue tooth technology for cell phones if management is to call employees.
    6. Engines: care for these need to be improved.
    7. Employees claim they get back injuries climbing in and out of LLV for packages. Last I checked most employees don’t stretch or take care of health. So why not provide an encouragement like: If you go to a gym 3 times a week your gym will be paid by p.o. Just saying get healthy employees that take care of themselves and less injuries will occur.
    I am sure as I continue my list of issues and requests will grow.

  • earl

    Are the LLV’s at my post office keeping the pieces of concrete that are in the back to provide extra weight? Or in something new going back there?

  • Willy D’s

    Always put the cart before the horse. LLV Saga. Very cold in winter, very hot in summer. Shoulder belts that go across your neck, the absolute worst place, non adjustable. Rear door at a angle, reducing the amount of cargo volume. Cement blocks on top of rear wheel well further reducing volume. Some have limited slip rear axle, but when worn to the point of not engaging, sorry. The absolute worst vehicle to drive on snow covered roads. Reason mainly due to wheel track. When they go down the road you can see 4 wheel tracks. The fronts never make a path for the rears, actually burm up the snow for the rears. Want me to go on ? They have been replacing the complete frames for a few years now in the North East.

  • Michael

    You do realize that most of the LLV’s are 1984’s and 1988’s which makes them 28-32 years old. Any vehicle that old, subjected to the elements and constant use 6 days a week 8 hours a day will be in the same shape.

  • You’reProbablyWrong

    Amazingly, I do realize that. I’m not sure why that is directed to me, though. Am I wrong in my statement? What does your statement have to do with mine?