 | The examples and perspective in this article may not represent a worldwide view of the subject.(December 2010) |
A mail truck or post van is a type of delivery vehicle that is used to transport post. Originally horse-drawn, most modern mail trucks are automotive vehicles.
In his article, "Right through the Post", John Hollingshead describes mail vans from the point of view of a letter navigating through the postal system: [1]
Here we find [...] many really dismal, but rather would-be gay-looking, vehicles, drawn up to convey us to our different railway stations. These are the Post-office vans, furnished and horsed by contract, to the department, for a payment of ten thousand pounds per annum; and forming the only existing link that binds the railway-governed Post-office mail box; of to-day, to the mail-coach-governed Post-office of the past.
In shape, the Post-office van is like a prison-van; in colour it is a mixture of dingy black and red; and in condition it is dreadfully shattered and work-worn. Something of the hearse also mingles in its composition, and something of the omnibus. Its stand, when off duty, is at the end of Bedford-row, Holborn, where it basks in the sun, within a maze of posts, against the dead wall, looking with its companions like a crooked line of Chelsea pensioners waiting for the doctor. [2]
As described by Hollingshead, mail vans in the United Kingdom were originally horse-drawn, operating in conjunction with the railway network, including Travelling Post Offices, carrying mail between railway stations and places distant from them, and between sub-post offices and sorting offices. Some of these vans were of the Brougham type. In the 1880s the General Post Office began hiring larger enclosed box vans from McNamara & Company. These vans had elliptical spring front suspension, semi-elliptical spring rear suspension, a double driving seat, and mail coach style headlamps. These were frequently called mail coaches, although unlike actual mail coaches they carried no passengers. At least six regular long-distance, i.e., not just to and from local railway stations, mail van services out of London existed in the late 19th century. A London-to-Chatham mail van service ran until the summer of 1908, and one mail van service ran from London to Oxford until 1909. [3]
During World War II such horse-drawn McNamara mail vans were reintroduced, because of petrol rationing, but only for local work. These vans were drawn by a single horse, had pneumatic tyres, and were painted in the Post Office livery colours. A few of them were still in service in the early 1950s. [3]
Horse-drawn mail vans were replaced by automotive mail vans. These were commercial vans. For example, over almost two decades the U.K. General Post Office purchased 50,000 Morris Minor light commercial vehicles for use as either mail vans or telephone engineer vans. These Morris Minor vans became a familiar sight, and at least one survived until 1982 to sport the livery of British Telecom. The GPO vehicles were special order vehicles, and not quite the same as the commercial Morris Minor LCVs. The early series vans had one seat, no heater, and headlamps fitted to the front of the vehicle on rubber wings (US: fenders). Later series adhered more closely to conventional LCV norms, but differences remained. The Series III GPO Morris Minor van, for example, had a Yale lock on the driver's door. [4]
Similarly, in the United States automotive mail vans used by the United States Postal Service were modified commercial vehicles. From June 1929 to March 1932, for example, the Ford Motor Company sold Model A and Model AA chassis to the USPS, whose regional garages would then outfit them with mail van bodies (in oak or white ash) painted in the USPS colors. These bodies came from five companies: the York-Hoover Body Company, of York, Pennsylvania; the Mifflinburg Body Company, of Mifflinburg, Pennsylvania; the August Schubert Wagon Works, of Syracuse, New York; the Metropolitan Body Company, of Bridgeport, Connecticut; and the General Motors Truck Company, of Pontiac, Michigan. In total, 400 such mail vans were built on the 1929 Model A chassis, 400 on the 1929 Model AA chassis, 1,000 on the 1931 Model A chassis, and 2,500 on the 1931 Model AA chassis. [5] One such 1931 Ford Model A mail van can be seen exhibited in the National Postal Museum in Washington, D.C. [6] The first door to door mail truck was manufactured by the Twin Coach Company of Kent, Ohio, in 1954. It was first used by the Warren, Ohio, Post Office 4 August 1954, under Postmaster Sam Verlenich who posed with five carriers next to their trucks, for the historic photograph on the front page of the Warren Tribune Chronicle.
The mail van used by the USPS for local deliveries since the late-1980s is the Grumman LLV (Long Life Vehicle). This is a custom-made mail van manufactured by Grumman Corporation, whose US$1.1 billion contract with the USPS was for 99,150 vehicles in 1986. They were originally intended to last for 24 years, three times the lifetime of the mail vans that they replaced. Production of the LLV began in April 1987 in Grumman's plant in Montgomery, Pennsylvania. The vehicle is built on a General Motors chassis, is 175 inches (440 cm) long, weighs 3,000 pounds (1,400 kg), can carry up to 1,000 pounds (450 kg) of mail, and is driven by a 2.5-litre General Motors four-cylinder engine. In 1991, Grumman was awarded a further US$555 million contract for a further 43,500 vehicles. [7] [8] [9]
It is sometimes thought that a United States Postal Service mail truck has right of way over emergency vehicles; this is not true. [10]
A van is a type of road vehicle used for transporting goods or people. There is some variation in the scope of the word across the different English-speaking countries. The smallest vans, microvans, are used for transporting either goods or people in tiny quantities. Mini MPVs, compact MPVs, and MPVs are all small vans usually used for transporting people in small quantities. Larger vans with passenger seats are used for institutional purposes, such as transporting students. Larger vans with only front seats are often used for business purposes, to carry goods and equipment. Specially equipped vans are used by television stations as mobile studios. Postal services and courier companies use large step vans to deliver packages.
The Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, later Grumman Aerospace Corporation, was a 20th century American producer of military and civilian aircraft. Founded on December 6, 1929, by Leroy Grumman and his business partners, it merged in 1994 with Northrop Corporation to form Northrop Grumman.
British Leyland was a British automotive engineering and manufacturing conglomerate formed in 1968 as British Leyland Motor Corporation Ltd (BLMC), following the merger of Leyland Motors and British Motor Holdings. It was partly nationalised in 1975, when the UK government created a holding company called British Leyland, later renamed BL in 1978. It incorporated much of the British-owned motor vehicle industry, which in 1968 had a 40% share of the UK car market, with its history going back to 1895. Despite containing profitable marques such as Jaguar, Rover, and Land Rover, as well as the best-selling Mini, BLMC had a troubled history, leading to its eventual collapse in 1975 and subsequent part-nationalisation.
The Grumman Long Life Vehicle (LLV) is an American light transport truck model designed as a mail truck for the United States Postal Service, which has been its primary user since it first entered service in 1986, 38 years ago. It was also used by Canada Post. The LLV uses a chassis built by General Motors based on its Chevrolet S-10 with an aluminum body built by Grumman.
The GAZelle is a series of light commercial vehicle—pickup trucks, vans and minibuses—made by Russian car manufacturer GAZ. At the time of the dissolution of the Soviet Union and transition to a market economy, the Russian automobile industry had not produced a much-demanded LCV similar to the Ford Transit or VW T4 class. The GAZelle shares many parts with the company's passenger cars ; in fact, models produced until 1998 had the same grille. Riga Autobus Factory, which formerly manufactured minibuses for the whole USSR, remained in Latvia, and now required its vehicles be sold to the now-foreign Russian market for hard currency. Responding to this market opportunity, GAZ swiftly developed its own LCV called GAZelle, which, taken together with its lighter version, Sobol, now account for the majority of the Russian van and light truck market and have strong positions in the markets of other CIS countries, ranking as GAZ's most popular and successful products.
A panel van, also known as a delivery van, blind van, car-derived van or sedan delivery, is a small cargo vehicle with a passenger car chassis, typically with a single front bench seat and no side windows behind the B-pillar. Panel vans are smaller than panel trucks or cargo vans, both of which use body-on-frame truck chassis.
Superior Coach was a coachbuilder in the American automotive industry. Founded in 1909 as the Garford Motor Truck Company, Superior is best known for constructing bodies for professional cars (hearses) and school buses. Following major downturns in both segments in the late 1970s, Superior was liquidated by its parent company in 1980. From 1925 to 1980, the company was based in Lima, Ohio.
Ford Model AA is a truck from Ford. As the Model T and TT became obsolete and needed to be replaced, Henry Ford began initial designs on the Model A and Model AA in 1926. Basic chassis layout was done rapidly and mechanical development was moved forward quickly. Body design and style was developed and then outsourced to various body manufacturers, including Briggs and Murray. The designs of the Model A shared parts and materials with the Model AA Ford, notably the body, engine and interior. The AA usually received plainer interiors than their car counterparts. The Model AA followed similar design changes to the Model A during the AA's four years in production, often delayed anywhere from three to nine months. The mechanical changes and upgrades were done during production of the vehicles. Body changes that occurred between 1929 and 1930 were also integrated into AA production, but leftover parts were used longer in the heavy commercial trucks.
Moraine Assembly was a General Motors automobile factory in Moraine, Ohio, United States, a suburb of Dayton. A Frigidaire appliance plant had originally operated on the site from 1951 to 1979. Starting in 1981, the Chevrolet S-10 small pickup was produced. This same model was produced by Shreveport Assembly. In 1987 through 1994 the plant produced the rolling chassis for the Grumman LLV Postal Vehicle. From 2001 through 2008, the plant produced the GMT360 SUVs. The plant was closed in December 2008. In 2014, the facilities were acquired by Fuyao Glass to produce glass for vehicles.
Dover was a make of trucks, owned by the Hudson Motor Car Company of Detroit, Michigan. Hudson announced the Dover brand in July 1929 as "Dover, built by Hudson Motors."
The Jeep DJ is a two-wheel drive variant of the four-wheel drive CJ series. Production started in 1955 by Willys, which was renamed Kaiser Jeep in 1963. In 1970, American Motors Corporation (AMC) purchased Kaiser's money-losing Jeep operations and established AM General, a wholly owned subsidiary that built the DJ through 1984.
Solectria Corporation was responsible for the design, engineering, and manufacturing of energy management components for industrial applications, including electric vehicles, parallel hybrid drivetrains, and power generation applications. It was founded in 1989 and based in Woburn, Massachusetts. In December 2004, Solectria was acquired by Azure Dynamics.
Morgan Olson is an American company that produces aluminum walk-in step vans. It was founded in 1946 on Long Island, New York. Previously owned by Northrop Grumman and doing business as Grumman Olson for several decades, the company was then taken over by a group of senior managers. In 2003, Grumman Olson was purchased by the American company JBPCO, which also owned Morgan Corp., the then-largest manufacturer of truck bodies in the United States. Grumman Olson was renamed Morgan Olson in 2004.
A multi-stop truck is a type of commercial vehicle designed to make multiple deliveries or stops, with easy access to the transported cargo held in the rear. They first appeared in the United States in the 1920s. They are usually vans or trucks designed to be used as fleet vehicles by businesses within local areas.
Workhorse Group Incorporated, originally AMP Electric Vehicles, is an original equipment manufacturer and technology company headquartered in Sharonville, Ohio, U.S. Workhorse makes commercial electric vehicles and telematics software designed for last-mile delivery. Their products include commercial electric vehicles and the Metron telematics software system.
Bollinger Motors is an American automobile manufacturer of electric vehicles based in Oak Park, Michigan.
The Grumman KurbWatt was an all aluminum electric powered concept mail truck.
The OshkoshNext Generation Delivery Vehicle (NGDV) is a mail truck for the United States Postal Service (USPS). The contract award, made to Oshkosh Defense, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Oshkosh Corporation, in February 2021, is valued at $6 billion. Up to 160,000 vehicles will be built in a new South Carolina factory. Four variants of the NGDV are expected to be in fleet use: both gasoline-powered and battery-electric, in either front wheel drive or all wheel drive. The USPS was scheduled to receive the vehicles in June 2024; the first vehicles were delivered and began operating that August.
The Workhorse C-Series was an American line of battery electric medium-duty delivery vans built by Workhorse Group for commercial package delivery company fleets, which entered limited production in 2021, were recalled that September, and were discontinued in 2022 after fewer than fifty were built. The C-Series was originally named the N-GEN when the line was first announced in 2017. N-GEN prototypes began testing in 2018 and were renamed to the C-Series in 2019.
The Ford-Utilimaster Flexible Fuel Vehicle is an American light transport truck model, designed as a mail truck for the United States Postal Service (USPS), which is its primary user. It was built as a partnership between Ford Motor Company, which supplied a stripped-down, right-hand drive Ford Explorer chassis and drivetrain, and Utilimaster, which built the aluminum body and integrated it with the chassis. The FFV can operate on either unleaded gasoline or E85 ethanol-blended fuel using the Ford 4.0 L Cologne OHV V6 engine.