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Comment by chomp | Hacker News Reader

How in the world is a mail carrier going to deliver mail in a huge esprinter, you going to have them open their door and climb out at every mailbox?

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My point was that a much more capable vehicle could be purchased for a similar price. Depending on the use case, of course other commercial vehicles would make more sense. The smaller versions of the Ford Transit are a popular option among non-US postal services. And if US Postal Service was willing to buy foreign vehicles, they could have even smaller and cheaper options. (Though they'd have to deal with EPA and NHTSA rules to make them street legal.)

> My point was that a much more capable vehicle could be purchased for a similar price.

This leaps to a conclusion. Probably the documents are public - why did they choose this solution over off-the-shelf options? (No point in speculation; what is their actual analysis?)

if US Postal Service was willing to buy foreign vehicles,

It's not. Offshoring critical infrastructure is always a bad idea.

they'd have to deal with EPA and NHTSA rules

Possibly not. They don't even have license plates, as the Postal Service outranks state governments.

The NGDV's gross vehicle weight rating is 8,501lbs so that it is classified by the EPA as a heavy-duty truck. If the rating were a pound less, it would be classified as a light-duty truck and have much stricter emissions standards.

> The smaller versions of the Ford Transit are a popular option among non-US postal services. And if US Postal Service was willing to buy foreign vehicles, they could have even smaller and cheaper options.

Ford isn't selling the Transit Connect in North America anymore. And they're made in Europe, so despite the brand, they're a foreign vehicle, too.

> non-US postal services

What postal services are those? Are you sure you aren't confusing the USPS with a parcel service?

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