USPS Lacks Funding For Modern, IT-enabled Vehicles
A new report from the USPS Inspector General said the United States Postal Service doesn’t have the financial resources to fully replace its aging vehicle fleet with newer, more IT-enabled and greener vehicles. The fleet of almost 212,000 vehicles is one of the largest vehicle fleets in the country, of which 75 percent — or almost 160,000 — are long-life vehicles with a projected life of approximately 24 years. But some are as many three years older than that, causing vehicle maintenance costs to rise. In fiscal year 2012, the postal service spent more than $906 million on maintenance, the cost of which has increased by almost $100 million since 2007.
In an ideal budget environment, the Inspector General report recommended that the USPS look into vehicles equipped with some technologies to improve performance and durability. Fleetwide GPS tracking is one solution the report said the postal service could use to gain a better insight into how the vehicles themselves function, which could extend their lives. The GPS technology the Inspector General has called for will help identify when a vehicle is idling, which could help save on fuel consumption. Another way to decrease fuel consumption is through speeding oversight, which would be tracked through an onboard computer system. Through onboard monitoring, the system in the vehicle can also keep track of several metrics to optimize maintenance intervals, the report said.
In 2011, the postal service implemented a short-term plan to hold the agency over until fiscal year 2017, when their long-term plan called for a purchase of "the next-generation of delivery vehicles." Three years later, the postal service still has not approved or funded the long-term plan, leaving the future of the vehicles uncertain. But the Inspector General ’s analysis found the postal service could sustain its delivery operations until 2017, without much room for error.
Despite having the resources to get the fleet to 2017, the postal service does not have the financial resources to fund any potential replenishment. In the meantime, delivery operations officials have attempted to pursue funding increases through the agency’s budget process. The postal service initiated a partially-funded plan to acquire new vehicles. In March 2014, the postmaster general approved the purchase of about 3,500 new vehicles to add to the fleet.
The USPS Inspector General recommended that the postal service continue these short-term annual vehicle acquisitions in order to meet the immediate needs of a growing and aging delivery service but also that the agency formalize its long-term strategy by establishing plans to replace its fleet with sustainable and green vehicles.
USPS managers told the Inspector General that the fleet replacement strategy will be developed by January 2015.