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The current USPS trucks were made by Grumman (makers of Navy F-14's, A-6's, E-2's, and C-2's). Grumman is also one of several suppliers of vans to UPS. The newest Grumman USPS trucks on the road now were made in 1994. Getting 27+ years out of a vehicle is a pretty good run. They're plagued by electrical problems, and are 27+ year old aircraft.
As USPS is getting better at delivering packages (even subcontracting to deliver UPS packages to residential customers), they need bigger delivery trucks. The Grumman truck was bigger than the Jeep it replaced. Vehicles always seem to get bigger with each new generation. Communal mail boxes in most new subdivisions now make mail carriers more productive. So, they need to carry more mail when they leave the post office.
Those Oshkosh vans will end up costing about $37k each, way more expensive than the stop-gap Mercedes-Benz Metris and Ram ProMaster vans USPS is now buying. I wonder what one of those windshields cost.
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