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This is THE testament to the Economic lunacy of the Trump era. Read and wonder.

Republicans can’t stop wasting money: they want to scrap USPS’ awesome EVs​


c61428926435aca6fa13a99f9126f?s=18&d=identicon&r=g.jpg Jameson Dow Jun 22 2025 - 6:00 am PT

47 Comments

Oshkosh-USPS.jpg


The Senate version of the repubilcans’ tax bill won’t just add trillions of dollars to the deficit through a massive giveaway to wealthy elites, it will also take the US Postal Service’s awesome new EVs and sell them off for pennies on the dollar, wasting money simply out of spite for vehicles that were already cleaning your air and making your community safer.


The Postal Service has used the same Grumman LLV vehicles for decades, produced from 1986-1994. So, some of these trucks are nearly 40 years old, and all of them are at least 30 years old.

The vehicles are showing their age – they get poor mileage, they break down often (or catch fire, as about 100 of the old gas guzzlers did last year), they emit significant pollution, and they have poor ergonomics.

So, in 2015, the USPS started the process of finding a replacement.

After many bids and back-and-forth (including startups going out of business), the USPS, led by Postmaster Louis DeJoy, picked Oshkosh’s “Next Generation Delivery Vehicle” (NGDV) as the next postal vehicle. The vehicle will be built in a new Oshkosh facility in Spartanburg, South Carolina, hiring 1,000 additional employees in the area.

......Electrification is a perfect choice for most delivery vehicles. These vehicles do set daily routes with lots of starting and stopping, in neighborhoods where people live and breathe, and return back to the same place every night. It’s an ideal application for EVs, for the vast majority of rotues.

Higher efficiency electric drive means money savings on fuel and maintenance for most routes. Overall, a highly electrified fleet was estimated to save taxpayers $4.3 billion over its lifetime.

But perhaps the most obvious benefit of electric mail trucks is the lack of pollution in the places where people spend most of their time: at home. (I don’t know about you, but my mail carrier’s broken truck stinks up the place every day, forcing me to close the windows as it fails to start half the time – and I’m pretty sure this is a common experience)

....The NGDV has suffered delays, but as the truck has finally started to roll out, it’s been enormously popular. When the truck started use last year in Atlanta, drivers immediately loved it. They loved the new features, better safety, and less stress on their bodies.

Republicans move to undo these improvements, wasting taxpayer dollars​

And so, of course, republicans are now threatening this unequivocally good thing in a way that’s only going to cost taxpayers more money and ensure that your mail costs, the pollution you breathe in your home and the danger to your neighborhood all increase.

As reported by the Washington Post, Senate republicans are considering a version of the tax bill that would auction off these vehicles, at pennies on the dollar, seemingly simply out of spite for the program.

As usual, republican justifications for the billions of dollars in waste they’re proposing don’t stand up to even the slightest amount of scrutiny.

Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) stated that the plan “aims to cut unnecessary costs and focus USPS on delivering mail and not achieving the environmental initiatives pushed by the Biden Administration.”

But Paul ought to know this is false, because he’s part of the Senate, the body that approved spending for these vehicles in the first place in 2022 (and, if you remember your high school civics class as Paul apparently does not, the Senate is not part of the “Biden Administration”). Nor is the USPS directly part of any presidential administration, since it is an independent federal agency, and during the bidding process was headed by Louis DeJoy, who was appointed during one Mr. Donald Trump’s first stint squatting in the White House.

electrek.co

Republicans can't stop wasting money: they want to scrap USPS' awesome EVs

An opportunity to waste money, harm the environment, put your kids at risk, AND increase labor costs? Republicans are all over it.
electrek.co electrek.co
 
basilio said:
This is THE testament to the Economic lunacy of the Trump era. Read and wonder.

Republicans can’t stop wasting money: they want to scrap USPS’ awesome EVs​


View attachment 202257 Jameson Dow Jun 22 2025 - 6:00 am PT

47 Comments

View attachment 202258


The Senate version of the repubilcans’ tax bill won’t just add trillions of dollars to the deficit through a massive giveaway to wealthy elites, it will also take the US Postal Service’s awesome new EVs and sell them off for pennies on the dollar, wasting money simply out of spite for vehicles that were already cleaning your air and making your community safer.


The Postal Service has used the same Grumman LLV vehicles for decades, produced from 1986-1994. So, some of these trucks are nearly 40 years old, and all of them are at least 30 years old.

The vehicles are showing their age – they get poor mileage, they break down often (or catch fire, as about 100 of the old gas guzzlers did last year), they emit significant pollution, and they have poor ergonomics.

So, in 2015, the USPS started the process of finding a replacement.

After many bids and back-and-forth (including startups going out of business), the USPS, led by Postmaster Louis DeJoy, picked Oshkosh’s “Next Generation Delivery Vehicle” (NGDV) as the next postal vehicle. The vehicle will be built in a new Oshkosh facility in Spartanburg, South Carolina, hiring 1,000 additional employees in the area.

......Electrification is a perfect choice for most delivery vehicles. These vehicles do set daily routes with lots of starting and stopping, in neighborhoods where people live and breathe, and return back to the same place every night. It’s an ideal application for EVs, for the vast majority of rotues.

Higher efficiency electric drive means money savings on fuel and maintenance for most routes. Overall, a highly electrified fleet was estimated to save taxpayers $4.3 billion over its lifetime.

But perhaps the most obvious benefit of electric mail trucks is the lack of pollution in the places where people spend most of their time: at home. (I don’t know about you, but my mail carrier’s broken truck stinks up the place every day, forcing me to close the windows as it fails to start half the time – and I’m pretty sure this is a common experience)

....The NGDV has suffered delays, but as the truck has finally started to roll out, it’s been enormously popular. When the truck started use last year in Atlanta, drivers immediately loved it. They loved the new features, better safety, and less stress on their bodies.

Republicans move to undo these improvements, wasting taxpayer dollars​

And so, of course, republicans are now threatening this unequivocally good thing in a way that’s only going to cost taxpayers more money and ensure that your mail costs, the pollution you breathe in your home and the danger to your neighborhood all increase.

As reported by the Washington Post, Senate republicans are considering a version of the tax bill that would auction off these vehicles, at pennies on the dollar, seemingly simply out of spite for the program.

As usual, republican justifications for the billions of dollars in waste they’re proposing don’t stand up to even the slightest amount of scrutiny.

Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) stated that the plan “aims to cut unnecessary costs and focus USPS on delivering mail and not achieving the environmental initiatives pushed by the Biden Administration.”

But Paul ought to know this is false, because he’s part of the Senate, the body that approved spending for these vehicles in the first place in 2022 (and, if you remember your high school civics class as Paul apparently does not, the Senate is not part of the “Biden Administration”). Nor is the USPS directly part of any presidential administration, since it is an independent federal agency, and during the bidding process was headed by Louis DeJoy, who was appointed during one Mr. Donald Trump’s first stint squatting in the White House.

electrek.co

Republicans can't stop wasting money: they want to scrap USPS' awesome EVs

An opportunity to waste money, harm the environment, put your kids at risk, AND increase labor costs? Republicans are all over it.
electrek.co electrek.co
Click to expand...
From the Washington Post article you quote, @basilio the decision to terminate the purchase is not as bad as you make out. From the link you gave for the WAPO to which I subscribe. I will remove the uptick I gave you from your post for dishonestly not quoting facts contrary to your case. Click on the short paragraphs below.

But the program to replace those trucks has faced significant setbacks. Oshkosh encountered delays and engineering problems during early manufacturing runs, and disagreements — and accusations of corporate dishonesty — among executives plagued the production process, The Washington Post reported in December.


Oshkosh was supposed to have delivered about 3,000 vehicles by the end of 2024. Instead it had provided roughly 100 and raised its prices as the Postal Service ordered additional EVs.
After Congress approved vehicle funding for the agency, Oshkosh charged an Inflation Reduction Act “premium adjustment” that increased the overall value of the Oshkosh purchase by more than half a billion dollars, according to company financial disclosures.
Some of Trump’s allies have identified the program as an example of government waste. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) wrote on social media in December that the vehicles were “a Democrat Green New Deal scam that’s throwing your money away.”
Elon Musk, then a Trump ally and part of his government efficiency drive, wrote on X, “That is a crazy price per truck.”
Postal Service stakeholders are set to testify before a House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee Tuesday to discuss the mail service’s finances and operations.
Click to expand...

gg
 
Garpal Gumnut said:
From the Washington Post article you quote, @basilio the decision to terminate the purchase is not as bad as you make out. From the link you gave for the WAPO to which I subscribe. I will remove the uptick I gave you from your post for dishonestly not quoting facts contrary to your case. Click on the short paragraphs below.



gg
Click to expand...
Your right in going into the details of the Washington Post story. I read the original story from Electrek and added the direct Washington Post link because I thought it might offer further information.

I didn't go through the Post story itself so I didn't see the additional information. I didn't dishonestly not quote facts contrary to my case. I wasn't aware of these al all.

Having said that GG how about looking at the all of the story ? The fact that the delivery vans are 30-40 years old and literally falling apart. The fact that of all options EVs offer the cleanest, safest and most cost effective option for deliveries of mail and parcels ? Yep there have been issues with the development of the project. That was noted in Electrek in its story.

They could order the new NGDV as a petrol powered vehicle. No probs there. Just keep the pollution going, the far greater running costs and destroy the charging infrastructure that is supporting the current EV's. The Post Office was going to buy some petrol versions for particular runs they thought would be unsuitable for EVs.

I think it would be worth seeing what the Post Office management have to say about the proposal to turn back the clock.
 
basilio said:
Your right in going into the details of the Washington Post story. I read the original story from Electrek and added the direct Washington Post link because I thought it might offer further information.

I didn't go through the Post story itself so I didn't see the additional information. I didn't dishonestly not quote facts contrary to my case. I wasn't aware of these al all.

Having said that GG how about looking at the all of the story ? The fact that the delivery vans are 30-40 years old and literally falling apart. The fact that of all options EVs offer the cleanest, safest and most cost effective option for deliveries of mail and parcels ? Yep there have been issues with teh development of the project. That was noted in Electrek in its story.

I think it would be worth seeing what the Post Office management have to say about the proposal to turn back the clock.
Click to expand...
That was why I gave you an original uptick. I, like you, applaud the use of EV use in the postal service, as they now are starting to do in Australia. My apologies for the harsh language, but reading the full article I'd be hard put to blame the Republicans.

gg
 
Garpal Gumnut said:
That was why I gave you an original uptick. I, like you, applaud the use of EV use in the postal service, as they now are starting to do in Australia. My apologies for the harsh language, but reading the full article I'd be hard put to blame the Republicans.
Click to expand...

Ok. I can see problems in the original contacts. It isn't perfect or probably what could have been ideal .

I am certain however one could find a thousand seriously dodgy deals in procurement for the US Governments. In this case the three options seem to be

1) Continue with the current contract. Hold the business accountable for performance
2) Kill the EV versions and ask for Petrol powered versions of the contracted vehicles. So how does that work out financially not to mention environmentally ?
3) Kill the whole deal and effectively hamstring the Post office with a xucked delivery system.

I reckon we'll see option 3 GG. And the US Postal service will be privatised and killed.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Just for the record I will post further analysis from the Electrek article which incensed me . The other links are worth checking out as well.

Republicans move to undo these improvements, wasting taxpayer dollars​

And so, of course, republicans are now threatening this unequivocally good thing in a way that’s only going to cost taxpayers more money and ensure that your mail costs, the pollution you breathe in your home and the danger to your neighborhood all increase.

As reported by the Washington Post, Senate republicans are considering a version of the tax bill that would auction off these vehicles, at pennies on the dollar, seemingly simply out of spite for the program.

As usual, republican justifications for the billions of dollars in waste they’re proposing don’t stand up to even the slightest amount of scrutiny.

Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) stated that the plan “aims to cut unnecessary costs and focus USPS on delivering mail and not achieving the environmental initiatives pushed by the Biden Administration.”

But Paul ought to know this is false, because he’s part of the Senate, the body that approved spending for these vehicles in the first place in 2022 (and, if you remember your high school civics class as Paul apparently does not, the Senate is not part of the “Biden Administration”). Nor is the USPS directly part of any presidential administration, since it is an independent federal agency, and during the bidding process was headed by Louis DeJoy, who was appointed during one Mr. Donald Trump’s first stint squatting in the White House.

Paul should also know that the bidding process started in 2015, and thus that the majority of it occurred while nobody named Biden was in the White House in the first place.

He also ought to know that most of that money is already spent, and selling off items the USPS already owns for pennies on the dollar doesn’t “save” anyone any money. Neither does having to buy all new gas vehicles, with higher fueling and maintenance costs, to replace them – this is the very definition of “unnecessary costs.”

Worse, falling back to the old LLVs and/or restarting the bidding process for their replacement would take more time and cause more waste. And in the interim we’d be stuck with these “obsolete” vehicles (as the USPS itself calls them) which, as covered above, are inefficient, unsafe, lack features, and routinely catch fire. All of this gets in the way of the focus on delivering mail.

So, Paul is either lying or stupid, but given the letter after his name, we’re pretty sure it’s both.

The USPS rightly pointed out what a stupid idea this is, stating “The funds realized by auctioning the vehicles and infrastructure would be negligible. Much of infrastructure is literally buried under parking lots, and there is no market for used charging equipment” (hmm, tearing out charging equipment for no benefit at all? where have we heard that before…). It said this action “will seriously cripple our ability to replace an aging and obsolete delivery fleet.”

USPS further urged the Senate “to pause and consider the substantial harm this proposal would cause to the Postal Service and our customers, your constituents.”

But, given the republican party’s current direction, maybe that exhortation would backfire. Harm seems to be precisely what they want, as reflected in everything they’re doing these days.

If you do happen to be one of those constituents, particularly in a republican state, it might be worth giving your Senator a call and asking them to stop wasting your money and raising your mail costs by selling off money-saving vehicles that promise to clean the air of your community. Here’s where you can find your Senator’s contact info. (This might be of particular interest to South Carolina Senators Lindsey Graham and Tim Scott, whose vote would kill jobs in their state, where the trucks are being built)
 
Garpal Gumnut said:
No worries @basilio . I accept you made a genuine mistake. I make them all the time. EV is good. Not all Republicans are bad.

gg
Click to expand...

Indeed. Yep EVs are good - almost all the time.
Not all Republicans are bad ?

Absolutely agree. There are fine Republicans and Conservatives who realise and highlight what a criminal xhitshow this administration is. Unfortunately there appear to be very few current Republican Senators or Members of Congress who can stand up against the excesses and extremes of Trumpism./MAGA

Republicans I Follow

The Bulwark, https://www.thebulwark.com/
Rick Wilson https://lincolnproject.us/
Adam Kizinger https://www.country1st.com/
 
To add some fuel to this particular fire because why the hell not, it's a slow news day:

In the same way that tech developed in the aero/spaceflight industry trickles down into ordinary life, the same goes for a lot of military tech. If the battery tech existed, electricity would be the ideal power source for military vehicles because they would now run silently, giving them a massive tactical advantage.

When you're trying to convince someone (in this case, republicans) of something you've gotta speak their language to them, ya know? ;)
 
over9k said:
To add some fuel to this particular fire because why the hell not, it's a slow news day:

In the same way that tech developed in the aero/spaceflight industry trickles down into ordinary life, the same goes for a lot of military tech. If the battery tech existed, electricity would be the ideal power source for military vehicles because they would now run silently, giving them a massive tactical advantage.

When you're trying to convince someone (in this case, republicans) of something you've gotta speak their language to them, ya know? ;)
Click to expand...
Indeed . And guess what ? EV is a huge part of military tech. They have the deepest pockets and as you point out it makes so much sense from a operational and tactical perspective.

www.military.com

The Current (and Future) State of Military EVs

Electric vehicles are coming to U.S. military installations, but they might not be what you expect.
www.military.com www.military.com
www.atlanticcouncil.org

Power projection: Accelerating the electrification of US military ground vehicles

This Global Energy Center & Forward Defense paper explores the advantages of electrifying military ground vehicles.
www.atlanticcouncil.org www.atlanticcouncil.org
 
basilio said:
But Paul ought to know this is false, because he’s part of the Senate, the body that approved spending for these vehicles in the first place in 2022
Click to expand...
Pretty much all politics seems to rely on the public having very short memories, this is no exception to that.

To the economic implications well at the macro level it's a folly for the US or any other country to intentionally stagnate technically. Either keep up or in due course suffer the consequences of not having done so. :2twocents
 
basilio said:
This is THE testament to the Economic lunacy of the Trump era. Read and wonder.


Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) stated that the plan “aims to cut unnecessary costs and focus USPS on delivering mail and not achieving the environmental initiatives pushed by the Biden Administration.”

But Paul ought to know this is false, because he’s part of the Senate, the body that approved spending for these vehicles in the first place in 2022
Click to expand...
Did you check whether Paul voted in the affirmative?
The fact that congress voted in favour does not mean each individual may have.
I could not get any deffinitive answer using google, but according to GROK, which may or may not be a reliable source
1751068820682.png
Mick
 
moXJO said:
Can we confine the "I hate one side of politics" to general chat.
@Joe Blow
Dont let derangement syndrome leak out of general chat into stock/business threads it ends up hijacking them.
Click to expand...

Agreed. All political content regarding the Trump Presidency should be posted in this thread.

This thread concerns the economic implications and consequences of Trump's policies.
 

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