Pittsburgh-area residents may have noticed their neighborhood mail trucks are looking different, with stubby, low-to-the-ground designs and massive windshields.
They’re the vanguard of more than 100,000 new vehicles the U.S. Postal Service is introducing nationwide — a mixture of commercial off-the-shelf vehicles and custom-built “next generation” delivery vehicles, spokesman Xavier Hernandez said. Some are gas-powered, while others are electric.
Pittsburgh Postal Union Branch 84 President Ted Lee confirmed that Postal Service began operating new electric delivery vehicles at its post offices across the North Side this week, including the location at 900 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Hernandez said the new designs will “replace and expand” the current fleet of 230,000, many of which have served for more than three decades.
Wisconsin-based Oshkosh Defense specially designed the next-generation vehicles for the Postal Service, with comfort and safety in mind, Hernandez said. The trucks are equipped with several features their predecessors lack, like automatic emergency braking, blind-spot warnings, larger windshields for enhanced visibility and 360-degree cameras.
Mail carriers specifically requested other improvements for the trucks, like air conditioning and cup holders, Hernandez said. The trucks’ unusual shape provides more than double the cargo space and “ample headroom and accessibility” while maintaining sightlines for even the tallest and shortest mail carriers,” he said.
The Postal Service began deploying the new vehicles in Georgia in 2024, and 44,000 have already hit the streets, with a further 62,000 planned through 2028, Hernandez said.
Pennsylvania currently has 500 operating next-generation delivery vehicles and 1,900 new vehicles in total, including the Ford E-Transit, Ram ProMaster and Mercedes Metris, Hernandez said.
Outside of Pittsburgh, Lee said the vehicles are active in Erie and Harrisburg.
Lee said he would gather feedback regarding the new vehicles from his union workers over the next several weeks.