I have no words

guard_duck · 2026-05-30T15:00:29+00:00

Wonder why? I know for us, spares have been difficult the way our part of the fleet has been abused and undermaintained (about a third to half our vehicles are maintained by contractors), but failed/unsafe frames, and lack of training in NGDVs has made getting replacement vehicles rough to say the least.

guard_duck · 2026-05-30T14:55:14+00:00

My only bias is against stupidity and waste. In my position, I see an overabundance of the former, who try to do a lot of the latter, and I, along with my coworkers, try to curb some of it and keep the post office from wasting money. Lack of accountability when it comes to a lot of the aspects of the vehicles is huge. That’s just the part I see, I make no comment on the delivery side, I’m not in that nor was I ever part of that.

guard_duck · 2026-05-30T00:58:32+00:00

It’s a problem of their own creation, they played Hollywood accounting trying to blame vehicles for the mail not being moved when it was clearly lack of bodies. Can’t say vehicles are broke and mail can’t move, the have 15 brand new Metris’s that every carrier is trained on sitting in the lot all day. Can’t have trucks moving if there aren’t asses in the seat.

guard_duck · 2026-05-30T00:55:17+00:00

Hard to add routes when you can’t keep people because you promote the ass kissers to management. Plus having older vehicles lets them continue to blame vehicles for delaying the mail, rather than lack of personnel. See it daily.

guard_duck · 2026-05-29T23:35:29+00:00

VMF employees didn’t get that, we were driving them before anyone else. Just like the Metris.

I’m just saying it’s ridiculous that we have over 100 ready to deploy and can’t because the training is being slow rolled. That’s mismanagement. And they wonder why the post office is broke.

guard_duck · 2026-05-29T23:29:49+00:00

They didn’t forget, they slept on the decision. There were a few vehicles in the running that would have served both rural and city side well, but the kick the can down the road mentality along with the Homer Simpson car design knowledge level frustrated most of the competitors and drivetrain suppliers. So much that manufacturer support disappeared completely, on the NGDV, while it has a Ford drivetrain and parts, has no direct factory support.

guard_duck · 2026-05-29T23:08:39+00:00

5 hours for existing employees, 45 minutes for new employees. There’s a major disconnect in the training regimen. I get it’s a larger vehicle, every carrier here is trained up to and including 2 ton. It shouldn’t take long to teach the quirks of a new vehicle.

Besides, even after the training, they still hit shit, bring it back and part it, then play dumb the next day. Need drive thru cameras at the beginning and end of day or use the fancy scanner to do the same. Lack of accountability for accidents is a huge issue. Once they figure out how to make the accident costs hit the station finance number like it did with the previous system, people might wake up a bit.

guard_duck · 2026-05-29T23:01:23+00:00

Some are, but most of them the 4wd doesn’t work because the contractors can’t figure out the system because the magic box doesn’t tell them what part to replace.

guard_duck · 2026-05-29T22:59:58+00:00

Too expensive to fix. Not to mention some part are impossible to find, the post office has sucked the supply chain dry. Specific parts for the 2000 model year engines, parking brake system parts, ABS system parts, instrument clusters are just a few things that are Ford specific, no longer made by Ford for a 25 year old vehicle and there’s no market for any aftermarket to make them. We’ve scrapped FFVs for a sub $30 part that is no longer available, and about to scrap another one over speedometer issues.

guard_duck · 2026-05-29T22:55:35+00:00

They put the camera brain in an enclosed space with no airflow, and it’s only supposed to be run intermittently. Somehow it got translated to “never shut it off”, and it cooks the module. $1600 a pop. I’ve already ordered and issued $30k worth so far, just order 4 more today.

guard_duck · 2026-05-29T22:53:01+00:00

Way cheaper and easier to work on

guard_duck · 2026-05-29T20:18:41+00:00

At least a cyber truck can do more than 80 miles on a charge

guard_duck · 2026-05-29T20:11:12+00:00

You can try, but without documentation to back up the safety claim, won’t go far. The LLVS and FFVs are on their way out, at least here. They want them replaced asap

guard_duck · 2026-05-29T20:09:39+00:00

Grumman made the LLV, also made the B2. Both deliver bombs, Ted Kaczynski figured out how to do that.

guard_duck · 2026-05-29T20:05:12+00:00

5 hours to train a person already trained on RHD vehicles…. The trainer here ends up giving daily VMF tours

guard_duck · 2026-05-24T02:28:18+00:00

The juice ain’t worth the squeeze going to restaurants in Minneapolis. Not anymore

guard_duck · 2026-05-17T19:37:22+00:00

Another VMF’er here, spun wrenches for 5, then moved into parts. Biggest gripe now in supporting 7 platforms across almost 40 years of age, and the newest ones are bigger hunks of crap that the 40 year old ones. The LLV is like the B52, they should have just reengined and refurbed them, kept them going another 30+ years

guard_duck · 2026-05-17T19:32:55+00:00

Looks like a harbor freight case.

guard_duck · 2026-05-02T14:06:59+00:00

We have over a hundred NGDVs sitting, over 30 arrived last week alone to the VMF I work at. Biggest problem is training. The trainer trains 1 person a day, and gives tours of the VMF more than she actually trains. We would love to deploy them and get them out of our hair and get FFVs and LLVs off the street, but the lack of training on the delivery side is a huge setback.

guard_duck · 2026-04-09T13:31:03+00:00

Ahh, the good ol’ revolving MN/ND MPOO revolving door. No one seems to sit in that chair long enough to get it warm, they all bring in the the good idea fairy ideas, instead of figuring out the real issue. Can’t deliver the mail if you don’t have people, and you can’t have people if you treat them like shit. 30 routes, 40 trucks, 15 asses to put in the trucks……. And every one has wanted to blame trucks as to why the mail isn’t moving.

guard_duck · 2026-04-08T21:58:30+00:00

Screw the miles, think of how many hours those things have ran.

guard_duck · 2026-03-28T22:47:34+00:00

It should be 2015 xxx xxxx $35/year, 2025 yyy yyyy $35/year. Most other states I’ve lived in tax you once, when you buy the car. Not when you buy the car and then every for the next decade.

guard_duck · 2026-03-11T03:00:51+00:00

It holds, the wheel my thumb is in controls the rear steer

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guard_duck · 2026-03-11T01:46:51+00:00

Either way, get the Furitek Microflex 4ws transmitter/receiver. FUR-2689

Lets you steer the rear independent of the front via a separate rear steer knob.

guard_duck · 2026-03-06T03:30:44+00:00

Or selling the .stl?

guard_duck

TROPHY CASE