Postal Vehicle Service Fuel Cost and Consumption Strategies

Our objective was to evaluate the effectiveness of Postal Vehicle Service (PVS) fuel cost and consumption strategies. The PVS fleet moves mail between U.S. Postal Service processing facilities, inner-city delivery offices, and local businesses and mailers. The usual travel distance is about a 50-mile radius of their Postal Service location. The PVS fleet currently consists of 2,152 cargo vans, 1,799 tractors, and 375 spotter vehicles. We found that PVS fuel cost and consumption strategies could be improved. Specifically, the Postal Service does not have a specific PVS plan for reducing its reliance on petroleum-based fuels or integrating technologies such as telematics, which collects, records, and transmits vehicle data to improve fuel efficiency.