https://electrek.co/2025/06/22/republicans-cant-stop-wasting...
Case in point: Washpo is owned by Bezos, who owns a huge stake in amazon, who could be a potential buyer for these vehicles.
Does electrek have that kind of conflict of interest?
https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/23/politics/trump-senate-democra...
Let’s be honest - Oshkosh Corporation is really strange choice for making EVs. Very strange choice.
Like most contract vehicle builders, they put together parts from major suppliers. Bosch makes the EV motor and most likely supplies the control module and what not too.
GM had entered the procurement process, but left early on. Rivian had no track record when the procurement process began.
No argument that the process is long, and probably has problems, but I don't think it's strange that Oshkosh made it through the process.
https://www.oshkoshcorp.com/brands-innovations/electric-vehi...
I'm in the same boat. Politically / culturally I'm pretty centrist, and historically I've found things to like and dislike about both parties' governance. (G.W. Bush was the first administration I ever hated. But I'm mostly willing to write GW Bush off as a moron, and his fellow Republicans as inept.)
With Trump 2, for the first time I actually loath the entire Republican party, and the voters who support him. I'm having a very difficult time believing anything praiseworthy behind their motives.
It's the first time I truly fear for the immediate future of the country. I'm sure this says as much about me as it does about the Republicans. But if there are many others like me, this can't be a good sign of what's to come.
I agree. It's the first time I've ever had these thoughts and feelings, and it's not obvious how justified my hatred is.
I think people need to start asking in at least some good faith why so many people voted for this. If your answer really is that they're just racist and stupid... then I would encourage you to consider whether your opinion is more informed from social media and news than meeting actual people.
I mean... Yes? But there's a dynamic that's really hard to get past which is --
1. I do not actually think that half the country is racist and stupid, but most of my political interactions are unfortunately not with real people, they are with the media, a necessity if you want to stay informed, and if I want to hear the actual thoughts of the leaders of our country, it's not going to give me good impressions.
2. Many of the actual people in my life who are conservative have become MAGA-pilled, and do talk the same way folks do online. I'm a humanist, I empathize deep down with the nature of humans, and the death of small town / manufacturing America, etc. but I will say that I think that over time the lines between online and offline are blurring. Recently spent time with people I've known along time in meat space who talked about how smart and informed they were for knowing the "truth" about vaccines, how stupid the other side was for being in a ideological bubble. How terrible it was that 2 year olds were going to school and coming back Trans. And just in general the kind of anti-lib discourse that you would find on Twitter.
Sadly I think this idea that the extreme polarization of our country is limited to online discourse is becoming less and less true over time.
I wonder where all of these Trump voters get their opinion informed from. Are Trump voters known for meeting actual people and learning from them?
It's not half, but it's clear about 30% of the country is belligerently demanding a dictatorship and the blood of people like me.
I don't truly hate anybody, but it would be downright foolish to try and pretend this isn't so.
I know where many of my neighbors stand on issues, and if they could get away with killing people they disagree with for fun, they would. There has been a multi decade conditioning that a certain part of the country is not just people that think differently, but the enemy within that must be purged.
This doesn't strike me as something that's a both sides issue, but I'd rather be informed than right, and perhaps I'll be surprised.
Not sure how to fix this, but it's gotta happen somehow.
did we read the same article?
While it doesn't get as hot here as other parts of the country, it's pretty awful what he needs to deal with once temps reach 80+. his truck is like sitting in a metal can. he does what he can to park in shady areas but otherwise he's basically being cooked when he needs to go inside to get mail or drive it from stop to stop.
these vehicles would've been a huge improvement.
So my point is that the opposition here is not just the usual partisan squabbling. People should not think that waiting for 2/4 years is going to passively solve the problem like the regular changing of the buntings. Rather people need to realize the speed and brazenness these societal arsonists are moving, and demand their congresspeople stand up (versus the stochastic death threats from the social media addled nutsos, bots, etc) and put a stop to this. Congress shouldn't be voting on a big ugly omnibus spending bill written by special interests, rather they should be browbeaten into focusing on impeachment.
Not to mention standing up in Congress, and reminding each other to actually read what they're voting on, like MTG a few weeks ago realizing the effects of a bill she voted for but hadn't read.
I'm ready to believe the absolute worst about their conduct, but experience tells me to always hear both sides of a story before judging.
> 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.
sounds like cancelling should be agreed upon bipartisanly; partisan divide maybe on whether or not it's worthwhile to restart the procurement process.
On the other hand, that could be a "sunk cost" fallacy, if the future costs of these bespoke EVs is higher than the cost of just using a standard commercial utility vehicle. Not saying that it is, and the article really doesn't explore this other than to quote Rand Paul as saying that the provision “aims to cut unnecessary costs and focus USPS on delivering mail and not achieving the environmental initiatives pushed by the Biden Administration.”
I suppose the headline could’ve been: “GOP tax bill compels USPS to sell its 93 delivery EVs”. But let’s be honest, that wouldn’t get many clicks nor be on the first page of HN.
[1] https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/12/11/biden-usp...
It probably would. Knowing the small number of vehicles involved makes the bill seem more capricious and stupid, not less.
https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...
(I'm not commenting on this bill, about which I don't know anything.)
i80and•2h ago
vesinisa•2h ago
BartjeD•2h ago
NewJazz•2h ago
https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/23/politics/trump-senate-democra...
cosmic_cheese•2h ago
Selling them off really doesn’t make sense, though. I understand that the USPS operates in many areas that aren’t conducive to EVs and that ICE models are needed there, but these electric models would be extremely well-suited for urban areas where drivers are making frequent stops given how poorly ICEs perform in constant-stop-and-go scenarios.
NewJazz•2h ago
cchance•1h ago
deepsquirrelnet•2h ago
There’s a good chance this ends up as outright thievery.
i80and•2h ago
That said, blatant corruption is just the name of the game at this point in America, so who knows.
throwawaymaths•1h ago
tart-lemonade•2h ago
It's all part of a much larger plan to cripple the USPS so republicans can justify outsourcing mail delivery to the private sector. Take a great investment the USPS made that would decrease health premiums (because it's so much better ergonomically for drivers) and lower operating costs, and throw it into a fire. Now USPS has to continue to maintain the LLVs, even as they continue to fall apart and the drivers suffer.
spike021•2h ago
I live in the SF Bay Area and i've definitely seen small vans and such used for delivery by the major shippers. they don't always use the standard trucks.
adastra22•2h ago
s0rce•1h ago
tlogan•1h ago
monocasa•18m ago
jrockway•1h ago
6SixTy•1h ago
toast0•1h ago
Plenty of people driving old usps mail jeeps, you can always find someone who wants to drive something weird.