Do you know which government entity has the largest commercial vehicle fleet? It’s the United States Postal Service.
That fleet is actually made up of two fleets:
- The Blue Eagle fleet. Owned by the USPS, it makes up 68 percent of the vehicles.
- The contractor fleet. It is the remaining 32 percent.
The Blue Eagle fleet’s 43,590 vehicles service a 50-mile radius delivering between regional post offices and doing route delivery and collection.
The 20,638 vehicles that contractors own handle inter-facility moments – that encompasses regional and long hail highway routes and between processing centers and post offices – and contract delivery services, which involves mail collection and delivery and rural letter carrier services.
Fuel
With such a large fleet, fuel savings is paramount.
David Hershey, a USPS supply management special, notes that every 1 cent increase in the price of fuel cost the agency $2 million dollars.
Its “corporate goal,” he says, is to decrease the fleet’s use of petroleum by 20 percent by the year 2020.
At present, the vehicle composition of the Blue Eagle fleet is:
- E-85 capable: 42,000.
- Electric: 49.
- CNG/LNG: 583
- Propane: 30.
- Hybrid: 829.
