Last Mile Brief 02/03/2022: USPS orders 9,250 new EVs and 14,000 charging stations

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Today’s headline story: USPS orders 9,250 new EVs and 14,000 charging stations

The parcel and postal delivery operator says the contracts are consistent with the vehicle electrification strategy it announced in December of 2022.

Overall, the Postal Service says its total investment in vehicles is expected to reach $9.6 billion, including $3 billion from Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) funds. The December 2022 plan announced intended acquisitions over the next five years of a 75 percent electric fleet of Next Generation Delivery Vehicles (NGDV).

USPS’ acquisitions of NGDV after 2026 will be 100 percent electric. As part of the earliest stages of the delivery vehicle replacement plan, a contract for 9,250 commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) internal combustion engine vehicles will also be concurrently awarded to fill the urgent need for vehicles.

According to USPS, the specific locations for deployment of the vehicles and infrastructure have not yet been finalized and will depend on route characteristics, including whether a left-hand drive vehicle is mission-suitable as well as other business considerations.

The Postal Service says it plans to begin building out its charging infrastructure across a minimum of 75 locations within the next 12 months, and thereafter to continue the infrastructure build out in the succeeding years at many additional facilities as a part of our delivery vehicle electrification strategy.

“We are moving forward with our plans to simultaneously improve our service, reduce our cost, grow our revenue, and improve the working environment for our employees. Electrification of our vehicle fleet is now an important component of these initiatives,” said Louis DeJoy, Postmaster General. “We have developed a strategy that mitigates both cost and risk of deployment – which enable execution on this initiative to begin now. I again want to thank the Administration officials and members of Congress who have assisted us in this initiative. Each has shown genuine understanding that our movement toward electrification must be thoughtful and deliberate, must appropriately manage risk, and must be consistent with our primary delivery mission for the American people.”

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• Cainiao Network has released its financial results for the quarter that ended December 31, 2022, revealing that its revenue grew 27% year-on-year.
• Two post offices in Iceland will be closed and mail handling services in six countryside areas will be discontinued in the near future.
• The Polish Data Protection Authority (‘DPA’) has not published guidelines that would specify what scope of data may be disclosed to postal companies for the purpose of parcel delivery.
• Workers staged the second-ever strike at Amazon UK on Tuesday in a fight for higher pay.
• UK research has found the average retailer offers collection from 1,300 pick-up points, which may include stores as well as third-party pick-up points. That’s 11 more than last year, while the median retailer offers collection from 110 (-43).
• UK supermarket chain Sainsbury’s has announced plans to close two of its Argos RDCs during the next three years.
• Amazon is to close a logistics centre near Berlin.
• Royal Mail is adding photos on delivery to a growing number of products providing additional peace of mind for customers.
• Employees of the Belgian Post office Bpost are taking industrial action in protest at the company’s reorganization plans.
• CGT Transports, the largest union among delivery workers in France, is calling on members to strike on March 7th. However, as this is their first strike call, it is difficult to know how many workers will support it.
• Just Eat Takeaway has made a small 2022 core profit and sees better prospects for 2023.
• Rapid grocery delivery firm Getir is set to axe between 200 to 300 jobs following its merger with rival Gorillas, according to sources.
• A Canadian survey has shown that the most common reason for choosing to deliver with DoorDash is that ‘Dashers’ have the ability to set their own hours.

• Amazon has opened a last-mile delivery site in Woodland Park, New Jersey.
• Last mile logistics software provider HyperTrack has released new features for its software platform.
• Quadient reports that it has more than 10,000 parcel locker units in operation in the United States and Canada and a total of 18,000 units globally.
• An inspector general report has raised issues with how well the work hours that USPS supervisors report are supported but added that in discussions with supervisors it found that it is common for supervisors to intentionally report fewer hours than they actually worked.
• Walmart’s store-fulfilled delivery sales have nearly tripled over the last two years.
• Instacart has launched Instacart Business, a new service aiming to capture orders from businesses eager to avoid delivery fees and the cost of sending their own employees to purchase supplies.
• Starship food delivery robots have had trouble navigating through heavy snow at  US University campus. 
• A small group of Amazon employees are rallying behind Andy Jassy’s return-to-office ultimatum while their coworkers protest.
• A former FedEx Ground Package System Inc. package handler who was allegedly fired for stealing hamburgers has agreed to end her race and disability discrimination suit against the shipping company.

• After a three-year push by China’s State Post Bureau to expand the nationwide delivery network to include even the most remote parts of the country, some 95 percent of Chinese villages now have access.
• Online food delivery platform Swiggy said the recent changes in regulations on bike taxi services in Delhi have caused confusion and disruption to their services, creating panic among executives.
• GrabFood Malaysia says it is revamping its delivery options to enhance its affordability and accessibility for Malaysians.
• A survey of Australian adults who use popular alcohol delivery sites found one in five utilised a service to continue a home drinking session.

Photo: Sam LaRussa / Flickr / CC BY 2.0