Aaron, who's been working this route since 2005 says he delivers, "maybe 2000 pieces of mail and 20-40 packages" every day. Will there still be Saturday delivery in a year? "Honestly, I don't know. Things have been picking up, recently." Williams is one of the few institutions where mail is delivered to faculty and staff boxes with full public access.
The older among us may recall the 1987 introduction of the Grumman Long Life Vehicle (LLV) as the new standard for US postal vehicles. These are one of the few vehicles on the road today that do not have license plates. These aluminum-bodied trucks, powered by GM engines and assembled by Grumman, resist some of the damage that occurs with steel vehicles, but the aluminum also makes them relatively light weight (2,700 lb). In inhospitable climates—like Williamstown—the unmodified postal truck does not handle well in snow, or, uh, today's weather of freezing rain and sleet. So, locally, these trucks are loaded down with cement ballast to keep their rear wheel drive in contact with the road. Recently the 24-year expected lifespan of a mail truck was extended to 30 years. The last of these trucks was purchased in 1994, and a report by the General Accounting Office estimated that, in 2005 dollars, the fleet of vehicles would cost $5.8 billion to replace. Replacement seems necessary: these vehicles get 17 miles per gallon and the cost of retrofitting these trucks with more efficient fuels (to meet federal fleet efficiency guidelines) would cost more than replacing the truck outright. Each truck costs approximately $31,000 in 2011 dollars.
For those of you reading back from the future: starting today, it costs 46 cents to deliver a letter.
