Some 200,000 mail carriers have reached a tentative contract deal with the U.S. Postal Service that includes backdated pay raises and a promise to provide workers with air-conditioned trucks.
The new agreement, which still needs to be ratified by union members, runs through November 2026. Letter carriers have been working without a new contract since their old one expired in May 2023. Since then they have continued working under the terms of the old contract.
Both the union and the Postal Service welcomed the agreement, which was announced Friday.
Why no sit/stand trucks?
We should have the technology to make a safe sit/stand mail truck. Especially when most of the route is < 15MPH.
Mail carriers, at least the ones in rural routes and some of the more sparse suburbs, spend a lot of time sitting. That can’t be good for them. Even just having the option to stand while working should be doable.
And they aren’t the only ones who could find a benefit to such a design…any sort of last-mile delivery service. Mail, newspaper, milk, packages, etc. Anybody who is either getting in and out frequently or is maintaining a very low speed through most of their route.