Royal Mail puts the Cute into its Deliveries

Our resident Brit, Automologist MAC, introduces...

...probably the cutest delivery truck EVER!

Some of the younger folks out there may be wondering why we are doing a story on mail delivery; after all, hasn’t the letter or the postcard gone the same way as the dinosaur. But, hey, don’t tell this to Great Britain’s Royal Mail, which has just announced the beginning of the electrification of its fleet of 49,000 vehicles.

For older folks like me, the daily visit of a mail van/truck/lorry on British roads was a common and much welcome occurring sight. Of course we all knew our local postie (often by name) who would wave and whistle his way down the road as he dispensed his load of letters and parcels.

The fact that the Royal Mail still has 49,000 vehicles plying the roads of the United Kingdom will indicate that there still is a role for the postal service and that e-mail hasn't killed it off yet. To start with, there will only be nine of the new postie vans on long term trial, and if you want to see them, you will have to go to Clerkenwell’s Mount Pleasant sorting office, which is just to the north of the city proper.

The truck was built by Danbury-based firm Arrival, but we do not have a lot of information about the new truck except that it will come in three sizes: 3.5 tonnes, 6 tonnes and 7.5 tonnes. London’s Mayor, Sadiq Khan, is a fan though, and he believes that this could be another small step in making London’s air cleaner.

I think that everyone has forgotten just how CUTE these new vans look and how they will put a smile on the face of anyone who encounters one during their daily grind. If you think about it, though, using electric for small-city-based delivery trucks that ply a small, limited-range route during the course of a working day and returns to a depot overnight is absolutely ideal. There should be no worry about range, just a little guilty feeling about where the electricity is coming from, and how it is being generated.

Pat agrees with me.