I would not have believed this had I not seen this come from this idiot’s Senator’s mouth. Take the three most inefficient and subsidized things in government today, add them together, and there’s no way that spells SUCCESS. It does spell FAIL though.
From Fox News website (via C-SPAN)
As the potential collapse of the United States Postal Service looms on the horizon, one Senate Democrat has proposed an unusual plan to solve the crisis.
Senator Tom Carper (D-DE) looks to harvest the electricity that windmill farms produce in order to power a new fleet of battery-operated postal delivery vehicles, replacing the previous ’25 to 30 years old’ ‘dilapidated’ vehicles.
The Senator admits the idea is “out there” but concludes that “we need to be thinking boldly, and the postal service needs to do that”
Watch the video:
If you are a constituent you need to sound off. The stupidity of this idea is not only robust, it is unprecedented. Electric vehicles do better on long hauls and commutes, stop/start a thousand times a day at each mailbox, not so much.
They’d be FORD’s (Found On Road Discharged) the first day.
(h/t) Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
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Lets be bold – Senator Tom Carper (D-DE) = Stupid is Stupid does.
The actual US Postal service actually makes a profit, the union negotiated pension package is what is killing them.
The little smile between hopeful bursts of absurdity is just wayyy to cute. And out there, too.
It’s no wonder the watermelon’s have buffaloed so many Democrats. Hopefully this guy is not the sharpest knife in the democratic drawer.
Carper’s postal plan? – permanently cancelled, I hope.
supercujo says:
April 25, 2012 at 7:08 pm
“The actual US Postal service actually makes a profit, the union negotiated pension package is what is killing them.”
The pensions are part of what the workers cost; so excluding the pensions from this cost is sophistry.
They were profitable would they not need to pay pensions, but as they need to, they are not.
“Siemens Wind Project Generates Losses”
Big difficluties in connecting the off shore North Sea wind farms to the German power grid. And these loses are projected into the future because of the “long implementation lead time” in these projects!
http://english.ntdtv.com/ntdtv_en/news_business/2012-04-25/Siemens-Wind-Project-Generates-Losses.html#video_section
supercujo says:
April 25, 2012 at 7:08 pm
The actual US Postal service actually makes a profit, the union negotiated pension package is what is killing them.
>>>>>>>>>>
Is that all? Simple solution really, worked for GM who was in the same boat. Just have the government buy them.
Oh, wait…. never mind.
Biden and now this guy? Maryland, can you do a little better please?
Electric vehicles do better on long hauls and commutes, stop/start a thousand times a day at each mailbox, not so much.
>>>>>>>>>>>
Well that’s easily fixed too. Just have the electric cars park on the corner in each neighbourhood. Residents will be required to bring their mailbox to the car. That would cut out 98% of the starts and stops and save even more money! Even better, we could convince everyone to stop sending paper documents in the mail and only send electronic documents and save more fuel still.
Oh, wait…. never mind.
This First Class Male should be Certified as a matter of Priority 😉
Neither ran nor sleet nor snow will keep us from completing our appointed rounds, but lack of wind will keep our vehicles in the garage.
Well that was quick!
I started my daily ‘spot the lunatic’ exercise and finished in less than two minutes. An all time record.
Well, New Zealand can do better than that! How about putting wind farms on fault lines and not being able to dispatch the electricity! Take a look at the corruption behind this watermelon fail.
http://nzwindfarms.wordpress.com/
Postal Service 1. is not government 2.not subsidized 3.been a “cash cow” for congress for decades – price of stamps is really a hidden tax. 4. Has experience with electric, hybrid, and fuel cell vehicles. This electric vehicle program has been in the works for years – has been testbed for smart grid technology. Will this save the USPS. No.
Typical Democrat. He has no thought about paying for either the wind turbines or the vehicles. I suppose he thinks that Congress passing his idea will make them appear like magic.
I beg to differ; it’s a good idea (the cars, not the windmills). Number One Son drove a high-school electric project car around for a while (it wasn’t much more than a golf cart that ran on lead-acid batteries, but it was street-legal). Then one summer he worked for the Postal Service. He quickly observed that an with low daily mileage, an electric car made more sense than starting and stopping the gasoline-powered little trucks and vans the USPS now uses. They are required to shut them off every time the driver gets out to walk half a block, which is hard on the engines, and means they never really warm up. Electric cars would be more efficient, cleaner, and longer-lived.
/Mr Lynn
Congress should just eliminate the USPS.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postal_Reorganization_Act
No need to send letters much anymore. FedEx, UPS and the rest can fill the required void. Use private contractors for the rural areas.
Private industry will adapt just fine if junk mail was gone…and think of how GREEN we would be.
Why is the USPS needed today?
Back in the 70’s or 80’s I anted to buy one of Vanguard’s electric postal trucks–I forget why the government wouldn’t take them. (My wife, wiser that I said NO! — we had a citicar in the garage a lot for maintenance.)
http://www.autonet.ca/auto-news/automotive-industry-news/2011/10/30/vanguard-citicar/
“They’d be FORD’s (Found On Road Discharged) the first day.”
I thought it was Fix Or Repair Daily…
Just as long as it’s the leftist Democrats, and not Republicans of any stripe, that advocate these costly, nutty endeavors. I mention this because it is important that we stem any effort to revive Republican / conservative interest in taking up “the cause” again of the leftists on AGW. My Tom Nelson comment on this:
RINO Repub Huntsman was virtually lynched for his adamant and self-righteous pushing of the leftist AGW. I think he was puzzled a bit by the voters’ reaction; it appears that some of the establishment Repubs just seemed tone deaf to the people constituting their own party, of which in a recent Pew poll only 19% of Repubs believed in man-made GW.
In years past, conservatives were duped good, indeed made a fool of, by the leftists on agw. Now, we can have moderate Repubs, but never again will they get away with espousing the Marxist-motivated and extensively debunked climate theory of the econuts.
“Going Postal” now has a whole new meaning.
“Found On The Road Dead” back in the days of the PIntos with the vulnerable gas tanks.
/Mr Lynn
I’m surprised this clown didn’t suggest putting windmills atop the new electric vehicles to recharge them as they drive.
Arts majors may need to ask science majors about this. XD
I’m surprised at that statement. You’re much more knowledgeable in this area than I am, but I would think that a start/stop regime would be appropriate for an electric vehicle. When you take your foot off the gas in an internal combustion vehicle it has to keep running. Electric just stops sending juice to the motor. Is it the startup load that’s the issue?
On another note, I live in Delaware (I know, with representatives like these it’s embarrassing, but I live down state where there is some semblance of rationality) and we have three communities in our area. The first two were started some years ago and have mailbox delivery at our houses. The newest one requires the owners to go to a central area to get their mail. Sort of like an apartment mailbox area only outside. Just wait, it’s coming to the rest of us.
Carper is just trying to find justification for the offshore wind project here that’s not going anywhere.