“The Postal Service proposes to utilize mobile fueling contractors to fuel vehicles on site at selected postal facilities located throughout the United States. The program would focus on, but not be limited to, city and rural delivery units with 30 or more routes using vehicles owned by the Postal Service. Based on these criteria, it is anticipated that up to 1,100 sites may be eligible to convert to mobile fueling. Mobile fueling, also known as fleet fueling, wet fueling, or wet hosing, is the practice of filling fuel tanks of vehicles directly from tank trucks. In this scenario, mobile refueling contractors drive tank trucks onto Postal Service property to fuel parked delivery vehicles and drive the tank trucks off site when fueling is completed. At this time, the only alternative identified is the ‘no action’ alternative of continuing to fuel delivery vehicles off-site at commercial gas stations.”
It is estimated that the Programmatic Environmental Assessment will be completed by August 1, 2010.
source: Federal Register via FR Doc 2010-14491.
How many service stations does a carrier drive by when he is on his route, I bet at least 5, This is another handout of postal funds to a select few companies who have wine and dined a postal officer. There is very little lost time for a carrier to fuel his vehicle while on his route, dam, he probable has to stop there to deliver mail to the business any way!!! Mobil fueling costs more per gallon and then there is the unknown factor of unrecovered vapors that are not recovered by the mobile fueler. This is really unfair competition to the local service stations that has to spend thousands of dollars on pollution control measures. This can help were the local service stations have refused to sell E85. This would allow the greater use of E85 in postal vehicles but even this has a very limited value. Then there is the security issue, to make this work it would be done at night when the station is closed, is it a wise idea to give postal gate keys out to a contactor who is going to hire the cheapest labor he can, then who’s going to verify that the fuel that is paid for is actually put in postal vehicles, I guess the Postal Inspectors, in their free time can babysit the fuel contractor, $70,000+ a year babysitter/fueling attendant. We could save more if we required the same % of employee reduction at HQ that the field as had to put up with.