LYCOMING COUNTY, Pa. — The Williamsport Sorting and Delivery Center on Reach Road will roll out thirty-two new electric vehicles in 2025. The distribution center's current fleet is over 30 years old. The new vehicles will help modernize and revitalize the way postal service workers get around.
"These vehicles come in a mix of internal combustion engine, gasoline-powered, as well as fully electric, this is a fully electric model, in Williamsport we're gonna be getting about 60 vehicles all told between the NGDV (Next Generation Delivery Vehicle) and the E-transit," said Patrick Ecker, Executive Manager of Fleet Strategy and Support US Postal Service.
Workers at the distribution center say they're seeing more packages than regular mail. These new vehicles will allow carriers to fit more packages and be more spacious for workers. The vehicles are also designed with safety features, including blind spot detection and proximity sensors.
"They also have excellent visibility so we can have a 5th percentile individual sit in the front seat and comfortably see all the way around the vehicle so if we have someone in front of the vehicle, we have an obstacle, we can see that, they also have 360-degree cameras, so modern technology that we certainly don't have on our existing vehicles," said Ecker.
The distribution center recently underwent renovations to help improve efficiency, including installing a small delivery unit sorter.
"And really new equipment, which is really the shining star of our operation, we have that small delivery unit sorter, which is called an SDUS within there, that allows us to process over 3,000 packages per hour on a day-to-day basis," said Collin Stefanowicz, Manager of Sorting and Delivery Center Strategy and Optimization US Postal Service.
The facility's upgrades also include new carrier and floor cases. Workers use the cases to help sort the mail.
"And that machine really allows us to move that quantity of mail in a very quick time frame. Additionally, these sorting and delivery centers with that machinery and the reach we have to encourage customers to utilize us as a resource for delivering one-stop shop drop here, and we'll deliver to those 64,000 plus customers on a day-to-day basis," said Stefanowicz.
The upgrades are all part of the United States Postal Service's $40-billion Delivering for America plan.