Postal Service seeks to cut gasoline dependence

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - U.S. mail carriers are adding high fuel prices to the list of things that won't keep them from their appointed rounds. The U.S. Postal Service on Wednesday said it is looking for vehicle technologies that are less dependent on gasoline to replace its 195,000 neighborhood delivery vehicles. The Postal Service, which owns 220,000 vehicles in total, operates the world's largest civilian fleet. It has also been hard-hit by soaring gas prices in recent years. According to Walter O'Tormey, the Postal Service's vice president of engineering, a 1-cent increase in the cost of a gallon of fuel adds $8 million to its annual expenses. Fuel costs are expected to increase by $600 million this year. They were $1.7 billion last year. Letter carriers are testing a number of different technologies in 43,000 vehicles,... [read full story]