Rural Mail Vehicles

Seat Covers Protect Your Rural Letter Carrier Vehicle

Rural Carrier — Sun, 02 May 2021 16:12:13 +0000

Seat Covers Are A Great Investment!

One thing I quickly learned as a rural letter carrier is that it doesn’t take long for your vehicle to get dirty – both inside and out. Some of us drive on the nastiest roads imaginable including dirt, mud, gravel, snow, etc. And driving with the window open at all times means the elements are going to find a way to get into your mail carrier vehicle.

Whether you have leather, vinyl or cloth seats, I have personally found that the small investment of installing seat covers can not only make your daily drive on the route more comfortable but it will also greatly help preserve your vehicle’s seats. I have used both cloth seat covers and a “leatherette-style” seat cover made by FH Group.

For the difference in cost, I would strongly suggest not going with the cloth style as they will still absorb moisture when it rains and snows inside your vehicle while the leatherette seat covers will prevent that moisture from soaking into your seats.

As I said, I can personally attest to the FH Group Perforated Leatherette Seat Covers. They come in a variety of colors to match (or contrast) your vehicle’s interior and are fairly easy to install once you get the hang of it. Keep in mind that these are “universal” seat covers – not “custom” seat covers. This means they are made to fit a variety of vehicles and are not specifically designed only to fit your vehicle. What does this mean to you?

They are going to cost much less than custom seat covers.
They are going to fit a variety of vehicles so there’s a good chance you may be able to use them on more than one of your mail carrier vehicles. I have been able to do that with my Ford, Honda and Toyota vehicles.
They are not going to be 100% super tight on your seats like a custom cover would be so expect a little movement every so often with all of the getting in and out of the vehicle that we rural letter carriers do on a daily basis.

There are lot of options out there when it comes to seat covers and it can get confusing trying to find the right one so be sure to read the descriptions carefully to make sure they will fit your vehicle before ordering and the next time it rains (or snows) in your vehicle, you’ll be glad your seats were protected.

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Rural Mail Carrier Strobe Light

Rural Carrier — Mon, 01 Mar 2021 00:28:58 +0000

Make Sure They See You!

One of the best investments you can make as a rural mail carrier is to get an emergency warning or flashing strobe light to place on your vehicle. Many post offices will provide a standard light to rural carriers free of charge but after years of dealing with what I felt was inadequate lighting, I decided to do some shopping online and purchase my own light.

Forget those ads you see in the Rural Carrier magazine advertising for lights. They are basically the same as the free ones provided by the USPS and most of them cost over $80.

Luckily there are many options to choose from now online and the Beamtech Emergency Warning Strobe Light from Amazon is the model I choose to purchase. That’s a photo of it in this post on my vehicle. I’ve used it for the last 2 years and have been very happy with the light.

I was curious how well the magnetic base would hold up to the harsh weather conditions here in Minnesota but even in the coldest (-45F windchill) and 50+ mile per hour winds, it’s held fast to my vehicle. I like that you can adjust the strobe patterns and the 10 ft straight cable is long enough to use on many types and sizes of vehicles. The fact that the cable is straight and not curly is also a bonus because it won’t tangle like those curly cables tend to do.

The only negative I have to report on the Beamtech Strobe Light is that the light stopped working after less than a year of usage but when I reported it to Beamtech, they quickly sent me a replacement fuse free of charge and that’s all it took to fix the issue.

We’ve all been in situations where you find yourself looking in the rear view mirror at the car behind you knowing that they are not paying attention to the fact you are stopped along the shoulder of the road delivering mail. This type of light won’t prevent you from running into idiots on the road but it will definitely help your vehicle to be more visible on the road and hopefully avoid any accidents on you rural carrier route.

Protect Your Rural Mail Carrier Vehicle

Rural Carrier — Tue, 16 Feb 2021 23:12:49 +0000

Don't Start From Scratch!

One of the first things I noticed after becoming a rural carrier is how easy it was to get scratches on my vehicle – especially my passenger door. All of those clunky mailbox doors falling down and scratching the sides of my car drove me crazy!

No matter how careful I would be, as soon as my mind would start to wonder (as it can on the route), there would be one of those damn old rusty mailboxes with the door that weighs a ton opening up and putting a fresh scratch on my door.

I’ve tried a lot of different things to try to protect my rural mail carrier vehicles over the years. In the beginning, I used to go down to one of the local sign shops and ask them if they had any scrap magnetic vinyl pieces. These actually worked pretty good but you never knew what sizes they were going to have – if any.

The last two years I’ve been purchasing the Master Magnetics Magnet sheet from Amazon. For around 10 bucks, it’s been a lifesaver for my car door many times. I’ve also been applying the USPS vinyl decals that are used on many outdoor mail box units as you can see in the photo.

If you’re looking for a cheap way to help prevent damage to your rural mail carrier vehicle, give it a try and see what you think. I’ve used mine in weather from 102 F down to -25 F. Rain, snow, dust, rocks, mud, etc. and the vinyl sheet stays put plus it looks good.

It’s nice for people to identify that you’re a rural carrier with the added decal and just another way of making your job look a little more professional. Just because rural carriers don’t get a clothing allowance for uniforms doesn’t mean we have to look like homeless people out there delivering the mail!

Snow Tires For Winter Driving on Rural Mail Carrier Routes

Rural Carrier — Sun, 03 Jan 2021 17:24:02 +0000

Snow Tires vs. All Season Tires

If you are like me and you live and work in an area that gets a significant amount of snowfall each winter, I would strongly encourage you to consider putting actual snow tires on your rural mail carrier vehicle if possible. I always thought that a good all-season tire was all I needed to get me through the snow and ice on the mail route but after entering many ditches and getting stuck numerous times, I decided to take the plunge and purchase snow tires several years ago.

Wow! What a difference it made. I no longer found myself “white knuckling” the route for 6 hours worrying about if I was going to get stuck again. I found myself driving through the snow like a hot knife through butter and while I passed many other vehicles having issues navigating the rural mail carrier roads on my route, I was much more confident.

If you can afford it, the best way to go is to purchase an extra set of rims and have one set for the winter with your snow tires on them and one set for the rest of the year with your all-season tires. This makes it much easier to swap on/off if the weather changes quickly like it can here in Minnesota. You can always check with your local auto salvage yard to see if they have your size rims if you want to save some money.

Let me point out that even if you have a vehicle with 4-wheel drive or all-wheel drive, you will notice a significant improvement in your ability to drive safely in the winter with snow tires. I realize it’s an investment but when your safety is at stake, I think it’s a very wise investment.

There are a lot of good snow tires on the market for rural mail carriers. The two that I am most familiar with are the ones I’ve actually used on my mail route the past 5+ years. They would be the Cooper Discoverer M+S tire and the Toyo Observe GSi-5 Winter Performance Studless tire.

The Cooper Discoverer M+S tires worked great on my Ford Escape and are the best tires I’ve ever owned. Unfortunately I was not able to find them in my size for my Toyota Highlander and ended up buying a set of the Toyo Observe GSi-5 studless winter tires. Luckily we have not had a ton of snow here yet this winter but on the few snow storms we have had, the Toyo tires have performed well. As with any tire, if there is a significant amount of ice on the roads, nothing is going to be 100% effective unless you have chains or studs in your tires but that’s not legal here in Minnesota. Check with your state guidelines about that where you live.

Tarsus Rural Letter Carrier Pedal Kit

Rural Carrier — Wed, 21 Oct 2020 21:50:08 +0000

Rural Mail Carrier Right Hand Drive Pedal System

I always told myself if I ever became a full-time rural mail carrier that I would invest in some type of right hand drive pedal kit for my vehicle. After stretching and straining to reach the pedals from the passenger side, my back and hip started to get out of alignment and this was causing pain along with general discomfort.

There are a lot of good rural letter carrier pedal kits on the market and I did a good amount of research to figure out which one made the most sense for me. I didn’t want a full right-hand drive kit with the steering wheel and belts as I think they look like crap and didn’t want that in my new postal vehicle. My arms are long enough to reach the steering wheel from the passenger side and I’ve already grown accustomed to driving this way the past 17+ years on the route. If this is your situation too, I would suggest taking a look at the TARSUS Rural Letter Carrier Pedal Kit at Tarsussystem.com

SAVE $25 ON THE TARSUS KIT!

If you’re considering a pedal kit for your rural carrier vehicle, I encourage you to check out the TARSUS system and take advantage of my special promo code RMC25.

Learn More

The thing that stood out to me about the Tarsus system compared to the others was the electronic accelerator option so you are able to turn this on/off with the flip of a switch. The company is based in New Brunswick, Canada and offers excellent customer service that I put the test on many occasions with my flood of pre-order questions about the system.

Let’s face it. None of the systems are “inexpensive” and the TARSUS will set you back around $900 USD (plus another $500 or so for installation) but if you look at it like I do, my body is worth the investment now that I am driving nearly 500 miles and spending around 30 hours a week in my vehicle.

In the two months since I’ve been driving with the system, I have noticed a definite decrease in backaches and sore hip issues. It took a few days to get used to having the pedals on the passenger side but now that I am used to it, I’m really glad that I decided to have the kit installed in my vehicle.

Besides the health and mobility improvements, this right hand drive pedal system allows you to look “outside the box” when searching for rural mail carrier vehicles. The kits can be installed in nearly any type of vehicle (check with TARSUS) before purchasing but you will no longer be forced to buy that “old beater” because it has a bench seat. My new vehicle has a full console in the center and there is no way it could have been used for a rural letter carrier vehicle without the pedal system.

Newer vehicles are going to be safer and more fuel efficient than the standard type of rural carrier vehicles that you are accustomed to seeing on the routes.

Transmission Flush

Rural Carrier — Wed, 23 Sep 2020 20:05:11 +0000

To Flush Or Not To Flush?

In the 17+ years that I have worked as an RCA or full-time rural mail carrier, every vehicle that I have used on the route (that’s 100%) have met their end due to the transmission going out. With all of the starting and stopping associated with most rural mail routes, this makes sense. That’s a lot of work for those poor transmissions to keep up with and when you toss in other elements like snow, dust, ice, gravel, etc. it makes sense to monitor your transmission regularly. Here are some simple ways to do this:

Flush your transmission every 1-2 years depending on the amount of mileage you are putting on the vehicle. If you’re delivering full-time and putting on 15,000-25,000 miles a year, do it annually. If you’re just doing it part-time, consider a transmission flush every 2-3 years.
1. 1. With this in mind, make sure you are taking it to a reliable mechanic and that they do NOT use any type of a machine to perform the flush. It should be done manually. Many mechanics will use a machine to help them save time and in my mechanic’s opinion (and mine) I would never recommend this. I learned the hard way after taking my Buick Regal in for a transmission flush after less than 1 year of service on the mail route. Unfortunately the auto repair shop that I took it to used a machine to perform the flush and the transmission was never the same again. In fact, it died on me several months later. If I had known better at the time, I never would have done this but here’s an example where you can learn from my mistake.
Check the color and odor of your transmission fluid regularly (every month or so). This is an easy way to ensure that the fluid is not getting dirty and filling with metal deposits. It will have a distinct metallic burning odor to it when it’s going bad. If you notice this, take it to your mechanic immediately and have them check it out for you.

A simple transmission flush will generally cost you around $250.00 USD and is well worth it considering the alternative of having to replace the transmission. This can easily cost over $3,000.00 and in most cases is not worth it depending on the age and condition of the vehicle you are using for your rural mail deliveries.