Mail Trucks as Campers

[Oldragbaggers]

We just heard a story on the news this morning that the U.S. Post Office is planning to replaced their entire fleet of trucks. I would imagine that will mean that the old trucks will probably be sold. I was thinking that some of the bigger ones could probably be turned into a pretty nice tiny camper. Anyone else have the same thought?

[deleted]

I did have that thought once early on before my trailer was built. It would be a lot easier to urban boondock (aka break the law) if you didn't have to get out of a tow vehicle to get into a trailer. But I'm too much of a goody-goody to want to be a law breaker. But for rv'ing it'd be really nice in inclement weather so you didn't have to get in and out while traveling just to go to bed. Just crawl in back all nice and dry. Plus they're taller than a teardrop so no problem putting a porta potty in back.

[bc toys]

Yes just the other day a UPS truck pulled up at work is a new one and I told my coworker it would be nice to get a older UPS truck and make a camper out of it I'll have to look into a mail truck When I was just a kid (long time ago) a guy that lived where I did in Texas took a old bread truck the ones where the door on curb side slid back and made a camper for hunting and fishing out of I thought it was the coolest thing back then.

[KennethW]

I think they are crushed so as not to be used in a crime.
Plus,they would get bad mileage.

[glenpinpat]

You can buy used usps trucks now so I do not think they will get crushed, heck you can buy most us military vehicles. They get 17 mpg so not the greatest fuel economy but they will probably sell cheap so this might be slightly offset. However you would be much farther ahead to get a transit and convert it.

[PaulS]

You can buy used usps trucks now so I do not think they will get crushed, heck you can buy most us military vehicles. They get 17 mpg so not the greatest fuel economy but they will probably sell cheap so this might be slightly offset. However you would be much farther ahead to get a transit and convert it.

So where can you buy them? Or at least look and see what they have for how much.

[Nobody]

You can buy used usps trucks now so I do not think they will get crushed, heck you can buy most us military vehicles. They get 17 mpg so not the greatest fuel economy but they will probably sell cheap so this might be slightly offset. However you would be much farther ahead to get a transit and convert it.

So where can you buy them? Or at least look and see what they have for how much.

Try this link - http://www.usa.gov/shopping/shopping.shtml - If it don't give ya the info you need, it should lead you to other links. Most surplus government property (Federal, State, & local) is auctioned off by various agencies. Many smaller, less expensive items are auctioned in 'lots' of 2 or more but many larger items sell individually. A few years ago different branches of the military auctioned off quite a few small, fiberglass camp trailers (Scamp, Casita, etc.). Most were pretty well 'beat up' but some were nice, tho kind of 'bare bones' units. Sometimes you can get a real bargain buying gov't surplus but lots of it is junk!

[Vedette]

I like "Vintage Stuff" so if this was a consideration for me, I would be looking for an old "DIVCO" milk truck??And Stacie ........you are better off with your Glampet!
Even though I can picture you with a tied on headband driving down the Hwy. in a VW bus with flowers painted all over it??? Or is that just a flashback?
Think it has already been done!
Good Roads
Brian & Sandi

[MtnDon]

I don't know how this would apply to the little mail trucks, but it is something to keep in mind. When re-purposing a vehicle one should think of the vehicles design GVW and the weight it will be carrying in it's new life. If the vehicle in question was designed for a much heavier GVW than the life as a light duty camper it may ride hard and shake up the people and contents more than expected or desired. And vice versa a light duty vehicle may be overloaded when outfitted with a lot of equipment. These things can all be changed but that also costs additional money.

[deleted]

LOL Brian! I agree. I love my Glampette. But, this would be cute too as a tiny rv...

When I lived in CA I used to drive by this lot all the time. See it? The cute, old, maybe a bread/milk, delivery truck. Not sure if this link will zoom in on it. If it doesn't just hit the + symbol a few times. It was tiny and would make a super cool, upcycled, vintage RV: https://www.google.com/maps/@37.286074,-121.95863,3a,15y,51.18h,89.98t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sSbLLYDviA1emUS0sXStSkw!2e0

[Woodbutcher]

Saw these 2 Divcos this past summer. Just rusting away.

[martymcfly]

Postal vehicles are called LLV's. It stands for long life vehicle. The bodies are all aluminum to prevent rust. There is no insulation anywhere in the vehicle. Hot in the summer and cold in the winter. The one that I drive daily is a 1991 with 132k on the clock. I drive it 8 miles a day, and on Saturday I usually put 6 gallons of gas in it. That means that it gets 8 miles to the gallon. It is so far out of alignment that it burns off a 6 ply right front tire in as little as 800 miles. It has never been aligned, they just put a new tire on it. It has a gm 2.5 4 cylinder that is geared so low that top speed is about 55 mph. I have a pretty good imagination, but I don't see any potential as a camper.

[MtnDon]

Saw these 2 Divcos this past summer.

I have a "soft spot" for Divco's. I'd to to hot rod one and turn it into a camper truck.

[glenpinpat]

Govdeals, auction zip. There are several places that sell surplus vehicles. A simple google search will bring you to several sites.

[Treeview]

I got a warm chuckle when I read this thread. My camper conversion mind was formed when I was in 4th-5th grade. The USPO letter carriers at the time used three wheeled vehicles.

http://postalmuseum.si.edu/machinesorbust/images/img5a.jpg

The carrier would have it parked on the corner of a street on the way home from school. Myself and two buddies agreed that 'when we got older' we were going to buy three, convert them to campers and travel. Now, this was in about 1963 so Ford had just debuted the Econoline in '61. Wayyyyyy before the van conversion era.

What has always stayed with me is the basic floorplan that we agreed on back then and how so many of my vans/campers have used the same idea. Its the best use of space for my purposes.

Bed behind the driver's seat front to back along the wall.
Counter on the short wall, passenger side.
A bit of open floor space at the foot of the bed.

I've been told that UPS crushes their out of service vehicles so no one mistakes them as belonging to Big Brown. Too many companies have been sued [successfully unfortunately] for issues related to an auctioned vehicle. USPO must be different.

Tom