Countywide

The San Diego Post Office will soon be able to remove “broken Jeeps” from the list of things that get in the way of delivering the mail.

Letter carriers in Escondido began driving the Postal Service’s new delivery vans Tuesday. Ten of the vans, which are designed to last three times as long as the red, white and blue Jeeps the Postal Service has traditionally used, are being used in San Diego County. Eventually 800 vans will replace the entire fleet of Jeeps countywide.

San Diego Post Office spokesman Mike Cannone said the vans have a life expectancy of 24 years. “It has an all-aluminum body, so it won’t rust, it won’t corrode,” Cannone said. The Jeeps will be phased out over the next six years as they break down, he said.

The vans hold about twice as much mail as the Jeeps do, cutting down on the number of times that letter carriers must go back to the post office. And because the vans are more fuel-efficient and are designed to last longer, the Postal Service figures it will save billions of dollars over the life of the vans.

“I’m sure the letter carriers are going to feel like they’re losing a best friend, because we’ve been using these for decades,” said Cannone, “but I’m sure they’ll get used to the creature comforts that come with the change.”

The main difference that letter carriers will find is an ergonomically designed swivel chair. They will also have easier access to the rear of the van.

Grumman Corp. won a $1.1-billion contract to build 99,150 of the new vans for the U.S. Postal Service. San Diego County will be the first area in the Western states to receive the new vehicles.