OSHKOSH (NBC 26) — The United States Postal Service(USPS) is making an investment to its fleet and turning to Northeast Wisconsin to do it.
"This vehicle to this point in time a lot of development has gone into it, thousand of hours done right here in Oshkosh, Wisconsin with the fantastic engineering capability that we have,” said John Pfeifer, the President and Chief Operation Officer of Oshkosh Corporation.
USPS has selected Oshkosh Corporation and specifically Oshkosh Defense to supply the next generation of postal delivery vehicles.
"We're going to give them zero emission, battery electric vehicles and we're also going to give them low emission internal combustion vehicles,” Pfeifer said.
The company will receive an initial $482 million dollars to retool and build out its factory.
Leadership says it’s the first time in three decades an investment of this magnitude has been made and really the first time ever for one like this.
"Today's postal delivery is totally different than it was 30 something odd years ago when the current fleet was developed. It's all about small packages and e-commerce today. They need vehicles that will allow them to be safe and productive to deliver that type of mail,” Pfeifer said.
Vehicles that will drive job growth at Oshkosh Corporation.
"This is good for the American economy, great for the American worker, we're going to hire a lot of people. From high paying hourly jobs in manufacturing to engineering jobs. That is really good for America so this is a win win for a lot of different parties,” Pfeifer said.
You could start seeing these upgraded mail delivery trucks in your neighborhood in 2023.
Pfeifer said Tuesday morning he also received the news they had been selected for the sixth consecutive time as one of the most ethical companies by the Ethisphere Institute.
