When you say 'sprinters' are you talking about the vans we got back in 02 or 03? The sprinter I'm yalking about looks nothing like the pictures above. When I talk about the sprinter, I'm talking about a van, literally.
These vehicles are totally useless except for a few applications. And if we used these vans striclty for these certain operations, it could save us $$$ in fuel.
Let's just say they are less efficient than a p5 if we are doing an air run that involves docks and if we need to get to the back of the vehicle to grab packages or bulk.
But, they come in real handy for airport runs. There are 2 major airports within an hour of my hub. These vans are ideal to make runs to grab EAMS or drop off PM airs. After making the EAM shuttle and the meet with the other drivers, these vans are perfect for doing an air-route that has mostly letters. If UPS can assign these vehicles to these types of operations than they can be a huge $$$ saver in fuel.
BUT, does the center manager even think of these things? My guess is he doesen,t because there is no accounting for these vehicles where I'm from: its first come first serve.
If I were the business manager and the fuel expense came from my budget (It does, correct?), I would have strict rules on which runs use these most fuel efficeint vehicles.
It seems like a no-brainer to me, but my guess is that this is the last thing on my center manager mind. As a shareholder, I hope I'm very wrong.
4 years old and I got one of my sprinters that will be cruched in a couple weeks.
I got 2 2003 sprinters in my fleet. I just got approval for one of them to be crushed, not even going to try to keep it running for peak. It is cheaper to get a rental for the 1.5 months of peak, then it is to try to fix the sprinter. It is sitting mothballed at 190,000 miles on it. The motor and tranny have had it. The body is falling a part. In a way I am happy it is gone. I was spending so much time trying to keep it running I was falling behind on my other cars.
We got word at the beginning of 07' that any major expenses had to be approved first by corporate. To my knowledge This sprinter is the first to be ADA'd and crushed in my district. my other sprinter is pretty much on borrowed time. Have talked to a couple other mechanics from other buildings and it is a chore to maintain the ones they have, also.
These sprinters might be ok for the private contractor, But not for UPS applications. There is no way these vehicles will last 20 years, it just isn't cost effective.