When the US Postal Service unveiled its futuristic new mail truck, it had to hope for a positive response. After all, there has not been a new USPS truck since 1994 and designers have been working on the upgrade for six long years.
But images of the new delivery vehicle, finely publicized in advertising shots against leafy backgrounds evoking the American suburban idyll, evoked one emotion in particular. Happiness.
Sam Mintz, Politico’s transport reporter, took it upon himself to set up a Twitter straw poll ask if the truck is smooth and cool, or an ugly duckling. The result was a clear 60% in favor of the latter.
The good news is that the new model, manufactured by the defense contractor with the aptly ugly duckling name Oshkosh, will have a large number of safety features when it hits the roads in 2023. which has no alternating current, dangerous blind spots for drivers and can spontaneously catch fire, the new fleet will have airbags, automatic braking and 360-degree cameras to prevent accidents.
It will be petrol or electric powered.
The bad news is that this is probably the least attractive car since the Fiat Multipla, which does not look so much like an ugly duckling as a heavyweight boxer after a particularly bloody fight in the ring.
Late TV hosts had a field day with the new USPS trucks. Jimmy Kimmel calls the design ‘inconspicuous and yet vaguely disturbing’. The cruelest take was from James Corden, who compared the truck to Justin Timberlake’s face – a pretty brutal effect for both parties.
To be honest, some people jumped to the ugly duckling’s defense. The actor Kelli Maroney said: “It’s cute and I love it.”
Perhaps the solution to these polarized reactions is possible by the time the vehicle starts up in two years. One Twitter user showed the possible way America could fall in love with its new national delivery icon:
They take: “FALSE BINARY. IT LOOKS LIKE A DUCK AND IT MAKES IT COOL !!!!!!!!! ”