When the United States Postal Service unveiled its new futuristic mail truck, it must have expected a positive response. After all, there hasn’t been a new USPS truck since 1994 and designers have been working on the update for six long years.
But the images of the new delivery vehicle, delicately placed in advertising photos against leafy backgrounds evoking American suburban idyll, generated an emotion above all. Hilarity.
Politico transport reporter Sam Mintz has taken responsibility for organizing a Twitter straw vote asking if the truck was stylish 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, to be made by the defense contractor with the appropriately named ugly duckling Oshkosh, will have a number of safety features when it hits the roads in 2023. Unlike the old, fragile machines that currently make noise in the USA without air conditioning, dangerous blind spots for drivers and with the possibility of spontaneous fire, the new fleet will feature an airbag, automatic brake and 360 degree cameras to prevent accidents.
They will be powered by gasoline or electric.
The bad news is that it is arguably the least attractive car since the Fiat Multipla, which looks less like an ugly duckling, but like a heavyweight boxer after an especially bloody fight in the ring.
Late night TV presenters had a field day with the new USPS trucks. Jimmy Kimmel called the design “normal and still vaguely unsettling”. The most cruel take was of James Corden, who compared the truck to the face of Justin Timberlake – a rather brutal contempt on both sides.
To be fair, some people jumped in defense of the ugly duckling. Actor Kelli Maroney said: “It’s adorable and I LOVE it.”
Perhaps a resolution of these polarized reactions will be possible when the vehicle goes into operation in two years. A Twitter user showed the potential way for the United States to fall in love with its new national delivery icon:
Your opinion: “FALSE BINARY. LOOKS LIKE A DUCK AND THAT’S WHAT MAKES IT COOL !!!!!!!!! “