The days of seeing a Royal Mail van pull up outside your house and a postie in shorts jump out the back may be coming to an end.
That is if the US Postal Service have anything to do with it anyway, as it’s just been announced they have very specific plans for the future of delivering mail and packages. “Postie out, robots in,” is the memo.
In other words, they want to get rid of the humble postie, who over the years has remained dedicated to delivering your mail in all weather conditions…rain, wind, snow, or sunshine, all while wearing a pair of shorts.
Instead, the US Postal Service want robots turning up at the doors of households. Sure, they will be efficient, but will they have any personality? My opinion is no, they will be too…robotic.
A robotic personality maybe, but it certainly appears that robots are the future of delivery. Remember how I reported recently about supermarkets in the UK wanting self driving vans with robots controlling them? Or how about the 4 hour delivery van that only requires a robot? The writing is on the wall it seems.
Or maybe not…we are talking about the “US Postal Service” here, perhaps they wont follow suit in the UK? Unfortunately I believe they will, just like everything else. McDonalds, Burger King, KFC, American Football…the UK ends up getting everything from America and this includes robot posties in vans.
Right now there are 228,000 US Postal vans on the roads of America, and if everything goes to plan the vast majority of these vans will be self driving and featuring robots by the year 2025.
I would expect the UK to jump on board with the same kind of plan as soon as the technology is proven, and once this happens we may never see another postie in shorts turning up at doorsteps again.
Instead it will be the robot with a delivery. Focused? Yes. Time for a chat? No. Robotic by name and robotic by nature.
Will all van drivers be robots in this futuristic Britain? Not at all, because while there are some jobs that can be done by a robot there are others that will always need a human on board.
Take your average roofer as an example. Like posties they also wear shorts in all weather conditions, but unlike posties I don’t think they are going to be replaced by robots anytime soon.
I just can’t imagine letting a robot loose on your roof to change the roof tiles or point up the ridge tiles, that would be a disaster waiting to happen.
Better to keep roofers very much human then, just like the majority of tradespeople such as builders, electricians, plumbers and carpenters.
Skilled workers who get the job done, wear shorts, visit a comparison site for van insurance and sometimes get involved in bouts of rage. The “white van man” so to speak.