tire chains

I have noticed for years that anytime there is much snow all of the small delivery trucks have chains on. I don't think any of regular mail trucks carry a jack that is for the shop only when the driver has a problem the just call the shop for a tow

It is irresponsible to drive on clear surfaces with tire chains, I agree. When all roads are snow-covered in an area, I don't think tire chains are irresponsible unless forbidden by local or state ordinance. Some places (e.g. major interstates over the Rockies in a snowstorm, when or where posted) require them. Others prohibit them at all times because of road-wear concerns. You can't (or at least shouldn't) drive at highway speed with tire chains on; they'll break and become a hazard to traffic.

Sure the snow is melting now, on roads that were properly plowed and salted, but a lot of smaller and narrow streets in my area were barely touched if at all, so chains might be needed on those roads, those mail trucks aren't very heavy and have very small tires, I'd imagine they have a rough go of it in the snow no matter how deep.

I remember here in Pennsylvania a lot of folks would run studded tires all winter, (Permitted November 1 - April 15) snow or not, they probably did some damage too. I used to work for a guy who'd have me pull all the studs out of the tires on his pick-up each year.

Around here we often have south facing streets clear and north facing streets snowy. It makes no sense to remove the chains on the south facing streets.

What is the relative value of wrecks avoided vs. truck and road wear-and-tear?

The USPS trucks are small and light and IMHO don’t do much damage. I contrast them to garbage trucks. Using the logic that we never ever want to tell private industry what to do we won’t carve up our village (some call it a city) into sections each of which will have only one garbage collection company. Every snow we have four garbage trucks climbing our hill with visible destruction from time to time.

Concerning the jacks, I’d never buy Snap-on. Nevertheless some garages buy Snap-on tools almost exclusively and keep Snap-on in business. Their tools are reliable and their warranty service is supposed to be very good and prompt. Downtime ≡ money lost. OTOH neither would I buy much from Harbor Freight unless my intended use was occasional and safety wasn’t an issue.

I've never seen tire chains on a USPS vehicle here in Albuquerque.

I did use them myself about once or twice a season here until I got an All Wheel Drive car, which had just enough more grip than my rear-wheel drive BMW 325i to get up the specific hills that caught me out before (not least my own driveway).

If you use them, you know it is a giant pain in the neck to put them on and off, so if you need them on part of the route, the natural thing is to put them on in the nice and dry and leave them on all day.

I was not so lucky, as nearly every use was an occasion when I could not make a hill on the way home, so had to put the chains on out in the cold and wet, quite possibly without adequate light. Thanks for reminding me why I'm glad I got AWD.

But USPS-bashing is an unusually popular sport this year, so I'm sure there are opportunities to cast aspersions.

You need to educate yourself on chains.

but here around Cincinnati the USPS uses kind of a hybrid-type tire chain. They are not the same type as you would use on a truck or even a private car. From what I have seen, they don't really have cleats. It's basically a piece of cable that increases traction. Shouldn't do a lot of damage to the roads in my opinion.

We don't usually need snow chains but when we do we bought a set years ago that have chains on the side to hook them to the car but the part that touches the road and tire is rubber. They work just fine for the few times we needed them. We never drove with them without ice or snow but I don't think they would hurt the road if we did.
Mary

1st, Taxpayer money is provided even though they are technically not a gvmt organization. The problem resides in the gvmt oversite.

2nd, "irresponsible" is questionable. Snow may not be "melting" all over the area these vehicles need to travers, especially if it is not flat Nebraska. Shade does block the melting effect of Sun.

3rd, I have little respect for most company management, so everything said may be valid.

I used chains on my Volvo, and they were as mentioned not the type that were actual chain links, they were cables. At any speed over 20 mph the vehicle shook violently in the rear and they were loud. Pretty sure that's what the postal vehicles use. Where I live is not hilly, maybe in our area that is Manayunk and East Falls, no, nothing at all like that. hehe I guess we're now living in a time where there's little agreement on anything at all, hopefully, except science. What temp does water freeze at? Boil at? Does 100% antifreeze freeze, below 14F? Hopefully there's only one answer to these 3 questions. Merry XMAS and happy holidays!

we gave the postal carrier a Christmas gift, but I actually think he's not as competent as the one that retired. Yesterday, a neighbor's granddaughter came over and said this was on our lawn. It was a Christmas card from my son's godfather sent December 7 from FLA. I can't prove it, but whenever there's an USPS amazon delivery gone missing that tracking shows is supposed to be delivered, on that day, there is also no mail at our door.

For whatever reason, I'm one to always drop mail off inside the post office (what does it matter). I sent my mom a check and she never got it. This may be a 2020 thing, hopefully.

There would be more complaints about mail not being delivered on time that those about road damage caused by mail truck tire chains.

In many states, during winter, it's one or the other. Take your pick.

We got a card last week that was mailed from Cincinnati to us. The card went through the Cincinnati distribution office and then straight to my local post office. (A distance of about 25 miles.) I got the card and 1/3 of the envelope. Where the other 2/3's went, who knows. Maybe the Grinch needed part of an envelope.

Where I live, ~6,240 feet above sea level, water boils at ~200°F. I'm told that that is the very best temperature for coffee.

as a kid I used to read the labels of things on my mom's food pantry (not sure why lol). I seem to remember this Comstock blueberry pie filling can being swollen, and I said, "Ma, this should be thrown out." And she would scream you stop looking around and put that back.

But I would see the packages of cake and biscuit mixes saying high altitude directions, and thinking, is that a joke? ( was likely 6 or something)

Because I used the word swollen just thought of that comedian Ed Bassmaster and his skits...lol

What a coincidence. I live at 6220 feet. A consequence of the 200° water boiling point is that I poach my eggs longer than someone at sea level to get the same eggs. In my case that is eight minutes because I don't want the whites to be runny at all and only a tiny bit of runniness down to mere translucency in the yellow part.

Can you guys remember TV ads ending "prices slightly higher west of the Mississippi"? I was raised on the east coast. Maybe it wasn't the altitude though!

Water boils at 212F at sea level and freezes at 32F at seal level. 100% Antifreeze gels, which is why it's mixed 50/50, or 60/40.

Water boils at 212°F, at STP. STP, from my H.S. chemistry circa 1960, is standard temperature pressure.

I would tend to agree, 1960, 2020, no difference.

Here's another food for thought, let's say a 2021 GM 3.6 liter engine is put in a Chevy, a Buick, and a Caddy.

Which is the most powerful?

The Chevy has 335 HP. The Buick 310, the Caddy 310.

The Chevy has 284 ft. lbs. the buick 266, and the Caddy 271.

What's going on? Hint, physics is going on, which hasn't changed since Sir Isaac Newton (not to discount what was going on 600 BC but I think of him). The only thing here that's been added is marketing.