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01x15 - There Goes a Mail Truck

Episode transcripts for the TV show, "Real Wheels". Aired: 1993 – 2004.*
Watch/Buy Amazon


The series of videos revolved around Dave (sometimes with Becky) in jobs that focused on the vehicles being featured.

01x15 - There Goes a Mail Truck

Post by bunniefuu »

[Music]

hey

have you ever wondered just how the mail

gets where it's going or

what it's like to work for the postal

service we'll get set to find out

because there goes the mail

we all know that the people who work for

the postal service are highly trained

dedicated workers

who work day and night to see to it that

our mail gets where it's supposed to go

on time

[Music]

sometimes the mail travels by truck

sometimes

on a train sometimes even on airplanes

it's a serious complicated business

getting the mail through

[Music]

hi guys i'm letter carrier dave and i'm

letter carrier becky but we're not the

real letter carriers no but the post

office has given us permission to

pretend for the day so we can all find

out how letters get from us to you from

you to us

and from here to there i got a letter

right now we got a man now you can't

mail it without a stamp very important

that's right

a proper address return address and a

stamp now we're ready to go

hey where does it go now wait just a

minute

we don't have any idea where it goes

after it goes in this big blue box do we

no we don't know let's go find out

the mail starts its incredible journey

when the carrier collects it from a box

like this

then it travels in a big truck to a

place called a distribution center

these are very big buildings with all

kinds of computers and electronic

gadgets

that help the people there sort the mail

and send it on its way

if it has to travel a long distance

after it's sorted it sometimes goes to

the airport

where it's put in big containers and

loaded on an airplane

[Music]

sometimes it travels by train too

then when it gets to the proper city

it's loaded on trucks and taken to your

local post office

where your mail carrier sorts it again

so it's ready for delivery to your house

[Music]

mail carrier becky and mail carrier dave

are about to get their first assignment

oh

boy look at that a real mail truck becky

kevin luke's coming that's the

postmaster that's our

our new boss hi i'm postmaster dave

hi here becky hi there carrie and dave

how are you guys a little bit late today

that's okay first day that's okay won't

happen again

i'll be working with you all day today

and i'm looking forward to training you

too

as you can see i brought you a brand new

llv to deliver the mail in now

llv i can't wait to drive that baby oh

boy okay hold on there's a lot to learn

before you actually get to deliver the

mail

the first thing we're going to learn

this morning is how to case the mail

case

[Music]

okay you two this is what casing mail is

all about

mail comes in from the distribution

center to the city

and from there it comes each route so

all you have to do it's very simple

you match the addresses up with the

street numbers and the house numbers

okay any questions i

think we've got all right let's give it

a try okay it's very simple

dave you work at this case okay becky

you go to the next case yes sir when you

get through just load it in the hamper

here

okay let's see this is uh yeah right

right

uh right there that's it yeah well

here's another one let's see where's

this one go

let's see i know

look at becky she's really going to town

over there wow she's really good at this

look at her go look her go look at her

go i think i'll try something fancy

look at her go wait a minute what's this

pretty interesting wow look at that

look at that i think maybe i had a

harder one whoa

yes sir i'll get right back to work no

problem i gotta take the part seriously

obviously i

get back to work here and there it goes

look at her go she's still going at it

wow she's going

faster than lightning becky's good

becky's good

and there it goes

[Music]

[Music]

and once the mail is all carefully

sorted into the slots with individual

addresses

it's then grouped together and banded

like this

loaded in the box then we take it out to

the truck

and it's ready for delivery to the

individual houses

yeah i'll do the rest of this stuff

tomorrow

i want to drive that truck

hey becky aren't you done yet no i'm

gonna take this stuff out to the truck

and get started

[Music]

okay here we go here we go i better

check my map make sure

[Music]

what are you doing

[Music]

[Music]

i'm just trying to catch the cart trying

to do my job you have to take this

letter stuff more seriously we're going

to disappoint the postmate of the mail

is going to be late

you know what they say the mail must go

through come rain

sleet snow shine storms at sea

tropical disturbances or ladder carrier

becky we've got to deliver the mail

let's go

in the tradition of the u.s post office

[Music]

we're late

[Music]

well there it is a typical mail delivery

truck otherwise known as an llv that's a

long life vehicle

these babies are built by grumman the

same people that make a lot of military

vehicles the bodies are

real strong to protect the mail in fact

these bodies are built to last 21 years

they say they'll

outlast three engines and look at this

the driver sits on the wrong side

but it's really the right side for him

and there's a reason for that

that's so that the mail delivery person

can reach out

and put the mail in the mailboxes

without having to get out of the truck

pretty neat huh the first thing i got to

do is buckle myself in because everybody

should always wear a seatbelt

then i better honk the horn to let

people know i'm backing up

just in case

[Music]

and we're off to deliver the mail oh boy

[Music]

hey let's take a closer look at how a

distribution center works

remember it's a place like this where

the mail comes after it's picked up by

your local mail carrier

the people here work all night while

you're sleeping to sort the mail

and send it on its way we're about to

visit one of the biggest

in santa clarita california

[Music]

whoa i guess i better practice my

driving skills

you know after the mail leaves the local

post office where it's collected

it comes to a place like this this is a

processing center where the mail is

shorted this place is so huge think

about this you could fit

17 football fields inside of it oh it's

very very big so big in fact that

they gave us this electric cart so we'd

get around without having to walk

and a map i see that map

according to this the first stop is the

dprc

the dprc what's that i don't know

but according to that first stop on the

left through those doors so

come on along whoa

wow this is it

this is the dprc yes the dual pass rough

call machine how do you know that it

just came to me

i'm a genius i read it on a poster well

what it really means simply is that this

equipment cleans the mail

yeah it takes uh packages like these

that are maybe

odd shaped or larger and separates them

from letters like those

which is important because those could

get crushed in the process of this

after the letters leave the dprc they

come to a machine like this

it's a stamp canceling machine it checks

to make sure there's a stamp on the

letter

then adds a postmark with the data into

place and puts

marks through the stamp so it can't be

used again

okay i think this is oh yes ocr

optical character reader oh

you've been doing your homework yes an

optical character reader

works like this it reads a typewritten

address like this one that says lizard

pet store snakey road

see that it'll read that check it for

mistakes

and make sure that the zip code is right

and then it adds

this here this is a barcode that's

computer talk only computers understand

that that's the barcode that it adds so

that the

computers later down the line can sort

it and get it to the right place

see that do you understand what that is

a barcode

[Music]

at a speed that seems almost as fast as

lightning

the ocr does its job and sorts the

letters

this is the dbps no the dvds the db

the dbcs2 right and what does it stand

for oh

you remember the barcode that the other

machine added this machine

reads the barcode it's the it's the

delivery

barcode sorter exactly and what it does

is it source the mail according to the

individual mail carrier's route

wow

[Music]

oh

[Music]

it looks like a cone they call it a cone

finally something that makes sense

this is where they sort the big packages

well we've seen the

dprc the ocr the

dbcs the c-o-n-e

hey i think it's time for a blt pdq

let's get some lunch i'm hungry bacon

lettuce and tomato

pretty darn quick and away we go

[Music]

whoa dave i never knew that sorting the

mail was so complicated tried very

complicated and very important too

and after the mail is all processed and

sorted it's back on the big trucks

and off to a destination which could be

oklahoma or oregon

texas or florida hong kong south america

asia or your house and speaking of

getting the mail to your house

i understand the postmaster has a big

job for us so we better get going so

we're not late

how about france ooh france be good

what about is there a post office on the

moon no there's no post office on the

moon because there are no people in the

woods

cause i see his picture all the time oh

that's true well if there's a man on the

moon then how does he get his mail if

there's no post office

[Music]

meanwhile back in the llv mail carrier

dave and mail carrier becky were about

to get their first

taste of delivering the mail

come on becky okay

got the mail bag all packed up hey we're

ready for our walking route let's go

okay here we go yes we're real mail

people now yes we are

let's put it in there and one more extra

one yeah yeah

here we go and over here to this mailbox

now wait a minute i don't think a real

male person would cross back and forth

across the street but since we're

already started i guess i'll do it

anyway

now we're almost down the road here

wait a minute wait a minute becky this

is not the right address for this

mailbox what do you mean it's not

oh no do you know what this means what

does this mean

that all the mail we put in those

mailboxes

they're wrong oh the postmaster is not

gonna like this we're gonna have to go

back and recollect all the mail and

redeliver it

oh no oh come on

no we're really going fast now back up

put all this back to them

put them back in take them out put it

back in take them out put them back in

take them out put it back in put it back

in right this time that's it we're gonna

put them in right this time we get the

right address

yeah here we go here we almost done

almost finished here here we go we

finally got all the mail in the right

boxes

finally after an hour's work well at

least we corrected it

yeah i think it's time

i take the bag great because this thing

is heavy yeah right

it is heavy

[Music]

you know what this is it's a male plane

sometimes when the male leaves the

distribution center that we talked about

earlier

it comes to the airport people here work

all night too while you're sleeping

sorting mailbags

[Music]

and putting them in these big containers

[Music]

they're loaded on airplanes by these big

machines

[Music]

and then the planes take to the night

sky and fly to destinations all over the

world

it's usually still dark when they land

then the big containers are unloaded

and the packages are set on their way

[Music]

what do you say we check back in on

becky and dave

this this right here is a very important

part of our job

yes it is you gotta

get the mail out of here and make sure

it gets to where it's going because

people are counting on it not very much

huh

can you get it all right great

wait a minute where where did she go

where'd becky go

becky aren't you dame would you please

get me out of here okay

let's get me out of here this isn't

funny i don't believe it

she's in the will you mailbox

out of there

[Music]

[Music]

no i don't think you should have it if

you keep this dude

beware of dog

i'll just climb over the fence here and

get in here and get this there it is

there's my mailbag

i gotta get out of here whoa oh no

how am i gonna get my head

[Music]

i know the old fishing trick yeah it's

the old fishing pole trick

there i got it all right outsmarted that

little

dog son of a g*n put it on my head

now where'd that dog go

the postal service has been an important

part of our country since the very

beginning

without it business and commerce would

come to a complete stop

in the early days the mail was sent

across country on pony express

they were expert riders who risked their

lives every day to get the mail through

big steam ships were used to carry the

mail over the oceans

and later when the railroads were built

big steam trains carried the mail across

the plains

but the most important part of the mail

service has always been the dedicated

mail carrier

who delivered the mail come rain or

shine

not too long ago airplanes old ones like

these carried the mail

today modern jet planes see to it that

the mail gets where it's supposed to be

on time meanwhile back on the mail route

things were getting interesting

[Music]

hey look i told you if we climb this

tree we'd have a perfect view of the

whole backyard

there's the bag down there yeah see if

you can spot that dog anywhere

okay wait a minute i can't really see

anything through this i mean everything

you've got them backwards okay now look

see if you can spot that dog

nope coast is clear all right here's

what i'm gonna do

i'm gonna hang upside down on this

branch and see if i can reach that bag

down i want you to hold my feet

and then pull me back up once i grab the

bag okay okay all right partner

careful don't let me fall

[Music]

[Music]

just a little bit lower i can almost

reach

[Music]

now let's take a look at stamps stamps

have changed the way they look a lot

over the years

but one thing has remained the same you

have to have a stamp on your letter or

the post office won't deliver it

stamps are a lot like money each stamp

has a different value

and it's used for different types of

mail post offices are friendly places

where people are waiting

to help you get the right kind of stamp

and to help you start your mail on its

journey

post offices come in all shapes and

sizes

some post offices are even located in

trucks

that's so the post office can come to

you even if you live in a remote part of

the country

you can always depend on the u.s postal

service

let's check back in on the progress of

mail carrier becky and

i think i'm gonna have to resort to

going up on the roof becky the roof

are you sure it's safe i'll go up on the

roof you hand me this rake

and i can i can hook the bag with the

end of the race good idea

okay okay now help me up here all right

all right here i go i'll get that bag up

i'll show that

[Music]

down that's for sure all right here i go

here i go here i go climbing up the road

climbing up the road yeah yeah almost

there almost there here we go

okay i'll just lean over here and right

over the edge there's that bag down

there okay now i just have to reach

down and grab it stretch a little

further

[Music]

oh

[Music]

[Music]

that was a close call come on sweetheart

peaches are so cute come on peaches come

on my sweet little puppy

[Music]

that was the big mean dog

well he looked me in close up he had a

big bark very big bark

there's a big bark back you heard the

bark it was a big bark

it was a

[Music]

oh big being a letter carrier is hard

work

boy you aren't just a kid but we got our

bag back we delivered all of it that's

right we did

all right get the bag of the truck and

let's get

back to the main office

oh boy what a day

[Music]

i forgot to set the break i shouldn't

have done that

oh boy

[Music]

hey parker come on out of there you

won't believe this

even with all the troubles we had we're

such a great team

we got back to the post office with a

half hour to spare

an hour oh it was such a great adventure

and we hope you've had fun learning

about the post office and all the work

they did that's right but if you'd like

to learn more don't forget you can visit

your local library or your local post

office

they'll be happy to see you look who's

coming to postmaster he's gonna give us

a raise oh betty gives us an award we

did such a good job today

okay you two look what you forgot this

morning forgot

what all this mail oh

no and you've got about 30 minutes to

deliver it in

30. let's get going to deliver all this

smell

no we better get going see you next time

let's load it up

[Music]

you