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Build A Fighting NALC Statement on “Fleet Vision”
The relationship between every-day Americans and the United States Postal Service depends on trust. The unique role of the Letter Carrier as the “most trusted” public servant is one that provides the letter carrier safety in communities across America– everyone knows that the familiar face in a light blue shirt is on their block to provide, never threaten. As such, our presence on the street is a welcome one.
That relationship is in danger of being turned on its head as the USPS embarks on a pilot program for the letter carrier not to deliver, but to take data and undermine privacy across the country. Called the “Fleet Vision Pilot– Roadway Imagery Detection and Monetization” program this threat to Letter Carriers, must be taken seriously, and responded to by the NALC. There are two enormous risks created by the new project: first and foremost, we may become a roaming surveillance program in our communities, and second this is a change to our working conditions that we are not being compensated for and creates risk for automation and discipline.
What We Know Right Now
A partnership between Next Base and the USPS would install dash cams to, as USPS said in a statement to 404 Media, “continuously scan roads and signs, map roadways and sidewalks, and improve ‘community safety,’” In other words, Letter Carriers’ vehicles would become roving Flock Cameras, or worse. Under the guise of “community safety,” where would the video data from these cameras be going? To local law enforcement? To the FBI? To Immigration and Customs Enforcement? Whether or not the data is actually provided to outside agencies, if the letter carrier is perceived as aiding in any type of data dragnet, it puts a target on our backs. We have all seen the hundreds of videos and reports online of Flock Cameras being destroyed, it is a tremendous safety concern to put our Union siblings in such a situation where they are perceived as mobile data centers.
Unfortunately, this pilot program seems to be already underway. According to a post on NALC Branch 238’s Facebook page on September 25, 2026, a Certified Letter addressed to Bryan Renfroe was sent from USPS to notify NALC of the pilot program between USPS and tech company Next Base. The letter states as of September 21, 2026 dash mounted cameras have been installed on one hundred postal vehicles at the Lamond Riggs Post Office and the Section 19 Carrier Annex in Washington DC. The tracking on the letter is confirmed to be a legitimate USPS tracking number that was delivered in Washington DC on September 21, 2026.
In the letter, USPS itself recognizes that the cameras will “collect “valuable data due to the scale and frequency with which our fleet of postal vehicles travel the streets of every community across the country.” In other words, this fundamentally changes our working conditions, as letter carriers will be harvesting data that the USPS itself described as “valuable.” Privacy and safety considerations aside, will we be compensated for our part in harvesting this “valuable data?” If we are naïve enough to believe that the data were only used to “map roadways and sidewalks,” and the more sinister uses never materialize, will there be any financial benefit to our members for this new USPS product? Who will benefit from these changes? Letter Carriers? Management? Or just Big Tech Companies?
The branch where the pilot program is underway, NALC Branch 142, does not have an active website or social media page to confirm this is taking place, although USPS has confirmed the pilot program to 404 Media. We do not know what vehicles these offices have. However, this yet again demonstrates that the service puts its own metrics and revenue over the health and safety of NALC members. The USPS recently added a device to its fleet called a Geotab, a telematics device that notifies management of possible non-seatbelt use, behavior metric monitoring, GPS, maintenance, and diagnostics of vehicles. Just like scanner data, implemented under the guise of safety, this new set of surveillance tools will likely be turned against us in discipline, or used to create an Artificial Intelligence training dataset to further automate and replace our jobs. Driverless Waymo LLV’s anyone?
Technology and Our Working Conditions
Speaking of cutting edge technology, the LLV was designed to last for 24 service years, many of them are now 16 years over their service life. The LLV does not have air conditioning, it does not have airbags, and its faulty parking break is at constant risk of rollaway/runaway. Surveillance cameras would be one more piece of technology that does not improve our working conditions during extreme heat events, or keep our vehicles from running over ourselves or our customers. LLVs are consistently overheating and catching on fire. LLVs are aluminum boxes with a windshield that causes a greenhouse effect inside, causing temperatures to be 120° to 140° Fahrenheit when the ambient temperature is over 109° Fahrenheit. We suffer everyday in this unsafe fleet, and now we’ll be suffering and surveilling our customers.
The mass surveillance of our own communities could not come at a worse time in terms of the American public’s trust with the USPS. In a recent NPR/Marist Poll, the number of Americans who feel confident that their election ballots will be delivered on time has “dropped 13 percentage points over the past two years — from 71% in 2024 to 58% this year.”
That confidence will continue to erode if this camera pilot program spreads nationwide. We have all heard the stories of the abuse of surveillance data, like the police officer in Kentucky who was arrested for accessing Flock data 2,000 times to stalk an ex-girlfriend. A federal judge in Tulsa, Oklahoma recently ruled that the use of data from automated license readers was unconstitutional, as it represented an "unconstitutional warrantless search.” Letter Carriers swore an oath to uphold the Constitution, how can we do that with a lens pointed at our customers?
The USPS claims faces recorded by the cameras will be blurred out. But the fact is that the data from these cameras, once created, is out of our hands. It could easily be used against Letter Carriers for discipline or training AI driving software. Furthermore, it could be used, legally or not, for an ICE dragnet. At the 2026 NALC Biennial National Convention, the NALC declared itself a “Sanctuary Union,” and resolved that the Union “Will not voluntarily cooperate with federal agents in the arrest, prosecution or attempted deportation of our members, their families or our community members, to the extent allowed by law.” and “Will not collect immigration status information from our members, their families or our community members that may be used against them, to the extent allowed by law.” It is impossible for the Union to be sure that we live up to our declaration if we do not stand-up to the installation of these cameras.
Conclusion
Build a Fighting NALC calls on NALC leaders and members to say “No” to these cameras! We call on NALC National to initiate a national-level grievance: these cameras represent a non-contractual change in our working conditions. Our bond with our communities in every corner of America is what ensures our safety and ensures the long-term financial survival of the United States Postal Service. If we are not welcome on the streets, if we are not welcome on porches, if our parked vehicle is a sign of government overreach and not of a trusted public servant, then the trust we have earned for 250 years is in danger of slipping away.
In solidarity,
Build a Fighting NALC Coordinating Committee 10/15/2026
Sources and Further Reading
Tracking Number of Letter Delivered in DC on September 21: 9589 0710 5270 0888 3342 63
Whole Letter Delivered to NALC dated September 18, 2026
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1C4J9v_M6LNSZdhUQeJk2zhiiJq3PyL4G/view?usp=drivesdk
Branch 238 Facebook Post 09/25/2026 with Letter: https://www.facebook.com/100057353804029/posts/please-note-the-cameras-are-on-the-outside-of-the-vehicles-right-now-this-is-jus/1600255825229529/
“USPS To Put Cameras in Trucks That Scan Roads for ‘Community Safety’” (404 Media 09/30/2026): https://www.404media.co/usps-to-put-cameras-in-trucks-that-scan-roads-for-community-safety/
Poll: Trust in the U.S. Postal Service delivering mail-in ballots on time has fallen (NPR 09/30/2026):
https://www.npr.org/2026/09/23/nx-s1-5978081/usps-election-mail-in-ballot
Police officer arrested after tracking ex-girlfriend on Flock camera system over 2,000 times, authorities say (CNN, 08/26/2026): https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/26/us/flock-kentucky-police-officer-arrest
Oklahoma judge rules Flock license plate search unconstitutional (Journal Record, 10/06/2026)
https://www.snopes.com/news/2026/10/12/usps-delivery-vehicle-cameras/
https://cybernews.com/privacy/usps-installs-always-on-surveillance-cameras-in-mail-trucks/
https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/articles/usps-turning-mail-trucks-rolling-141143078.html
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