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Hi,
Breaking: Donald Trump just announced that he is considering privatization of the U.S. Postal Service (USPS).1
This is one of the worst ideas we've ever heard.
The Postal Service provides absolutely essential services, especially in rural areas that rely on the post office for delivery of everything from Social Security checks to medications and other everyday mail.
To hand this core public service over to private, profit-seeking corporations would be a disaster.
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Trump's plans to privatize the Postal Service were first reported on Saturday in The Washington Post.2 "Trump said the government should not subsidize the organization," according to the Post, and Trump then confirmed the report during his first post-election press conference on Monday.
Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, the co-chairs of Trump's so-called "Department of Government Efficiency," have also been pushing proposals for privatizing the USPS.3
What Trump, Musk, and Ramaswamy apparently don't understand is that the USPS is a public service, not a profit-seeking corporation.
In fact, the Postal Service is one of the most popular agencies in the entire federal government. In a recent poll conducted by the Pew Research Center, the Postal Service had a 72 percent approval rating, compared to just a 21 percent disapproval rating.4 Of 16 agencies surveyed, only the National Park Service had a higher net approval.
Private delivery services like FedEx and UPS will never provide the universal service to rural areas that the USPS does, and dismantling the agency would be devastating.
We've been fighting to defend the U.S. Postal Service for years, mobilizing over 100,000 people to fight efforts to shrink and privatize the USPS pushed by Trump-appointed Postmaster General Louis DeJoy. But this could be the biggest threat we've ever faced.
With gratitude,
The team at Demand Progress Action
Sources:
1. Government Executive, "USPS privatization again under consideration, Trump says," December 16, 2024.
2. The Washington Post, "Trump eyes privatizing U.S. Postal Service, citing financial losses," December 14, 2024.
3. Reuters, "Trump considers privatizing US Postal Service, Washington Post reports," December 14, 2024.
4. Pew Research Center, "Americans see many federal agencies favorably, but Republicans grow more critical of Justice Department," August 12, 2024.
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