BY SRH
The United States Postal Service, the biggest job bank in the world, would lose $9.5 billion in the fiscal year of 2024.
President Trump is anticipated to dissolve the leadership of the US Postal Service and merge the organization into the Commerce Department as part of his government-reform program. That daring action might be the beginning of an even more audacious and divisive plan: to privatize the money-losing entity.
The United States Postal Service, from upper management on down, will undoubtedly fight both proposals fiercely in court and in politics. Preparations are underway at the USPS governing board level: According to the Washington Post, during an emergency meeting on Thursday, the USPS board instructed outside attorneys to oppose Trump’s first step legally.
In an effort to halt any actions taken by Trump, the USPS Board of Governors, headed by chair Amber McReynolds, has instructed outside attorneys to initiate legal action.
From its raw headcount on up, the Postal Service wields considerable political clout: Despite the enormous lines that are typical of a trip to the post office, the United States Postal Service actually employs an astounding 650,000 people. These people are known to speak out anytime privatization becomes popular. 72% of Americans think it’s great, while only 21% think it’s bad, according to a Pew Research study from 2024.
The Post reported in December that Trump had been consulting with current Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick and other transition officials about privatizing the US Postal Service. Independent discussions were convened by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to investigate potential extreme measures regarding the 250-year-old service.
With a net loss of $9.5 billion for the 2024 fiscal year, USPS revealed the numbers in November. This loss was 46% larger than the service’s $6.5 billion deficit in 2023. The most recent yearly increase in mail prices, made possible under the 2021 Delivering for America plan, coincided with the decline and a little increase in revenue. We were led to believe that the program would assist the ever-losing giant in its quest to “achieve financial sustainability and service excellence.” A dreadful balance sheet with approximately $80 billion in liabilities is also maintained by the firm.
The United States Postal Service has been hiring more people in recent years, even though mail volumes have been going down since a rise during the COVID-19 plandemic. “Can you think of a private business — where 80% of their revenue is going down in volume — would actually increase their employees?” Rand Paul asked Postmaster General Louis DeJoy during a Senate hearing.
The United States Postal Service has functioned as a quasi-governmental entity since 1970, with a board of governors that is chosen by presidents and must be confirmed by the Senate. Ahead of his planned resignation earlier this week, DeJoy requested that the USPS board start searching for a replacement for him. Reports surfaced that Trump was considering his replacement midway through his ten-year term, prompting him to make the move. In the summer of 2020, Trump appointed DeJoy, and Democrats quickly began to accuse him of hindering the vote-by-mail free-for-all that leftists had encouraged during that epidemic election year. A whopping 76% of Pennsylvanians who voted by mail-in ballot chose Biden.
Leftists are going absolutely bonkers over Trump’s impending actions, accusing USPS reform of racism, Russian intervention, and a threat to democracy, among other things.
