U.S. Postal Service May Be Privatized

What’s the story?

• Postal workers across the nation rallied on Monday to protest President Donald Trump’s proposal to privatize the postal service.
• Under the proposal, the USPS would "transition to a model of private management and private or shared ownership."
• Though the USPS is a federal agency – one of the few outlined in the Constitution – it doesn’t receive any tax dollars. All income is generated by postage sales and services.

What are both sides saying?

• Walter Barton, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers Branch 6000 in Amityville, New York, told Newsday that the move would eliminate jobs and reduce the number of delivery days, hurting residents and small businesses that depend on daily delivery.

“If you go private, you don’t know what you’re going to get,” Barton said. “A company, just to make a profit, could hire anybody.”

• In April, President Trump issued an executive order demanding that a task force evaluate the Postal Services’ finances. “The USPS is on an unsustainable financial path and must be restructured to prevent a taxpayer-funded bailout,” the president said in his order. He added:

"It shall be the policy of my administration that the United States postal system operate under a sustainable business model to provide necessary mail services to citizens and businesses, and to compete fairly in commercial markets.”

• “We’re not waiting to see the task force report. The administration has already indicated where they’re headed,” American Postal Workers Union President Mark Dimondstein said in a news release. “Private companies are going to raid the precious resources of the people’s Postal Service, which has only grown more valuable due to the growth of ecommerce.”
• There are currently resolutions in the House and Senate to keep the USPS “independent” and “not subject to privatization.”

What do you think?

Do you agree with the postal workers’ chant “U.S. Mail: Not for Sale”? Or does the USPS need a “sustainable business model”? Take action above, then share your thoughts below.

—Josh Herman

(Photo Credit: @hharealaborfed via Twitter)