US Postal Service workers deliver the right message to Trump: ‘The U.S. Mail is not for sale’ | Opinion

The U.S. Postal Service – a year older than the nation itself – marks its 250th anniversary this month, but it may not survive the Trump administration’s cost-cutting rampage.

President Donald Trump favors privatizing it. Now that idea is gaining new attention thanks to a Wells Fargo bank memo to investors that outlines the profits that would result from harvesting the value of U.S. Postal Service (USPS) real estate and shifting its parcel deliveries to private companies.

“The US Postal Service is back in the headlines and with Trump 2.0’s emphasis on cost cuts, we believe Postal reform may become a focus,” the memo from the bank’s equity researchers says. “True privatization would be tricky but possible, and all paths lead to better parcel pricing.”

The memo has alarmed leaders of the American Postal Workers Union (APWU), who see a renewed push to break up a service that is popular and vital, especially in rural areas.

“Once (mail service) becomes a profit-making machine, then decisions are going to be made based on whether someone can make a quick buck,” APWU President Mark Dimondstein told me this week. “The price would then be paid by the people of the country and the services they still very much need, very much want, and very much trust.”

This week, the union launched a TV ad to be aired in national markets and in local markets in North Carolina and seven other states. APWU is focusing on North Carolina because it has a 2026 race for U.S. Senate and a large share of rural postal customers.

The union’s ad focuses on the memo saying, “this is the Wall Street memo that the White House doesn’t want you to see. A path to privatization of the Post Office.”

The ad cites the memo’s projection that privatization would allow companies to raise prices by 30% to 140% above what the USPS charges across its product lines. It warns that USPS universal delivery to 169 million addresses could end and closes with: “Tell Congress the U.S. Mail is not for sale.”

Selling USPS outright is highly unlikely. The Postal Service is among the most popular government agencies, along with national parks and NASA. But there is substantial pressure from Trump and private companies to break off the most lucrative USPS services, a move that would likely make the rest of the Postal Service’s operations unable to survive. The independent agency is designed to pay its own way through stamps and fees and break even.

Dimondstein said privatization is “a very real threat. Those who want to do it don’t have a clear path to just sell it tomorrow, but they could destroy it through large-scale, piecemeal privatization along the way.”

Debate about the future of the Postal Service has a strong North Carolina connection. Louis DeJoy, who stepped down this year as U.S. postmaster general, is from the Greensboro area. Dimondstein also worked at a USPS facility in Greensboro for more than 20 years.

DeJoy, who became postmaster general with Trump’s backing in 2020, drew early criticism from USPS supporters for his cost-cutting measures. DeJoy resigned his position in May, but union leaders now appreciate some of his reforms.

“He was not completely wrong about the need for change, but he was not a privatizer. He was trying to figure out how to change in this changed world,” Dimondstein said. “There is no question in my mind that he was forced out by this administration that does want to privatize it.”

USPS finances were stabilized by the Postal Service Reform Act of 2022, which ended the agency’s onerous obligation to fund its retirees’ health benefits 75 years into the future. The Postal Service could further improve its finances if it would be allowed to offer new services, such as check cashing, money wiring, public access to electric vehicle charging stations at post offices and issuing hunting and fishing licenses.

The USPS Board of Governors this month appointed David Steiner, a former FedEx board member, as the U.S. Postmaster General. The appointment has increased concerns about potential privatization, but Steiner has said he wants to maintain the Postal Service as an independent government agency.

Dimondstein is not reassured. He thinks the pressure to privatize not only remains, but is building. He noted Trump’s desire to move the USPS under the Commerce Department where the president would have more direct control over its operations and its potential break up.

“They’re very serious about it,” Dimondstein said.

Americans should be equally serious about keeping the 250-year-old service in their own hands.

This story was originally published July 23, 2025 at 11:53 AM.