The Danger of Trump’s Plan for a Private USPS

President Donald Trump is taking aim at the US Postal Service.

According to a Thursday report from the Washington Post‘s Jacob Bogage, the president plans to fire the members of USPS’ board and hand the keys to the agency over to the Department of Commerce.

A White House spokesperson denied the report, just for Trump himself to go on and confirm it on Friday.

Trump’s new target is actually an old one. During his first term, the White House pushed to break up and sell off the Post Office—one of the most favorably viewed government agencies—in a 2018 plan: “A privatized Postal Service would,” among other things, “make business decisions free from political interference.”

"The Post Office takes in about $80 billion a year in revenue. Those on the private side of the industry want their hands on that money because when it’s in the public domain, they can’t use it to generate private profits."

#mail #usps #donaldtrump

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[Paul-wth]

It doesn't lose money. It costs money. Its a service.

[NotSoMuchFrankly]

Trump assigned DeJoy to be the Postmaster General. A guy who works for the parcel industry (UPS, FedEx, DHL...) and who donated/bribed Trump $1million to get the job (It doesn't pay that much).

He proceeded to spend money removing access and processing ability and instituting policies of having mail sit for three days before delivering so as to put pressure on consumers to use the private companies he represented instead.

He also tried to make mail delivery slower for the 2020 election when the Republicans realized mail-in votes no longer favored them.

[WandaHopewandering]

The postal service is in the Constitution. Leave it be

[lbrowning]

Tramp needs to be rounded up for espionage.

[whiteknightcat]

I can see it now ... subscription fees for delivery services!

Tier 1 customers - Mail delivered once per week on Saturdays
Tier 2 customers - Mail delivered Tuesdays and Thursdays
Tier 3 customers - Mail delivered Mondays, Wednesday, Fridays
Tier 4 customers - Mail delivered every weekday

No subscription? No delivery. And of course, it will be non-union, so workers will get paid as little as possible.

[eduardodifarnecio]

That’s not the only thing he’s gonna privatize

[swistedfilms]

The power to create post offices lies exclusively with Congress. I don't even think the Constitution, where this power is enumerated to Congress alone, is even a little bit vague about that. This is like birthright citizenship: it's not ambiguous at all. The President, no matter who it is, has no power over the Post Office save for appointing the Postmaster General.

Come on, Congress! You're a co-equal branch of government! You better start acting like it or else Trump will dissolve the Senate and give the regional governors direct control over their territories. And we ALL know what happens next!

[rebeccahenry]

It's already semi privatized by Amazon. The usps spends a full day Sunday focusing on only Amazon 📦 in big cities.

[morshumcpherson]

Trump wants to replicate the fradulent tactics of his idol

[DOUG]

That's why the Dejoy guy retired from USPS so he can get in the division of the post office. He ran a private delivery service when Trump 45 talked him into joining Post Office head before Biden administration.

[ARepublicIfYouCanKeepIt]

The Postal Reorganization Act of 1970 (black letter law) clearly states that the mail has to be delivered by the federal government, not private companies: “The United States Postal Service shall be operated as a basic and fundamental service *_provided to the people by the Government of the United States, authorized by the Constitution, created by Act of Congress, _* and supported by the people.”

The law also lays out the fundamental requirements of the USPS, such as delivering six days a week *to every address in the country, no matter how remote and expensive it is to reach.*

As the USPS is enshrined in federal law, the president cannot change that with executive orders.

According to Paul Steidler, a senior fellow who studies postal systems at the Lexington Institute, a conservative think tank, the USPS is part of the federal government under Title 39 of the U.S. Code. It's part of the executive branch of the government and an act of Congress is required to change that going forward.

Trump's also floated replacing the 11-seat board of governors that oversees USPS operations. The BoGs also doesn't have the power to privatize the USPS. Nor can Trump simply fire and replace the BoGs.

[LorenSuJa]

Im not a USA citizen...but, dont you have a great tradition in the postal office? I mean I think you had a horsebackriden postal office when colonization even started!...

[benzell]

Lose massive amounts of money- under your boy DeJoy? Hahaha, that’s rich...

[sylviewalker]

Go fast and break things...is not the United States Post Office motto! We know.

[JK-vpux]

I wonder what Ben Franklin would say.
Trump: Who?
/tells him/
Oh! That guy! What's he got to do with the Post Office?

[sherit]

“Blah blah blah tReMeNdOuS blah blah blah”

[MCostello]

Postal workers supported Trump. This is what they voted for.

[ccagle]

Postal service is terrible. It is overly expensive, unreliable, and slow. My accounting business delivers some envelopes because the USPS does not deliver the envelopes ten miles or less from our office within three days. On the other hand, residential areas do not need daily delivery; two or three times per week would be adequate.

[SistasTalkPodcast]

You guys better get LOUD cause all of this is crazy 😂

[HelenKistler]

If voters stop using the post office, what would happen then?