The president-elect of the United States, Donald Trump, expressed in recent weeks a great interest in privatizing the United States Postal Servicethe Washington Post reported Saturday, citing three people with knowledge of the matter.
The United States Postal Service (USPS), which has lost more than $100 billion since 2007, reported a net loss of $9.5 billion for its fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, $3 billion more than the previous year. last year, largely due to a year-over-year increase in non-cash workers’ compensation spending.
When informed of the agency’s annual losses, Trump said the government should not subsidize the organization, according to the Washington Post.
Trump, who will be sworn into office on Jan. 20, has discussed his desire to privatize the Postal Service with Howard Lutnick, his choice for commerce secretary, at Mar-a-Lago, according to the report.
People who will work in the Department of Government Efficiency, led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, have also held preliminary conversations about major changes at USPS, according to the report, which cites two other people familiar with the matter.
A USPS spokesperson said that over the past three years, the company has reduced operations by 45 million work hours, and cut transportation spending by $2 billion.
The agency is also seeking the regulatory approval to modernize your processing network and mail transportation to align with modern practices, which will save between $3.6 billion and $3.7 billion annually, the spokesperson added.
“No policy should be considered official unless it comes directly from President Trump or his authorized spokespersons,” said Karoline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for Trump’s transition team.
Any attempt to privatize the Postal Service could disrupt the e-commerce industry in the United States, the Washington Post said, including Amazon, which uses the USPS for “last mile” delivery between Amazon fulfillment centers and customers.
It could also hurt small businesses and rural consumers who use the Postal Service, since it is the only carrier that delivers to remote corners of the country.
Recently, Amazon said it would donate $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund and would stream his inauguration on its Prime Video service.
Trump has had a strained relationship with the Postal Service. Sources told Reuters his transition team is considering canceling the service’s contracts to electrify its delivery fleet.
According to sources, the team is reviewing how it can unwind the service’s multimillion-dollar contracts, including with Oshkosh and Ford, for tens of thousands of battery-powered delivery trucks and charging stations.
In 2020, Congress authorized the Treasury Department to lend the Postal Service up to $10 billion as part of a $2.3 trillion coronavirus stimulus package, which Trump threatened to block.
