Summary
Donald Trump plans to take control of the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) by firing its governing board and placing it under the Commerce Department, led by Secretary Howard Lutnick.
Experts warn the move likely violates federal law, as USPS was established as an independent entity under the 1970 Postal Reorganization Act.
The Postal Board, in an emergency meeting, has hired legal counsel and gave instructions to sue the White House if the president removed board members or altered the agency’s independent status.
Trump has long criticized the USPS and has floated privatization, sparking backlash over concerns of political interference and mail disruptions.
Reminder that the Post Office is only losing money because of a 2006 law that forces them to fund their retirement plan for 75 years in advance, which is an insane burden that no nother agency or private corporation undertakes. Also, even if it does lose money, it doesn’t matter because the USPS isn’t a business. It’s a government service provided for the public good.
Also, even if it does lose money, it doesn’t matter because the USPS isn’t a business. It’s a government service provided for the public good.
All good points, but this is the most important one. We need to stop accepting the bullshit framing of the extremist radical right wing that sees everything as a business.
a 2006 law that forces them to fund their retirement plan for 75 years in advance
Congress actually fixed this a couple years ago: https://apwu.org/postal-service-reform-act-2022
That’s true, and I did forget about that, but that also doesn’t undo the 16 years of cutbacks they had to make to try to meet that target. It’s also unclear to what happens to the money ($56 out of $72 billion, I think) they had already saved in retirement, but if I member right, they got about $50 billion in debt relief, so I guess that about balances out.
Fire 200,000 federal workers.
Destroy tge USPS, obliterating snall businesses.
They really are doing everything they can to get labor costs down. This tight labor market these last few years must have been driving the upper class insane.
The USPS has hundreds of billions worth of prime real estate that trump wants to steal
Just wait until the USPS is gone and all federal/tax docs have to be mailed via UPS or FedEx. You think it costs a lot to run the USPS? Just wait until a Duopoly can charge whatever they want. All the fuckers that voted for this are going to find out.
There is a reason only USPS delivers in rural America and the private companies use them for last mile delivery.
Well, mail was nice while it lasted.
Not just mail.
Most (all?) of the package delivery services rely heavily on USPS for last mile deliveries. So expect UPS and Amazon to be sending people to the golf course to scream at fuckface
amazon is drooling at the opportunity to privatise all of american mail
There isn’t money in physical mail and cranking that up will just push people even farther into digital correspondence.
Amazon has spent years (well over a decade now?) trying to cut out the USPS. The reality is that they can’t. Their gig delivery driver model works for some regions but not for “rural america”. And there is a lot of money in being the only lifeline many households have while being able to offload the high cost low frequency deliveries to a different company (USPS).
Five or ten years ago? Yeah, amazon wanted that. Now? It is actively not in their interest and would hurt their business model for the USPS to die.
Destroying the USPS has almost nothing to do with “good business” or even privatizing it. It is all about controlling information. It kills vote by mail almost instantly but it also removes the ability for informational mailers to be sent out. And an isolated populace is a stupid populace and a stupid populace is a republican populace.
Its the same reason social media was so compromised. Because then all the useful idiots tell people to “just unplug and enjoy your day to day life” and then they never hear about protests or human rights violations or…
They don’t give a fuck about the last mile deliveries. Without USPS keeping prices low, they will be able to rank up what they charge. It’s a dream for them.
Last mile is what let’s them sell. If people can’t buy online they go back to brick and mortar and start questioning if that shoe horn is really worth a twenty minutes drive.
Amazon needs shipping prices to stay low. If they go up, Amazon either needs to reduce their margins to pay for it or they will be less competitive against physical shops. Either way their profits will take a hit.
They might be counting on it pushing more people to subscribe to Prime to keep cheaper shipping. They have their own distribution system so they can do the last mile if they want.
Assuming the market can bear it, that is. And goods are expensive enough as it is, even without import tariffs.
amazon does a lot of their own now. even to my little shit town. nearest fulfillment center is in another state, 2 1/2 hrs away.
They are terrible at it, compared to my mailman or UPS.
Not with UPS anymore. That agreement ended recently.
Don’t worry! You’ll be able to subscribe to our affordable mail services subscription service starting as low as 100$ per yr. Terms and conditions apply.
You guys think all the MAGAots who work for the USPS and voted for this asshole understand what’s about to happen?
Dumbfuckers voted to end their jobs and their pension.
My dad is a huge MAGA guy and a postmaster. Also set to retire in 3 years. He thinks this is all fake news and Trump is “cleaning up” things. Can’t wait till he gets cleaned up and we get to have that convo.
Their pensions! Omg you are right.
Serves anybody right who voted for this jackass, but I’m sorry for all of the rest of us.
Yep. Those pensions are about to be stolen just like they did at Hostess back in 2013.
Downvoted, because fuck Jeff Bezos.
Take control= scuttling isn’t it?
Great; now my slow mail will be slower…er…er
How long until “un-patriotic” mail from progressive institutions is no longer delivered? Democratic mail in ballots? Oopsies, right in the trash.
That makes me wonder about Amtrak.
Hmm.
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The Project 2025 stuff seems to mostly align with what’s on the Heritage Foundation website. Looking at said website, they are not happy about Amtrak.
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Apparently Trump tried eliminating federal subsidies for long-distance Amtrak routes at the start of his first term and failed.
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Biden after hearing this news:
I’m guessing he didn’t get a Valentine’s Day Card from Musk, he blamed it being ‘lost in the post’ (even through he didn’t send one because the love is all one-sided in that relationship) and The Grand High Orange One is destroying the post office out of spite.
Fuck, I just got rid if my Amazon and now they’re going to take over USPS huh? Fuck
Hey. Fuck Amazon. That’s is all.
Nice! Now my mailbox won’t be flooded with those pesky medical bills!
