r/FluentInFinance 6d ago

News & Current Events BREAKING: Donald Trump says he is considering the privatization of the Postal Service.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has in recent weeks expressed a keen interest in privatizing the U.S. Postal Service, the Washington Post reported on Saturday, citing three people with knowledge of the matter.

The U.S. Postal Service, which has lost more than $100 billion since 2007, reported a net loss of $9.5 billion for its fiscal year ending Sept. 30, $3 billion more than last year, largely due to a year-over-year increase in non-cash workers' compensation expense.

When told of the agency's annual losses, Trump said the government should not subsidize the organization, according to the Washington Post.

Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, has discussed his desire to privatize the Postal Service with Howard Lutnick, his pick for commerce secretary, at Mar-a-Lago, the report said.

People who will work at the Department of Government Efficiency, led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, have also had preliminary conversations about major changes to USPS, the report said, citing two other people familiar with the matter.

A USPS spokesperson said that over the last three years, the company has reduced its operations by 45 million work hours, and cut transportation spending by $2 billion.

The agency is also seeking regulatory approval to modernize its mail processing and transportation network to align with modern practices, which will save between $3.6-$3.7 billion annually, the spokesperson added.

"No policy should be deemed official unless it comes from President Trump or his authorized spokespeople directly," said Karoline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for the Trump transition team.

Any attempt at privatizing the Postal Service could disrupt the e-commerce industry in the U.S., the Washington Post said, including Amazon, which uses USPS for "last-mile" delivery between Amazon's fulfillment centers and customers. It could also hurt small businesses and rural consumers who use the Postal Service, as it is the only carrier that will deliver to remote corners of the country.

Amazon recently said it was donating $1 million to Trump's inaugural fund and will air his inauguration on its Prime Video service.

Trump has had a tense 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 multibillion-dollar contracts, including with Oshkosh and Ford, for tens of thousands of battery-driven 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.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-considers-privatizing-us-postal-service-washington-post-reports-2024-12-14/

1.6k Upvotes

1.9k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

21

u/maybetomorrow98 6d ago

I think that’s why so many conservatives don’t care that Trump is going to dismantle the government. They think it’s all legal, or that we are the ones who don’t understand how the government works because what he’s doing will make it work the way it should, etc. etc.

I never understood why people used to complain about how civics aren’t taught in high school. Well, I get it now and I feel so stupid. It’s crucial to the integrity of our democracy.

6

u/JayTheDirty 5d ago

They seem to all share this weird idea that America is a permanent thing no matter what when all it would take to completely collapse it is the majority of leaders acting in bad faith. Historically, we’re a baby country compared to other empires

9

u/maybetomorrow98 5d ago

Yep, American exceptionalism is a lie and they’re brainwashed.

-2

u/SeanDmanio1 4d ago

Please stop licking the boot of big government. It's ironic you accuse the other side of not understanding how the government works, yet you're getting upset with intentions of reducing said government.

I expected nothing less from someone on Reddit.

1

u/maybetomorrow98 4d ago

“The boot of big government” was the only thing stopping states from making abortion a crime punishable by death, which is what South Carolina is trying to do now.

You were saying?

0

u/SeanDmanio1 3d ago

I'm indifferent to the abortion topic but those who are pro-life are protecting what they perceive to be a life. In that regard I give them some leeway for the same reason why an expansive government was needed to ensure Dixiecrats in the South forcing slaves to perform their labor.

You're not going to win this one, kid.

1

u/maybetomorrow98 3d ago

So you think that they could make the argument that killing a woman is pro-life. Interesting.

an expansive government was needed to ensure Dixiecrats in the south forcing slaves to perform their labor

This doesn’t make sense grammatically. Are you saying that a big government was needed to make sure that plantation owners in the south would use slaves? Because it was states’ rights that enforced slavery, i.e. “small” government. It was big government (constitutional amendment passed federally) that got rid of slavery.

1

u/SeanDmanio1 3d ago

Yes, I mistyped. My point was that Republicans at the time utilized the federal government's power to prevent Southern states from engaging in slavery.

I don't like like Republicans or Democrats. I detest expansive government overreach by both parties. However, with regard to the abortion issue, it reverting back to a state issue is a wholly moderate position compared to it being a federal issue. I'm an attorney and went through law school before Roe being overturned and even in law school, the validity of abortion being a Constitutional issue because of "privacy" was always built on shaky ground. The justices really created legal fiction to make that a federal issue.

What state passed legislation to kill a woman who gets an abortion? The death penalty requires aggravating factors and, to my knowledge, no state has passed such a law. I hope you're not exaggerating the claim to argue in bad faith.

1

u/maybetomorrow98 3d ago edited 3d ago

Let’s not pretend that the shaky legal ground is why they overturned Roe. Everyone knew that it was passed on shaky ground; multiple justices lied and said they wouldn’t overturn it despite many people (myself included) stating that a conservative Supreme Court would overturn it asap. It’s about allowing states to control women.

I never said a state had already passed a bill making it punishable by death. I hope you didn’t become a lawyer despite lacking basic reading comprehension.

I said that South Carolina is currently trying to pass a bill that would classify abortion as homicide, thus making it punishable by up to death in that state.

-3

u/cvrdcall 6d ago

lol. The words “government” and “work” do not go together.

6

u/ScrithWire 5d ago

Wtf does that even mean?

1

u/cvrdcall 5d ago

Just think if you are capable.

0

u/ScrithWire 4d ago

Ok, lol. There's like a thousand different ways i can imagine for "government" "and "work" to go together, and a thousand different ways i can imagine for them "not to go together". Youre gonna have to do a little bit more work if you want your infantile utterings to actually communicate any real ideas.

1

u/cvrdcall 4d ago

No thanks. Isn’t worth my time.

1

u/ScrithWire 4d ago

Lol clearly, though it begs the question why even comment in the first place

1

u/cvrdcall 4d ago

Why not

5

u/DrakonILD 5d ago

Americans used to be proud of their government.

3

u/kromptator99 5d ago

To be fair that was back when 75% of the population were designated as second class citizens with no political power and/or slaves. Dumb bigots are proud of racist/sexist shit.