President-elect Donald Trump appears to have set his sights on the U.S. Postal Service, reportedly considering privatization as part of a broader push to streamline federal operations. According to insiders, Trump has discussed detaching the USPS from government control during conversations at his Mar-a-Lago estate. Among those reportedly looped into these talks is Howard Lutnick, tapped for commerce secretary and co-chair of Trump’s transition team. Trump also floated the idea during a December meeting with transition officials, suggesting that the fate of the postal agency might become a hallmark of his administration’s efficiency overhaul.
The Postal Service, which has been bleeding money as mail volume continues to decline, reported a staggering $9.5 billion loss for the fiscal year ending in September. Unsurprisingly, this has drawn Trump’s attention, along with that of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), his newly minted federal cost-cutting initiative. While DOGE leaders Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy haven’t formally announced plans to privatize the USPS, such a move aligns neatly with their stated mission of trimming government fat. The idea, however, has ruffled feathers among critics worried about its potential impact on e-commerce, especially companies like Amazon, whose executive chairman, Jeff Bezos, also happens to own The Washington Post. Convenient timing, given Bezos’ reported million-dollar donation to Trump’s inaugural fund.
Conversations about USPS reform appear to be heating up within the DOGE task force. Members have reportedly begun exploring sweeping changes to the postal agency, with privatization emerging as a key focus. Republican lawmakers, long critical of the USPS’s inefficiencies, have joined the chorus. The Washington Post characterizes the Postal Service as a “prominent target” for federal reformers eager to slash costs and inject private-sector dynamism into what they view as a bloated bureaucracy. For many conservatives, the USPS represents a glaring example of outdated federal programs that struggle to adapt to modern realities.
Incoming DOGE subcommittee chair Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene hasn’t minced words about what she sees as wasteful spending at the USPS. Greene recently called for an end to the agency’s “money pit,” citing the Biden administration’s plan to supply the Postal Service with 60,000 electric vehicles—of which only 93 trucks have reportedly been delivered so far. For Greene and her allies, such initiatives are less about practical reform and more about virtue signaling under the guise of climate change. With numbers like these, the case for privatization becomes an easy sell for those looking to rein in government spending.
The U.S. Postal Service, a staple of American infrastructure since its founding in 1775 under Benjamin Franklin, may be at a crossroads. What began as a revolutionary innovation has become, to many, a symbol of government inefficiency. Trump’s administration seems poised to ask a tough question: Is it time for this historical institution to modernize through privatization, or is it another sacred cow too politically risky to touch? With reform-minded heavyweights like Musk and Ramaswamy on board, and a Republican-led Congress eager to cut costs, the future of the USPS could be headed for a dramatic overhaul.
