FedEx and UPS – two private carriers positioned to capitalize on a weakened U.S. Postal Service – poured nearly $20 million into federal lobbying in 2025, an OpenSecrets analysis found.
A series of events left USPS bracing for an uncertain future. First, its leader warned the agency could run out of cash by 2027, leaving it unable to pay employees or vendors. Amazon then announced it would sharply reduce the number of packages it ships through the Postal Service. Amazon moved more than 1 billion packages through USPS last year, roughly 15% of the agency’s total volume. A two-thirds reduction could strip USPS of billions in revenue amid those concerns of insolvency.
USPS cited that “severe financial crisis” in announcing plans to raise stamp prices by four cents, to 82 cents, in July, saying it is “using all available tools” in attempting to keep meeting its universal delivery obligations.
“The Postal Service is no longer a financial or economic issue,” James O’Rourke, a professor emeritus at the University of Notre Dame who studies USPS, told OpenSecrets. “It’s a political issue.”
Another USPS expert has a different view: Steve Hutkins, a retired literature professor at New York University who publishes “Save The Post Office,” said the “insolvency” narrative may be an overstatement.
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