Photo: Jay Tody, 24, is a Bemidji mail carrier, but spent some time before his shift on Feb. 25, 2025, to picket against a private Postal Service.
BEMIDJI — Nationwide, postal carriers are demanding fair contracts, worker safety and a stop to the privatization of the United States Postal Service.
In Bemidji, one postal carrier took it upon himself to begin picketing on Tuesday, Feb. 25.
Jay Tody, 24, is a Bemidji mail carrier who was elected branch president of his local postal carrier union earlier this year. Tody picketed symbolically on his own, without the support of his union or employer, but said it’s important for people to realize what could happen in rural areas if the post office becomes private.
“All the cool little postal stories, like the mule train to serve the reservation down in the Grand Canyon, and the bush pilots in Montana and Alaska,” Tody said. “All of that would go away because it’s no longer profitable.”
President Donald Trump made comments late last week that reiterated his desire to privatize the Post Office, with some talk of firing the Postal Service’s board of directors and embedding it into the Department of Commerce.
