Privatizing USPS is “not the worst idea I’ve ever heard,” Trump told reporters at a press conference Monday, saying his team was “looking at it,” after the Post reported Trump had discussed privatizing the agency with Commerce Secretary nominee Howard Lutnick.
Members of Trump’s “Department of Government Efficiency” run by billionaires Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy had also held “preliminary conversations about major changes” to USPS, the Post reported, and Musk seemingly endorsed privatization on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Monday, responding “yes” to a post that called for privatizing the agency and letting Americans opt out of receiving physical mail.
It’s still unclear what concrete steps Trump could take to make sweeping changes to USPS, though Reuters previously reported Trump’s transition team is considering canceling the agency’s contracts for a new fleet of electric mail trucks.
USPS is part of the federal government even though it’s predominantly self-funded, and has a universal service obligation to provide affordable and uniform service everywhere in the country, even in more remote geographic locations.
Trump during his first presidential term threatened to privatize the agency and has long decried it—calling it a “joke”—though his administration ultimately never made any major moves to make USPS private after facing bipartisan opposition.
