President Trump’s anti-market impulses are taking center stage this week with his damaging tariff policies. But the president is occasionally supportive of pro-market reforms, such as his remarks on possibly privatizing the US Postal Service (USPS). A Trump reform push would be welcome because the USPS is an ailing dinosaur in the modern digital economy.
The figure below shows that USPS revenues are a shrinking part of gross domestic product (GDP). While revenues from packages and shipping have risen, revenues from letters, marketing mail, and periodicals have plunged. Excluding packages and shipping, USPS revenues have fallen to less than one-third the level of 2000, relative to GDP.
