Post office observers say customers nationwide are reporting similar experiences as the Postal Service — the focus of unusual controversy during the Trump administration — has taken unprecedented steps to right its financial ship. The agency managed to halve its losses in 2021, down from nearly $9.2 billion in 2020. And it says it’s doing everything it can to provide good service.
But critics say DeJoy’s 10-year plan to prioritize package delivery, raise prices, consolidate facilities and make other changes is backfiring.
Annie Norman, with the nationwide Save the Post Office campaign, a coalition of postal unions, and financial reform and advocacy nonprofits, said authorization to provide basic financial products like savings accounts and check cashing, and other services, could bolster the Postal Service’s bottom line.
“Like bus passes, subway passes, Wi-Fi access, hunting licenses. There’s all kinds of opportunities to innovate and find new sources of revenue for the next century, to build the people’s post office of the future,” Norman said.
But whatever the solution, it’s likely to be — like some of the mail in southeastern Minnesota — a slow process.