The U.S. Postal Service could be at a critical tipping point in its history.
Last month, at the swearing-in ceremony for Howard Lutnick, the new secretary of commerce, President Trump said he’s thinking of moving the Postal Service under the umbrella of the Commerce Department.
“We want to have a post office that works well and doesn’t lose massive amounts of money,” Trump said. “We’re thinking about doing that, and it’ll be a form of a merger, but it’ll remain the Postal Service, and I think it’ll operate a lot better than it has been over the years. It’s been just a tremendous loser for this country.”
The Postal Reorganization Act of 1970 remodeled the Postal Service from a cabinet department to an independent agency under the executive branch. As a result, the president can nominate members to the board of governors, but has no direct jurisdiction over Postal Service operations.
And one of Trump’s big ideas from his first term — privatization of the Postal Service — is still under consideration.
