PBS 2/21/2025 - President Trump reportedly plans to fire the board of the U.S. Postal Service and place the independent agency under the control of the Commerce Department, a move that could be the first step in privatizing the service. The White House denied that an executive order to make the change is in the works. Jacob Bogage of The Washington Post reported on the issue and discussed more with Geoff Bennett.
Excerpt:
Jacob Bogage:
That's a difficult question because it's an ideological question.
So let's look at this from the big picture. The United States has had a Postal Service longer than we have been a country. It was founded in 1775. Obviously, the country was founded in 1776. For — until 1970, the Postal Service didn't have a profit motive. Its motive was to serve people all across the country with equal and reliable service. We changed that in 1970 for — it's a long story we don't need to get into it right now.
But we changed that to be more of like a crown corporation or a government-sponsored corporation. So what do we lose without an independent Postal Service? Well, this is an agency that belongs to all of us. It doesn't belong to the White House. Because it's independent, it has an obligation to serve all of us equally, reach everybody's address with the same service and the same pricing.
A privatized Postal Service or one in which mail delivery becomes political will not have those same motivations.
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https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/the-potential-impact-of-a-trump-takeover-of-usps
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