Mail delivery complaints continue as Trump mulls privatizing post office
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy should have checked with his agencies’ customers in Minnesota and North Dakota before giving himself an “A” at a congressional oversight hearing last week in Washington. ‘Tis the season when complaints over poor mail delivery service pile up as surely as the packages of gifts and Christmas cards that seem to increasingly overwhelm the postal system each year.
The chronic criticism inevitably prompts a written reprimand from members of Congress, the Rochester Post Bulletin notes, including both Minnesota senators this holiday season.
“We are very concerned by reports of Minnesotans going four or more days without mail delivery, including when their informed delivery tracking and local post office promise imminent deliveries,” [DFL Sen. Amy} Klobuchar and [SFL Sen. Tina] Smith state in their Dec. 12, 2024, letter.
The letter notes that Minnesota customers rely on the Postal Service to receive paychecks, Social Security benefits, and life-saving medications.
“Even delays of one day can be difficult and harmful,” they wrote. “With the Minnesota-North Dakota District currently reporting on-time deliveries at 85.76%, this leaves a significant gap for individuals who rely on the Postal Service for essential services.”
Not exactly the sort of results you’d expect, considering the USPS has raised the cost of a stamp six times since 2021. At the same time, the agency has sunk deeper into the red, nearly $10 billion in fiscal year 2024 alone.
Similar complaints over delivery delays persist across the border, hitting close to home for for the Grand Forks Herald and other publications.
Despite assurances that issues would be resolved, North Dakota Newspaper Association President Cecile Wehrman says the United States Postal Service still has delivery problems.
“Once again it was impacting sample ballots and information people needed right before the election,” Wehrman said. “In this case, it impacted seven newspapers in the southwest corner of North Dakota. As far as the post office is concerned, those papers weren’t late if they fell within the two- to nine-day window.”
Nevertheless, the postal service has always seemed too big to fail–until now. This year the seasonal scrutiny of USPS coincides with the transition to President-elect Donald Trump. Reuters and other media report the agency’s losses have caught Trump’s attention, meaning big changes could be ahead.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has in recent weeks expressed a keen interest in privatizing the U.S. Postal Service, the Washington Post reported on Saturday, citing three people with knowledge of the matter.
The U.S. Postal Service, which has lost more than $100 billion since 2007, reported a net loss of $9.5 billion for its fiscal year ending Sept. 30, $3 billion more than last year, largely due to a year-over-year increase in non-cash workers’ compensation expense.
When told of the agency’s annual losses, Trump said the government should not subsidize the organization, according to the Washington Post.
Beyond that, there’s no indication of how far the discussion of privatizing the postal service has gotten. Regardless, the Department of Government Efficiency, under Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, has expressed interest in implementing big changes.
“No policy should be deemed official unless it comes from President Trump or his authorized spokespeople directly,” said Karoline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for the Trump transition team.
DOGE might be the last, best chance to reform everyone’s favorite agency to pick on. But there will be plenty of roadblocks to overcome along the way, privatization or not.
Any attempt at privatizing the Postal Service could disrupt the e-commerce industry in the U.S., the Washington Post said, including Amazon, which uses USPS for “last-mile” delivery between Amazon’s fulfillment centers and customers. It could also hurt small businesses and rural consumers who use the Postal Service, as it is the only carrier that will deliver to remote corners of the country.
