Elon Musk and Donald Trump want to privatize US postal service after years of losses of one billion dollars. The unions say it is a “terrible idea”

American Post serviceIt faces an uncertain future after the resignation of this weekDirector of the General Post Office Louis DigoyPresident Donald Trump and Elon Musk, who heads the Ministry of Government, suggested that the postal serviceIt can be privatized.

The unions representing postal workers have passed on the idea of ​​privatization, organizing protests throughout the country.

While they support update efforts,Including those that Digoy startedSyndicate leaders have warned that allowing companies for the US Postal Administration will ultimately harm ordinary citizens, especially an estimated 51 million people living in rural areas who depend on postal service.

The head of the National Association of the Transport Company, Brian, said. Renverro, during a discussion episode at the National Press Club in Washington, DC on Tuesday: “It is a terrible idea for all that we serve.”

What happens after that may depend on who becomes the next post office manager. The Board of Directors of the American Postal Service, an independent institution with the executive authority that oversees the postal service, retained a global consulting company to conduct a search for the seventy -seventh post office manager and CEO.

USPs currently employ about 640,000 workers assigned to establish delivery from internal cities to rural areas to remote islands.

Trump is looking to make major changes on USPS

In February,Trump saidHe may put the American post service under the control of the Ministry of Commerce in what might be the acquisition of the agency’s executive branch, which has worked as an independent entity since 1970.

“We want to have a good post office and do not lose huge sums of money,” Trump said during a swelling of the Minister of Commerce, Howard Lootnick, said. “We are thinking about doing this. This will be a form of integration, but it will remain the postal service, and I think it will work better.”

Although he did not say anything about the privatization of this event, the president expressed his support for the idea in the past. In December, he suggested the privatization of the service by looking at the competition it faces from Amazon, UPS, FEDEX and others.

“It is the idea that many people have a long time. We are looking at it,” the president said.

At the same time, Musk expressed her support this month at a technical conference to privatize postal service, saying: “We must allocate anything that can be privatized reasonably,” the New York Times reported.

Breast workers’ protest, a warning that the Americans may lose a beloved service

Throughout the country, postal workers have operated protests in recent days, and many hesitated to “American mail, not for sale”, and some signs that read: “The post office belongs to people, not billionaires”, referring to Musk.

Renverro said that the aim of the protests is to make the American public aware that severe changes are considered in the postal service.

“Our message is:“ No ”is interested in doing profitable things, as it should be,” but this is the distinction between private business and what we are, a public service, where we serve everyone, everywhere, regardless of where they live every day.

How did Usps end up in such a bad financial situation?

Since reorganization in 1970, USPS has been largely available. The largest part of its annual budget of $ 78.5 billion of customer fees, according to Congress Research Service. Congress provides a relatively small annual dependence-about $ 50 million in the fiscal year 2023-support for free and medium-cost mail services.

Amid the challenges that include the decrease in the first -class profitable mail and the cost of the benefits of retirees, the accumulation of the postal service87 billion dollars lossesFrom 2007 to 2020, the service was reached for $ 144 million, as it reinforced him to the Dejoy plan for 10 years to update STEM operations. The service has reached a net loss of $ 2.1 billion for the same quarter last year.

“By steadily improving our product portfolio, we increase our competitive site in the shipping market,” said Digoy.In a written statementFebruary accompanying the results of the first quarter of the fiscal year 2025.

Al -Ittihad leaders said on Wednesday that they hope to stick to the next post office manager of the update plan and believes that the postal service is to provide other services to the public, including basic banking, shipping cars and even American statistics.

“Our network is from material sites, and retail sites … our connection network puts us in a position that enables it to do many different things,” said Reneverro.

This story was originally shown on Fortune.com