The steady decline in the quality of mail service in recent years has been well documented by MinnPost and other media outlets across the country.
The saga over unreliable mail delivery in many areas of Minnesota is escalating, with the inspector general of the U.S. Postal Service investigating the cause of poor service for many Minnesotans.
But solutions to a frustrating problem will be hard to fix because they are the result of several factors and are very widespread.
Poor mail delivery is not limited to Minnesota. Similar complaints have been voiced in Colorado, Kansas, Maine, Hawaii, and other states.
As a result, it probably comes as no surprise to millions of residents who’ve experienced the decline in mail delivery that the Trump administration has raised the possibility of privatizing the postal service in an effort to cut costs and improve efficiency. Some of the options under consideration were identified by the Duluth News Tribune.
Last week, Reuters reported U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy signed an agreement with billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, which has vowed to cut government spending. USPS had so far been exempt from DOGE’s cost-cutting efforts.
DeJoy had already announced USPS would reduce its headcount by 10,000 through an early retirement program. In a letter he wrote to Congress, reviewed by Reuters, he said DOGE would “assist us in identifying and achieving further efficiencies. … The DOGE team was gracious enough to ask for big problems they can help us with.”
Unsurprisingly, that’s not the way the letter carriers union sees it. While USPS has complained about being able to find enough employees since the pandemic, there were plenty of carriers on hand at the union’s rallies against the agency’s potential changes in Duluth and cities around the country.
[Postal workers union local president Todd] Fawcett said cost cutting has been felt by postal workers, who have to take up the duties of someone who retires or leaves because the position is often not filled, and by the public who rely on the USPS services.
“Locally, they set us up with not having enough workers; that’s why you’re not getting your mail every day,” Fawcett said.
At the rally staged in Fargo, Inforum noted that postal workers opposed to privatizing or streamlining USPS maintained rural areas could be particularly vulnerable to potential changes in operations.
“If the Postal Service ever goes to be owned by a private company, they’re only going to have delivery and services to the populated areas,” {National Rural Letter Carriers Association representative Ida] Volesky said. “They’re not going to worry about the people that live out in the country or live in these remote, small towns. … They’re not going to be able to mail their Christmas cards or birthday cards or anything.”
Addressing the gathered crowd, Carter said privatization would be a “slap in the face” to USPS staff and “every citizen who relies on the Postal Service.”
It’s unclear how the possibility of privatization will play out. Fixing the USPS may be too much to ask even of Elon Musk and DOGE.