Postmaster Normal David Steiner speaks in opposition to privatizing USPS : NPR

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Sean Rayford/Getty Photos Trump administration discuss of remodeling the U.S. Postal Service has set off a flurry of considerations about the way forward for the federal mail company.

The brand new chief of USPS is now making an attempt to clear the air.

"I don't consider that the Postal Service must be privatized or that it ought to change into an appropriated a part of the federal authorities," Postmaster Normal David Steiner mentioned Thursday in his first video message to USPS workers. "I consider within the present construction of the Postal Service as a self-financing, unbiased entity of the manager department."

Steiner formally took over the nation's mail service Tuesday, about 4 months after Louis DeJoy stepped down as postmaster normal.

A former CEO of Waste Administration, Steiner additionally beforehand served on the board of FedEx. Requested by NPR how Steiner — who owned shares in FedEx at the least as of September 2024, based on a Securities and Alternate Fee submitting — is dealing with shares that would current a monetary battle of curiosity, USPS spokesperson David Walton says in an announcement that they "have been or might be resolved, offered, and/or divested as required by legislation."

Nonetheless, Steiner's background at a prime delivery competitor to USPS raised privatization considerations amongst worker unions, which organized a sequence of rallies across the nation to protest Trump officers' calls to overtake the nation's mail service.

For now at the least, the brand new postmaster normal's effort in Thursday's video to deal with what he referred to as "rumors" has eased these worries for some union leaders.

"We're happy that Postmaster Normal Steiner has privately, and now publicly, expressed his assist for a robust public Postal Service," says Brian Renfroe, president of the Nationwide Affiliation of Letter Carriers, which represents carriers in cities, in an announcement.

The Nationwide Rural Letter Carriers' Affiliation's president, Don Maston, says: "The phrases are what we need to hear. The actions will communicate for themselves."

Maston provides that he hopes to see USPS proceed making an attempt to develop its delivery enterprise beneath Steiner. "And if we see any indications that issues are being shifted to UPS or we're getting again in enterprise with FedEx in a means that might not be one thing that we need to see, completely we'll must take challenge with that," he notes.

Steiner's video message to postal employees nodded to the controversial, 10-year "Delivering for America" reorganization plan that DeJoy launched in 2021. Steiner mentioned adjustments lately have introduced USPS "considerably nearer to private-sector logistics practices" and improved its competitiveness by way of pricing and product methods. Nonetheless, Steiner famous he thinks USPS "can enhance" and plans to "assess and decide what modifications" to the USPS' method will "greatest serve the Postal Service, our workers and our prospects."

President Trump has expressed assist for promoting off the providers of USPS to a personal firm, a form of transfer that he has mentioned was "not the worst concept" he is ever heard. In 2018, his first administration launched a proposal for "privatization by an preliminary public providing (IPO) or sale to a different entity." Trump has typically pointed to the mail company's troubled funds, which have been saddled with declines in mailing and authorized necessities to pre-fund well being advantages for retired postal employees.

Privatizing, nonetheless, is more likely to end in increased delivery costs for the general public and lowered mail service to rural areas, business analysts have warned. In a 2018 report, a activity drive on the U.S. postal system put collectively by the primary Trump administration concluded that the "USPS's complete supply community that covers each tackle within the nation is a important a part of the nation's infrastructure that can not be replicated by personal actors."

There's additionally bipartisan opposition to privatizing USPS in Congress.

This week, a 14th Home Republican — Rep. Dan Newhouse of Washington — signed on to a decision saying Congress ought to be certain that the Postal Service stays an unbiased federal company and never privatized. The decision, which was launched by Democratic Rep. Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts and is at the moment caught within the Home Oversight Committee, now has 218 sponsors. A Senate model of the decision additionally has a bipartisan, however smaller, group of supporters.

The Postal Service usually receives no tax {dollars} to maintain it operating, relying as a substitute on its stamp gross sales and different service charges.

To assist stabilize its funds, USPS raised the value of a first-class "ceaselessly" stamp on Sunday by nearly 7% to 78 cents, amongst different will increase. Whereas it is likely one of the world's lowest costs for mailing a letter domestically, it additionally marks the seventh worth hike by USPS up to now 4 years.