Privatizers are wandering, supported by Donald Trump’s billionaire cabinet and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) anti-government crusades. The first month of Trump 2.0 was a jackpot for embarrassing fraud and self-dealing by the country’s wealthy elite. The administration sent a clear signal to its profiters. Now is your chance to take part in the action.
For decades, rights have been drooling at the idea of privatizing the US Postal Service (USPS). Now it works to make that dream a reality. In December, Trump indicated he was considering placing the USP under the Commerce Department. Just recently, Trump-appointed postmaster Louis DeJoy agreed to partner with Doge to roll the ball.
Major financial institutions are on the whimsical side of prospects. Last month, Wells Fargo released a memo outlining the political pathways to achieve various opportunities for privatization and profitability of mail. Their plans are clear. Sell the most profitable parts, raise prices and destroy the organized workforce. This scheme represents an attack on the foundations of this popular and universal public service.
Wells Fargo envisions postal services where mail is held as a taxpayer-funded government agency, with more profitable packages and parcel components being “sold or IPO”. For new private companies to make the right profit, “USPS needs to rise by about 30-140% across the product line.”
The privatized postal system aims to be a universal service obligation that requires emails to all addresses six days a week. Such dedication to impartial service “will be a challenge for third-party operators to make emails and packages usefully moving,” the memo complains. The move will also put pressure on the proposed email-only service.
Doge’s attacks on federal workers seem to inspire Wells Fargo. Citing “recent Doge efforts on federal cost management,” we recommend giving mail employees a postponed acquisition offer that “may be subject to leave or layoffs.” Taking the page from the UK’s Royal Mail privacy in 2013 suggests that the government will take over all pension liabilities and not provide them to new private enterprise workers.
With remarkable honesty, the memo acknowledges that privatization “will reduce job safety amid an inevitable loss of union protection, loss of pension benefits, increased healthcare costs and restructuring of employees/wages.”
With all postcodes there is a post office, it’s no surprise that Wells Fargo considers real estate to be a major source of profit. The company estimates USPS’ real estate value is up to $88 billion. This includes “small post office facilities.” Wells Fargo wants to sell out or be lease. These post offices act as an important part of public infrastructure, especially in small towns and rural areas.
The authors of this memo recognize that privatization of USPS is not an easy task. They are forced to acknowledge that “USPS has high public, private, labor and federal support.” Because it “provides important services to many communities.” Furthermore, rural customers have “particularly strong affinity.” This speaks to the reality that USPS is not just sending emails. People rely on it for election voting, medicine, financial services and more.
Due to the widespread public love for the USPS and the unlikely possibility of bipartisan support for privatization, the memo recommends a backdoor strategy to accomplish it through the budget adjustment bill. The author also raises the possibility that Trump could replace the Postmaster with people who implement a policy that “can work effectively to achieve some of the things that can be done through privatization.”
Wells Fargo is smart enough to know that the main ambiguity of opposition to privatization is the main postal union. Referring to the massive postal attack in 1970, the memo author fears the economy as a whole, “employees are jointly causing property damage and material damage.”
They are right to worry about organized opposition outcomes from postal workers. Furthermore, the concept is not overstated. Now there is a rumble between ranks and files that can link extremists of postal workers into a broader battle with privatization. As the Labour Note reports, the new Caucus of the National Association of Letterers (NALC) called Build a Fighting NALC has led the movement to vote overwhelmingly from its latest interim agreement from the USPS (which provided 1.3% annual salary increases). They also forced the National Union to support the Day of National Action on March 23rd.
Wells Fargo is right about one thing. With postal workers on the move, privatization schemes will not fall without a fight. As the memo obscurely admits, the USPS enjoys the majority support of the American public that its allies can build to protect against these attacks. It was an important source of stable, organized employment, especially for African Americans and veterans.
Instead of privatization, postal services should be expanded to carry out services such as postal banks, copy documents, and holiday gifts. Financial institutions like Wells Fargo want to turn essential public services into separate money-making machines and destroy union workers in the process.
If Wells Fargo’s notes are any indication, the silver lining is that they know that we have the power to stop them.
