New postmaster general could signal big changes to postal service

WASHINGTON, D.C. (NEXSTAR) — The hunt is on for a new postmaster general, and some say whoever gets that job could have a big impact on how you get your mail.

That’s because the Trump administration wants to sell off and privatize parts of the postal service.

But some who are against that idea said it will make getting your mail tougher and cost some mail workers their jobs.

The White House said the US Postal Service should be a private business, not part of the government.

But Mark Dimondstein, president of the American Postal Workers Union, said mail service is too important to privatize.

“Everybody has the same right tho have mail service, no matter who we are and where we live, and that would all be threatened, undermined, and done away with postal privatization,” said Dimondstein.

In 2018, Trump called for a task force to restructure, or even sell off, the post office.

Now, Diamondstein’s fears are growing as the search is on for a new postmaster general.

“We’re very concerned that they may bring in a postmaster general to carry out the plans of the White House Office of Management and Budget, which is to sell it,” he said.

The postal service is losing money and owes its current and future retirees more than $100 billion.

“At the end of the day, Congress would have the final say, but an awful lot of damage can be done along the way,” Diamondstein said.

The administration’s Office of Management and Budget has so far not responded to a request for comment, but some senators, like Ohio’s Sherrod Brown, said Congress should allow the post office to expand its business so it can turn a profit.

“We have set them up in some sense to undermine their success, and we need to back off and do it right,” Brown said.

Dimondstein suggests postal workers could do more than carrying mail.

“Such as expanded financial services, paycheck cashing, ATM’s,” he said.

Any real Congressional action will have to wait until after the impeachment trial.