The Trump administration has been exploring a proposal to privatize the United States Postal Service.
The president famously
Why is the United States Post Office, which is losing many billions of dollars a year, while charging Amazon and others so little to deliver their packages, making Amazon richer and the Post Office dumber and poorer? Should be charging MUCH MORE!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 29, 2017
critically about the postal service’s business model about a year ago and has since taken steps towards allowing private companies like UPS and FedEx access to mailboxes-- a right only legally granted to public postal workers.
Supporters argue countries like England and Germany have successfully brought the free market into letter carrying and considers USPS sole access to mailboxes a criminal monopoly. Critics say privatizing the post office would cut access to customers and weaken middle class jobs.
The Postal Service has been losing money in recent years with a $3.9 billion loss in 2018 as customers have declined. By allowing private carriers access to mailboxes for a fee, the proposal seeks to make up lost revenue.
Guests:
Chris Edwards, director of tax policy studies at the Cato Institute; editor of the CATO project, DownsizingGovernment.org; he tweets
Mehrsa Baradaran, law professor and associate dean at University of Georgia. Author of "How the Other Half Banks" (Harvard University Press 2015)
