President Donald Trump said his administration is considering merging the U.S. Postal Service into the Department of Commerce, a move that would give the White House more influence over its operations.
"We're thinking about doing that and it'll be a form of a merger, but it will remain the Postal Service, and I think it'll operate a lot better than it has been over the years," Trump said during a swearing-in ceremony Friday for Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. "It's been just a tremendous loser for this country."
The Trump administration could also take an approach not involving a merger by "just using some of the very talented people that we have elsewhere so it doesn't lose so much," the president said.
The Postal Service lost $9.5 billion during fiscal year 2024, but posted positive results in Q1 2025 with $144 million in net income. The agency has pushed for administrative and legislative reform to ease its financial challenges, such as pension funding changes.
Putting the Postal Service under the Commerce Department's control could help the president advance efforts to privatize the agency, something he expressed interest in during a December press conference.
"There is talk about that," Trump said. "It's an idea that a lot of people have liked for a long time. We're looking at it."
Such an action could usher in a flurry of changes for the agency that is a critical cog in the last-mile delivery ecosystem. The Postal Service handled more than 7.2 billion parcels in its package delivery services segment in fiscal year 2024, and it has secured more direct relationships with shippers during Postmaster General Louis DeJoy's tenure. DeJoy announced last week he plans to step down.
"The USPS reaches every corner of the U.S., including rural areas that private companies often ignore," said Anthony Pizza, VP of growth and innovation at parcel carrier SpeedX, on LinkedIn. "Its affordable mail supports small businesses and delivers essentials like medicine and bills. Full privatization could raise costs sharply and cut many jobs, threatening fairness and access."
Pizza floated the idea of restructuring the agency instead, privatizing its parcel delivery side that competes with other carriers while keeping its mail delivery operations public. That approach "might blend efficiency with access, sidestepping a full overhaul," he said.
Despite its struggles, any Postal Service privatization ambitions from the Trump administration are likely to face resistance from lawmakers.
A resolution introduced in the House of Representatives on Jan. 28 said Congress should take all appropriate measures to keep the Postal Service as an independent establishment that isn't subject to privatization. It said such a move "would jeopardize the booming e-commerce sector" and spark higher prices and reduced services for customers, particularly in rural areas.
The resolution had 113 cosponsors as of Monday, and six of them are Republicans. The National Association of Letter Carriers, a union for USPS city letter carriers, voiced support for the resolution.
More recently, Democrats on the House of Representatives’ Committee on Oversight and Government Reform urged the president to uphold the Postal Service's independent status and abandon plans that would compromise that.
"Any effort to privatize the Postal Service or move it into an executive branch department requires explicit authorization from Congress, which Congress would not provide," they said in a letter Saturday.
