(Reuters) -U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has in latest weeks expressed a eager curiosity in privatizing the U.S. Postal Service, the Washington Post reported on Saturday, citing three individuals with data of the matter.
The U.S. Postal Service, which has misplaced greater than $100 billion since 2007, reported a web lack of $9.5 billion for its fiscal yr ending Sept. 30, $3 billion greater than final yr, largely as a result of a year-over-year improve in non-cash staff’ compensation expense.
When instructed of the company’s annual losses, Trump mentioned the federal government shouldn’t subsidize the group, in keeping with the Washington Post.
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Trump, who takes workplace on Jan. 20, has mentioned his need to denationalise the Postal Service with Howard Lutnick, his choose for commerce secretary, at Mar-a-Lago, the report mentioned.
People who will work on the Department of Government Efficiency, led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, have additionally had preliminary conversations about main modifications to USPS, the report mentioned, citing two different individuals acquainted with the matter.
A USPS spokesperson mentioned that during the last three years, the corporate has lowered its operations by 45 million work hours, and minimize transportation spending by $2 billion.
The company can also be looking for regulatory approval to modernize its mail processing and transportation community to align with trendy practices, which is able to save between $3.6-$3.7 billion yearly, the spokesperson added.
“No coverage needs to be deemed official until it comes from President Trump or his licensed spokespeople straight,” mentioned Karoline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for the Trump transition group.
Any try at privatizing the Postal Service may disrupt the e-commerce business within the U.S., the Washington Post mentioned, together with Amazon, which makes use of USPS for “last-mile” supply between Amazon’s achievement facilities and clients. It may additionally damage small companies and rural shoppers who use the Postal Service, as it’s the solely provider that can ship to distant corners of the nation.
Amazon lately mentioned it was donating $1 million to Trump’s inaugural fund and can air his inauguration on its Prime Video service.
Trump has had a tense relationship with the Postal Service. Sources instructed Reuters his transition group is contemplating canceling the service’s contracts to impress its supply fleet.
According to sources, the group is reviewing the way it can unwind the service’s multibillion-dollar contracts, together with with Oshkosh and Ford, for tens of hundreds of battery-driven supply vans and charging stations.
In 2020, Congress licensed the Treasury Department to lend the Postal Service as much as $10 billion as a part of a $2.3 trillion coronavirus stimulus bundle, which Trump threatened to dam.
(Reporting by Chandni Shah in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Douglas Gillison in Washington; Editing by Frances Kerry, Daniel Wallis, Diane Craft and David Gregorio)
