Is the United States Postal Service Really a Government Agency?

The United States Postal Service (USPS) delivers over 130 billion pieces of mail to over 160 million addresses each year. It operates over 31,000 post offices and has over 600,000 workers.

With such a massive reach, you’d think it’s just another arm of the federal government, right?

Not quite. The USPS occupies a gray area between public and private. Its structure and funding stray from typical government agencies in important ways I’ll break down here.

Let’s walk through what makes the USPS tick—and what challenges it faces today.

USPS Funding: Who’s Footing the (Very Large) Bill?

First, the USPS funding truth might shock you:

Unlike agencies like the Department of Defense, the Postal Service does not run on taxpayer money.

I’ll repeat that. $0 of your federal taxes goes toward USPS operations.

Instead, the agency lives and dies based on its own postage sales revenue. It brought in $77 billion dollars last year—more than companies like Nike and FedEx. Impressive!

However, revenue doesn’t equal profit. While Congress doesn’t directly subsidize the USPS, they burden it with huge pre-funding mandates:

This prepays health benefits for future retirees—to the tune to over $100 billion over the past decade (GAO data). No other entity bears this legislative weight. It now accounts for over 90% of USPS losses since 2013 (Institute for Policy Studies data).

So while the USPS pays its own bills day-to-day, Congress dealt it a devastating fiscal blow that drains billions yearly.

USPS Governance: Not Quite Independent, Not Quite Government-Run

Okay, so if taxpayers don’t fund the USPS, who calls the shots?

The Postmaster General (PMG) acts as the CEO, overseeing day-to-day operations. PMG’s serve at the pleasure of the Postal Board of Governors—similar to a corporate board.

Here’s where it gets murky. The President appoints governors while the PMG runs more independently. Nine governors nominate PMG candidates that the full board selects by majority vote.

This structure intentionally limits political influence over the USPS. The downside? When financial concerns arise, some blame game occurs between Congress, the Postal Governors, and Postmaster General.

The current PMG Louis DeJoy promises long-term financial sustainability but has caught flack from critics on both sides for slowing mail delivery times. This highlights the delicate balance between keeping the USPS fiscally sound and uniformly serving all Americans.

Privatization Pushback: Why USPS Will Almost Surely Remain Public

With billion-dollar losses mounting, there have been escalating calls in recent years to privatize the postal service: spinning it off into a private corporation.

In 2018, President Trump issued a sweeping reorganization proposal that recommended just that. However, Congress declined to move forward over concerns like:

• Dramatic price hikes: USPS would no longer be bound by universal service obligations if profit became top priority
• Severe rural delivery cuts: Sparsely populated routes would likely get slashed
• Job losses: Collective bargaining rights could disappear for workers

Based on this resistance, full-on privatization remains improbable. Even conventional corporations like FedEx rely heavily on USPS for affordable last-mile delivery.

Over the past 250 years, the Postal Service delivered through The Civil War, Great Depression, and every other national crisis. While how it’s governed warrants an update, expect the eagle emblem to keep flying for decades more.

The path ahead has potholes, but this hybrid organization now transforms to not just deliver mail, but reinvent itself.