South MS letter carriers warn of delays and disruptions if Trump reshapes Postal Service

The suggestion by President Trump to privatize or reshape the U.S. Postal Service is facing growing concern among letter carriers in South Mississippi, who say doing so would delay or stop mail from reaching the region’s most rural areas.

Trump told reporters last month he was considering shifting the Postal Service under control of the Commerce Department. He also suggested last year the Postal Service could be privatized. The White House said last month it has no immediate plans to change the Postal Service, which has been independent for decades.

Dozens of unionized letter carriers who gathered Wednesday at a rally at the Biloxi Town Green said they believe the plan would be illegal without approval from Congress.

Privatizing the Postal Service or shifting its work to contractors, they said, could slow mail delivery in the region’s smaller cities or stop it entirely in rural areas. Private companies motivated by profits have little incentive to make daily deliveries in lightly populated places, said Steve Lassan, who leads the National Association of Letter Carriers’s Region 8, which includes Mississippi.

“South Mississippi is a place that in a lot of ways would be disproportionately impacted,” said Brian Renfroe, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers.

Renfroe, a Hattiesburg-native, also said any increase in the price of deliveries could harm small local businesses, which would face higher shipping costs for online commerce.

Trump’s suggestions come amid a sprawling effort to remake the federal government and eliminate what federal leaders have called fraud and waste in federal agencies. The Postal Service reported losing $9.5 billion in the 2024 fiscal year. It has since reported a profit in the first quarter of this year.

The Postal Service has faced calls for reform before and sought to modernize and consolidate locations after it recorded $87 billion in losses over 14 years.

The National Association of Letter Carriers represents 1,229 letter carriers in Mississippi. Several said Wednesday that shifting the Postal Service’s mission could also jeopardize letter carriers’ jobs and their work in local communities.

Cliff Stoddard, a union advocate and retired letter carrier on the Coast, said letter carriers sometimes call police for welfare checks if they notice mail stacking up at homes day after day. They also collect cans from mailboxes for food drives each year and are dominant contributors to several local food banks.

“They count on us,” he said.

This story was originally published March 13, 2025 at 5:00 AM.