Editing United States Postal Service (section)

== Governance and organization ==

The [[Board of Governors of the United States Postal Service]] sets policy, procedure, and postal rates for services rendered. It has a similar role to a corporate board of directors. Of the eleven members of the Board, nine are appointed by the president and confirmed by the [[U.S. Senate]] (see {{usc|39|202}}). The nine appointed members then select the [[United States Postmaster General|United States postmaster general]], who serves as the board's tenth member, and who oversees the day-to-day activities of the service as chief executive officer (see {{usc|39|202|203}}). The ten-member board then nominates a deputy postmaster general, who acts as chief operating officer, to the eleventh and last remaining open seat.

The independent [[Postal Regulatory Commission]] (formerly the Postal Rate Commission) is also controlled by appointees of the president confirmed by the Senate. It oversees postal rates and related concerns, having the authority to approve or reject USPS proposals.

The USPS is often mistaken for a [[state-owned enterprise]] or [[government-owned corporation]] (e.g., [[Amtrak]]) because it operates much like a business. It is, however, an "establishment of the executive branch of the Government of the United States", ({{usc|39|201}}) as it is controlled by presidential appointees and the postmaster general. As a [[government agency]], it has many special privileges, including [[sovereign immunity]], [[eminent domain]] powers, powers to negotiate [[Universal Postal Union|postal treaties]] with foreign nations, and an exclusive legal right to deliver first-class and third-class mail. Indeed, in 2004, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a unanimous decision "The Postal Service is not subject to antitrust liability. In both form and function, it is not a separate antitrust person from the United States but is part of the Government, and so is not controlled by the antitrust laws" such as the [[Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890]].<ref>''United States Postal Serv. v. Flamingo Indus. (USA) Ltd.'', {{ussc|540|736|2004}}.</ref> Unlike a state-owned enterprise, the USPS lacks a transparent ownership structure and is not subject to standard rules and norms that apply to commercial entities. The USPS also lacks commercial discretion and control.<ref>{{cite book |last1= Crew|first1= Michael A.|last2= Brennan|first2= Timothy J|date= 2014|title= The Role of the Postal and Delivery Sector in a Digital Age|publisher= Edward Elgar Pub|page= 16|isbn= 978-1-78254-633-7|quote= Misconceptions surround the United States Postal Service's (USPS) current organizational structure...USPS, although clearly a federally owned entity, is not a state-owned enterprise (SOE) in the sense that this term is normally understood in the United States and in other advanced economies. It is instead an independent government organization (IGO) within the federal government, and thus lacks standard attributes of an SOE.}}</ref>

{{usc|18|1725}} creates a statutory monopoly on access to letter boxes by authorizing the federal government to impose fines against anyone who "knowingly and willfully deposits any mailable matter" in such letter boxes "on which no postage has been paid".  The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld this monopoly against a [[First Amendment to the United States Constitution|First Amendment]] [[Freedom of speech in the United States|freedom of speech]] challenge; it thus remains illegal in the U.S. for anyone, other than the employees and agents of the USPS, to deliver mail pieces to letter boxes marked "U.S. Mail".<ref>''United States Postal Serv. v. Greenburgh Civic Ass'ns'', {{ussc|453|114|1981}}.</ref>

The Postal Service also has a Mailers' Technical Advisory Committee and local Postal Customer Councils, which are advisory and primarily involve business customers.<ref>[http://www.usps.com/strategicplanning/cs08/chpt2_pg10.htm USPS.com] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090509040715/http://www.usps.com/strategicplanning/cs08/chpt2_pg10.htm |date=May 9, 2009}}. USPS.com (September 17, 2008). Retrieved July 8, 2011.</ref>

The USPS assigns city names to various postal addresses; these assignments do not always correspond with municipal boundaries. Mailing address names may stay the same even if city boundaries change.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ci.houston.tx.us/annexation/annexation_FAQ.html|title=City of Houston Annexation FAQ|publisher=[[Houston|City of Houston]]|date=October 31, 1996|access-date=August 3, 2022|quote=The U.S. Postal Service establishes ZIP codes and mailing addresses[...]|archive-date=October 31, 1996|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19961031170034/http://www.ci.houston.tx.us/annexation/annexation_FAQ.html|url-status=bot: unknown}}</ref>

=== Funding and privatization proposals ===
Since the Postal Reorganization Act came into effect in 1971, the USPS has     been mandated to be self-financing and rely solely on revenue from stamps     and package deliveries to support itself.<ref name=Effron>{{Cite news| last = Effron| first = Oliver| title = Why the US Postal Service is in deep financial trouble| work = CNN Business| date = October 6, 2020|     access-date = June 10, 2024| url=https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/06/business/congress-usps-funding-problems/index.html}}</ref><ref name="PBS 5 things" /> In 1982, postal stamps were changed to be categorized as products rather than a form of taxation, and since then, the Postal Service has no longer received taxpayer funding.<ref name=Effron/>

Since the 1990s, Republicans have been discussing the idea of privatizing the U.S. Postal Service.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.csmonitor.com/1995/0207/07014.html|title=Republicans Eye US Postal Service For Privatization Push|last=Popiel|first=Leslie Albrecht|date=February 7, 1995|work=[[The Christian Science Monitor]]|access-date=August 13, 2020|archive-date=October 17, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201017111006/https://www.csmonitor.com/1995/0207/07014.html|url-status=live}}</ref> President Trump's administration proposed turning USPS into "a private postal operator" as part of a June 2018 governmental reorganization plan, although there was strong bipartisan opposition to the idea in Congress.<ref name="privatize">{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2018/09/24/congressional-opposition-trumps-postal-cuts-privatization-plan-grows/|title=Congressional opposition to Trump's postal cuts, privatization plan grows|last=Davidson|first=Joe|date=September 24, 2018|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|access-date=August 13, 2020|archive-date=August 14, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200814123957/https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2018/09/24/congressional-opposition-trumps-postal-cuts-privatization-plan-grows/|url-status=live}}</ref>

On December 17, 2017, President Trump criticized the postal service's relationship with Amazon. In a post on Twitter, he stated: "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!"<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevebanker/2017/12/29/trump-criticizes-the-postal-service-for-charging-amazon-so-little/#570173e82c46|last=Banker|first=Steve|date=December 29, 2017|title=President Trump, Here's Why The Postal Service Is Charging Amazon 'So Little'|magazine=[[Forbes]]|access-date=October 31, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181031215510/https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevebanker/2017/12/29/trump-criticizes-the-postal-service-for-charging-amazon-so-little/#570173e82c46|archive-date=October 31, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> Amazon maintains that the Postal Service makes a profit from its contract with the company.<ref name="nyt-fact-check">Gold, Michael, and Katie Rogers (March 29, 2018).  [https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/29/us/politics/trump-amazon-post-office-fact-check.html "The Facts Behind Trump's Tweets on Amazon, Taxes and the Postal Service."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190621000623/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/29/us/politics/trump-amazon-post-office-fact-check.html |date=June 21, 2019}}  ''[[The New York Times]]''. Retrieved November 9, 2019.</ref>  On June 21, 2018, Trump proposed a sweeping reorganization but Congress did not act.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/trumps-fix-for-postal-service-privatize-it-1529659801|last=Smith|first=Jennifer|date=June 22, 2018|title=Trump's Fix for Postal Service: Privatize It|newspaper=[[The Wall Street Journal]]|access-date=October 31, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180921124706/https://www.wsj.com/articles/trumps-fix-for-postal-service-privatize-it-1529659801|archive-date=September 21, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Lisa Graves]] has documented decades-long efforts to privatize the U.S. Postal Service through driving the public service to financial collapse.<ref>Graves, Lisa, ''[https://www.inthepublicinterest.org/wp-content/uploads/ITPI_USPSPrivatization_July2020.pdf The Billionaire Behind Efforts to Kill the U.S. Postal Service] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200822140127/https://www.inthepublicinterest.org/wp-content/uploads/ITPI_USPSPrivatization_July2020.pdf |date=August 22, 2020}}'', In The Public Interest, July 2020</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.inthepublicinterest.org/the-billionaire-behind-efforts-to-kill-the-usps/ |title=ITPI – In The Public Interest |date=July 9, 2020 |access-date=August 22, 2020 |archive-date=August 5, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200805155423/https://www.inthepublicinterest.org/the-billionaire-behind-efforts-to-kill-the-usps/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>Moyers, Bill, ''[https://billmoyers.com/story/bill-moyers-talks-with-lisa-graves-about-the-ongoing-threat-to-the-us-postal-service/ Bill Moyers Talks with Lisa Graves about the Ongoing Threat to the US Postal Service] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200822121741/https://billmoyers.com/story/bill-moyers-talks-with-lisa-graves-about-the-ongoing-threat-to-the-us-postal-service/ |date=August 22, 2020}}'', Moyers on Democracy, August 19, 2020</ref> The Council on Foreign Relations brings up the idea of bringing USPS online with a digital identity via an email address.<ref>{{cite web|title=To Save the Postal Service, Bring It Online|url=https://www.cfr.org/article/save-postal-service-bring-it-online|access-date=December 9, 2021|website=Council on Foreign Relations|language=en|archive-date=December 9, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211209200256/https://www.cfr.org/article/save-postal-service-bring-it-online|url-status=live}}</ref> USPS explored a digital identity using an email address in its "Digital Identity – Opportunities for the Postal Service" report in 2012.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.uspsoig.gov/sites/default/files/document-library-files/2015/rarc-wp-12-011_0.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=December 5, 2021 |archive-date=January 20, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220120125719/https://www.uspsoig.gov/sites/default/files/document-library-files/2015/rarc-wp-12-011_0.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref>