Editing United States Postal Service (section)

=== 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>