The Postal Service is under siege. Black workers stand to lose the most.

The USPS has historically been known to benefit Black people in terms of social mobility and accessing the middle class

A postal worker.
(Image credit: Illustrated | Getty Images, iStock)

Much as I understand and relate to the pain of standing in what feels like the longest line ever invented at the Post Office, and wanting to cry out to the universe asking what one has done to endure such pain and poor customer service, I want the United States Postal Service to go on existing, and despair at the damage being inflicted upon it.

The USPS is one of the oldest and most consistent institutions this country, and an essential service, handling 47 percent of the world's mail. It's also under siege. It was not designed to turn a profit, yet in 2018, a task force created by former President Donald Trump labeled the Postal Service's financial path "unsustainable," and recommended changes that would push the post closer to complete privatization. In a memo, Trump-appointee Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said the service operates on a "broken business model" and that "without dramatic change there is no end in sight and we face an impending liquidity crisis."

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Michael Arceneaux

Michael Arceneaux is the New York Times-bestselling author of I Can't Date Jesus and I Don't Want to Die Poor.