In March, the Postmaster General told Congress the United States Postal Service would miss delivery deadlines within a year unless the debt ceiling rose. A week later USPS added a historic fuel surcharge on packages as energy costs spiked after the Iran conflict. At the same time Amazon slashed its largest contract by 20 percent and, per Ship Matrix, overtook USPS in parcel volume.

Privatization resurfaced as a threat after the Trump administration first floated it in 2018 and the Treasury tried to seize USPS decisions in 2019. In February 2025 Wells Fargo’s Equity Research released a framework proposing sale of the parcel unit and unlocking $85 billion of land value. The Board then elected FedEx director David Steiner as Postmaster General, moving all eight governors toward Trump appointments.

Private carriers cannot replicate the universal service obligation that USPS fulfills, delivering to every address six days a week. In Wyoming, UPS runs nine last‑mile hubs, FedEx eight and Amazon two, while USPS operates seventy‑seven, illustrating the scale gap. The Wells Fargo plan would sell parcels, subsidize mail with real‑estate proceeds, and leave mail service fragmented, effectively ending the nationwide network.