CUYAHOGA COUNTY, Ohio (WJW) — For nearly 250 years, the U.S. Postal Service has been a fundamental part of American life, ensuring mail delivery to every household, regardless of location. 

But now, the institution may be facing one of its biggest threats yet: a potential shakeup that could redefine, or even dismantle, its role in the country.

A recent report from The Washington Post suggests that President Donald Trump is considering issuing an executive order to disband the Postal Service’s governing board. On Friday, Trump said he may put the U.S. Postal Service under the control of the Commerce Department in what would be an executive branch takeover of the agency, which has operated as an independent entity since 1970.

“We want to have a post office that works well and doesn’t lose massive amounts of money,” Trump said. “We’re thinking about doing that. And it’ll be a form of a merger, but it’ll remain the Postal Service, and I think it’ll operate a lot better.”

This move would effectively place the agency under direct White House control, raising concerns about its future operations and for mail delivery nationwide.

The Post Office was created during the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia in 1775, when Benjamin Franklin became the first postmaster general. In 1872, Congress named it an executive branch department. But that changed after an eight-day postal strike over wages and benefits in 1970, when President Richard Nixon signed the Postal Reorganization Act, which made it an independent, self-financing agency called the U.S. Postal Service.

In recent years, as it’s sometimes struggled to stay afloat, the Postal Service has fought calls from Trump and others that it be privatized.

Erick Poston, a representative for the National Association of Letter Carriers in Cuyahoga County, warns that such a decision could have disastrous consequences — not just for USPS workers but also for millions of Americans who rely on mail services, especially in rural communities.

“They may not get any service. There are reports that they may have to drive 30 minutes to an hour just to go to an urban community to get their mail, packages, prescriptions,” Poston told Nexstar’s WJW. 

Last year, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy announced a 10-year plan to modernize operations and stem losses, warning customers to expect “uncomfortable” rate hikes as the Postal Service seeks to stabilize its finances.

Critics, including members of Congress from several states, have said that the first consolidations slowed service and that further consolidations could particularly hurt rural mail delivery.

The fate of postal workers also remains uncertain. While urban areas may retain jobs due to population density, Poston cautions that nothing is guaranteed.

Trump has been a critic of the Postal Service since his first term in office. In 2020, he threatened to block it from COVID-19 relief funding unless it quadrupled the package rates it charges large customers like Amazon, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos. Bezos also owns The Washington Post, whose coverage rankled Trump.

More recently, Trump mused in December about privatizing the service given the competition it faced from Amazon, UPS, FedEx and others.

“It’s an idea a lot of people have had for a long time. We’re looking at it,” the president said.

Currently, federal law mandates six-day mail delivery to every address in America, regardless of profitability. However, privatization could change that.

Poston warns that if the USPS were to be privatized, the ripple effects could be felt nationwide.

“So, Congress, I believe, would have to make some rule changes because the Postal Service is in the Constitution. Delivery to every address in the United States everyone gets the same level of service,” he explained. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.