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NEW REPORT: 102 million Americans who live in suburbs, small towns, and remote areas would pay biggest price for postal privatization [1]

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Date: 2025-04-15 12:01:00+00:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

FROM THE INSTITUTE FOR POLICY STUDIES

Press contacts:

Olivia Alperstein, Institute for Policy Studies, (202) 704-9011, [email protected]

Sarah Anderson, Institute for Policy Studies, [email protected]

Washington, D.C. – As President Trump and Elon Musk continue to voice interest in selling off the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to for-profit corporations, a timely new report from the Institute for Policy Studies finds that UPS and FedEx already charge extra for deliveries to ZIP codes where 102 million Americans live. These suburban, small-town, and remote areas would pay the biggest price for postal privatization.

“Today’s higher FedEx and UPS delivery rates are just a taste of what would come if the Trump administration succeeds in privatizing the U.S. Postal Service,” warns report author Sarah Anderson. “Without competition from our public Postal Service, for-profit firms would jack up delivery fees on as many customers as possible.”

Unlike the for-profit carriers, the Postal Service has a universal service obligation to provide affordable deliveries to all Americans, regardless of where they live or work. Currently, USPS parcel rates are about 25 percent to 60 percent below FedEx and UPS prices.

The report provides detailed data on UPS and FedEx ZIP code-based surcharges and compares the costs of sending packages through these private carriers versus USPS.

The report also points out that UPS and FedEx, unlike USPS, both impose extra charges for Saturday delivery, for fuel (based on distance), for package pick-up, and for residential delivery. These charges reflect the higher costs for companies that, unlike USPS, aren’t already visiting every address six days a week.

On top of higher delivery costs, rural communities would suffer the most from other impacts of a for-profit postal model, including:

The shuttering of many rural post offices and the related loss of postal jobs that pay decent wages with benefits.

and the that pay decent wages with benefits. Potential disruption of deliveries of pharmaceuticals and other essentials. Military veterans, for instance, receive 84 percent of their prescriptions through USPS and more than a quarter of veterans live in rural areas. Private corporations would be able to refuse deliveries to remote areas.

and other essentials. Military veterans, for instance, receive 84 percent of their prescriptions through USPS and more than a quarter of veterans live in rural areas. Private corporations would be able to refuse deliveries to remote areas. Disruption of “vote by mail.” With their polling sites located further distances apart than in urban areas, rural residents are particularly reliant on the mail-in option provided by our public Postal Service.

“Privatizing the U.S. Postal Service would almost certainly lead to significant increases in package delivery rates – and could jeopardize our entire system of universal postal service,” Anderson noted.

“This extensive, centuries-old network helped build up America’s democracy and economy by spreading information and goods to every corner of the country. Over its 250-year history, USPS has continually reinvented itself in response to changes in technology and the evolving needs of our society,” the report concludes. Instead of selling it to the highest bidder, the report recommends that the government should work to expand and improve this vital mail delivery service in ways that meet today’s social needs.



Report author Sarah Anderson is available for comments and interviews.



Read a breakdown of key report findings: https://ips-dc.org/who-would-pay-the-biggest-price-for-postal-privatization/

Read the full report: https://inequality.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/postal-privatization-report-2025.pdf



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[1] Url: https://ips-dc.org/release-102-million-americans-in-suburbs-small-towns-remote-areas-would-pay-biggest-price-for-postal-privatization/

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