Trump Plan To Revive The U.S. Postal Service: Sell Access To Your Mailbox

Looking for ways to boost revenue for the U.S. Postal Service's money-losing operations, the Trump administration is suggesting selling access to mailboxes. 

"The legal mailbox monopoly remains highly valuable," said a government report issued last week. "As a means of generating more income, the mailbox monopoly could be monetized."

The report, representing the efforts of a task force created by President Donald Trump, proposes a number of other changes to the U.S. Postal Service, including cutting costs and boosting prices for "nonessential services," including delivery of commercial mail such as advertising flyers. In November, the USPS reported its 12th straight year of losses, due to slumping mail volume and rising costs of retirement and health care benefits. 

While the report didn't detail how much the USPS could earn from franchising mailboxes, it suggests the USPS could charge third-party delivery services such as UPS or FedEx to gain access to consumer mailboxes. It's currently illegal for other delivery services to drop packages or letters in a mailbox -- a restriction that even applies to neighbors stuffing flyers for a local event. 

Looking for ways to boost revenue for the U.S. Postal Service's money-losing operations, the Trump administration is suggesting selling access to mailboxes. 

"The legal mailbox monopoly remains highly valuable," said a government reportissued last week. "As a means of generating more income, the mailbox monopoly could be monetized."

The report, representing the efforts of a task force created by President Donald Trump, proposes a number of other changes to the U.S. Postal Service, including cutting costs and boosting prices for "nonessential services," including delivery of commercial mail such as advertising flyers. In November, the USPS reported its 12th straight year of losses, due to slumping mail volume and rising costs of retirement and health care benefits. 

While the report didn't detail how much the USPS could earn from franchising mailboxes, it suggests the USPS could charge third-party delivery services such as UPS or FedEx to gain access to consumer mailboxes. It's currently illegal for other delivery services to drop packages or letters in a mailbox -- a restriction that even applies to neighbors stuffing flyers for a local event.