The United States Postal Service (USPS) is about to undergo a big change.

At the Pelican Institute, we spend most of our time trying to make Louisiana a freer, more prosperous state. That doesn’t mean we can ignore what’s happening in the federal city, and the Postal Service affects all of us. This one’s important.

The Washington Post recently reported that President Trump plans to completely replace the Postal Service’s Board of Governors and bring the running of the organization fully into the executive branch administration. And for good reason: the so-called “Delivering for America” (DFA) plan has failed, and actions by the board over the last several years have failed to produce results.

Most people probably don’t spend much time thinking about the Postal Service, at least until they have a problem. As a constitutional conservative, it’s worth starting with the fact that the U.S. Constitution establishes the postal service and enables the government to establish post offices and postal roads. The question, given the boom in e-commerce and private delivery services, is where the government should act, where it should contract with the private sector, and where it should simply step aside.

The DFA plan, launched under Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, was sold as a turnaround strategy but has instead deepened the USPS’s financial woes. It originally projected break-even in FY2022 and profitability in FY2023, yet the Service lost $6.5 billion in 2023, ballooning to $9.5 billion in 2024. Rather than addressing core inefficiencies, DFA has expanded processing costs, increased labor expenses, and worsened service—especially for rural Louisianans. And with the recent dedication of Rayville Post Office to my late friend Luke Letlow, mail is definitely on the minds of rural Louisianans.

At its core, the DFA plan insists that the USPS handle all mail and packages at every stage, even when private-sector partners could do so more efficiently. This approach ignores the Service’s key strength: final-mile delivery. Instead of leveraging cost-saving public-private partnerships, DFA has sunk billions into unnecessary infrastructure, including new mail processing centers that duplicate existing private-sector capabilities.

Meanwhile, DFA’s labor policies have further inflated costs. The plan converted 190,000 flex employees to career positions, doubling payroll expenses. DeJoy himself admitted that fully staffing the USPS year-round eliminates the need for seasonal hires, yet it also means that during slower periods, the Service is significantly overstaffed. Rather than streamlining operations, the DFA plan is the largest insourcing initiative in USPS history, with DeJoy even referring to postal unions as “comrades.”

The consequences of these misguided strategies are severe. USPS has slowed service standards while still failing to meet even reduced benchmarks. The rollout of mega processing plants has been disastrous, with audits in locations like Atlanta and Richmond exposing chaotic conditions: jammed docks, truck drivers waiting hours to unload mail, and extreme service delays. The pilot phase of reducing rural deliveries to once per day has backfired, increasing costs rather than reducing them.

It’s time for a new approach—one that prioritizes efficiency, service, and financial stability. The best way forward is to expand public-private partnerships while keeping USPS focused on its core mission: final-mile delivery.

Under this model, USPS would maintain its universal service obligation, ensuring six-day mail and package delivery to every American without imposing higher costs on rural communities, small businesses, or veterans. The Service’s familiar and trusted letter carriers would remain untouched, but non-core functions—such as presortation, long-haul transportation, IT solutions, and equipment maintenance—would be outsourced to private-sector partners. These companies have the capital, expertise, and agility to adapt to changing market demands far better than a bloated government agency.

This approach would yield massive savings. Freezing non-carrier hiring and nonessential capital expenditures could reduce costs by $12 billion. Halting unnecessary upstream processing investments would save another $15 billion.

USPS should maintain final-mile delivery of packages at rates that cover the costs of providing that service.  The way the Postal Service grew its package business was to partner with private shippers and consolidators that processed and transported packages close to their final destinations and then gave them to the Postal Service for delivery to homes and businesses. It would cost USPS an additional $11 billon to do all this work themselves. USPS should also  preserve mail workshare agreements, which have successfully allowed private partners to handle upstream mail tasks since the 1970s. Codifying these workshare discounts into law would prevent USPS from reversing course and needlessly bringing these operations in-house at an additional $12 billion expense.

The USPS plays a vital and constitutionally-directed role in American and Louisianan life, but its future depends on smart, pragmatic reforms. The DFA plan has proven to be an expensive failure. It’s time to pivot toward a leaner, more effective model—one that harnesses the power of public-private partnerships while ensuring USPS fulfills its essential mission. Congress and the new postal leadership must seize this opportunity to implement real, lasting reform before it’s too late.

Daniel J. Erspamer is the CEO of the Pelican Institute for Public Policy, which works to ensure every Louisianan has the opportunity to flourish.