Hundreds gathered at the Minnesota State Capitol Sunday to demonstrate against privatizing the U.S. Postal Service. It's something President Donald Trump has shown support for, and many feel it's the first step toward making it a private entity.
"The richest and most powerful men in this country are trying to tear our government apart, including the post office, and we won't let them," declared Minnesota junior U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D).
Records show the post office lost nearly $10 billion over the most recent fiscal year.
The post office is required by law to deliver to all addresses, and some say that's one of the reasons the agency loses money.
Letter Carriers union shop steward Tyler Vasseur says privatization would be costly.
"Prices are raised enormously," he says. "There will be a raise in inflation across the entire economy. Why do we want that?"
But President Trump says he wants a post office that doesn't lose money.
As the service that has operated as an independent entity since 1970 has struggled to balance the books with the decline of first-class mail, it has fought calls from Trump and others that it be privatized.
Last month, Trump said he may put USPS under the control of the Commerce Department in what would be an executive branch takeover.
The National Association of Letter Carriers President Brian L. Renfroe said in a statement to the Trump Administration's plans that they welcome anyone’s help with addressing some of the agency’s biggest problems but stood firmly against any move to privatize the Postal Service.
“Common sense solutions are what the Postal Service needs, not privatization efforts that will threaten 640,000 postal employees’ jobs, 7.9 million jobs tied to our work, and the universal service every American relies on daily,” he said.