The United States Postal Service has been around since Benjamin Franklin was appointed as its first postmaster general in 1775.

Yet in what would prove to be a bombshell move, President-elect Donald Trump wants it to part ways with the federal government. 

Several sources say Trump has discussed privatizing the Postal Service

That's according to an article published this past weekend by The Washington Post, which cited three sources said to be familiar with the matter.

They indicated that Trump recently discussed privatizing the mail delivery agency during a meeting at his Mar-a-Lago estate with financial mogul Howard Lutnick, a financial mogul who he has nominated to head up the Commerce Department.

Trump eyes privatizing U.S. Postal Service, citing financial losses https://t.co/p0MjsNuHQB

— Post Business (@washpostbiz) December 14, 2024

What's more, the sources also stated that Trump spoke early this month with members of his transition team about potentially selling off the Postal Service.

The president-elect reportedly said that taxpayers should not subsidize postal activities after being told of the mail agency's regular losses.

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy looking at " major changes to the Postal Service"

The Postal Service has consistently operated at a deficit except in 2022, when it showed a $56.0 billion profit, although this was not due to any improvement in efficiency.

Rather, the Postal Service's inspector general explained that the Postal Service Reform Act of 2022 simply "removed the Postal Service's responsibility for $57.0 billion in past due prefunding payments for retiree health benefits."

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy are leading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), and the sources told the Post that the pair have "held preliminary conversations about major changes to the Postal Service."

Among those publicly advocating for Postal Service privatization is Casey Mulligan, who served as an economist in Trump's first administration. He told the Post, "We didn’t finish the job in the first term, but we should finish it now."

Postal Service privatization could be unpopular with rural Republicans

"The government is slow, slow, slow — decades slow on adopting new ways of doing things, and there’s a lot of [other] carrier services that became legal in the ’70s that are doing things so much better with increased volumes and reduced costs," Mulligan added.

However, the Post pointed out that Trump lacks the authority to unilaterally privatize the Postal Service without congressional approval.

That could prove challenging given how rural areas which typically vote Republican would be disproportionately impacted.