CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Local postal union members and supporters say President Donald Trump’s move to privatize the U.S. Postal Service would upend how people get their critical mail.

In coordination with its national headquarters, the American Postal Workers Union Local 133 in Charleston held an informational rally outside of the main post office in Charleston Thursday opposing the move.

This comes after Postmaster General Louis DeJoy announced he signed an agreement with the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE to quote, “assist us in identifying and achieving further efficiencies.”

Local postal service union members say this would significantly impact how Americans get some of their critical shipments such as online deliveries, prescription drugs, checks and ballots, and it would not only make it a private agency, but also a profit-based one.

APWU supporter Jonah Kone told MetroNews that this effort is contrary to the founding principals of the postal service, which is meant to be a public service.

He said if people don’t think they will feel these effects, they are sorely mistaken.

“A lot of folks don’t realize how badly this will effect West Virginia, we are a rural state, it is not profitable to ship packages and letters to far off hills and hollers for the prices that are as low as they are right now,” Kone said.

Vice President of APWU 133 Tim Holstein said in a quote that Trump has spoken multiple times about the potential privatization efforts within the agency.

“If this happens, it will degrade service standards even more as corporations would only look at the profit margin and not the service aspect, driving customers to our competitors,” Holstein stated.

Kone said his father owns a mail order bicycle parts business in Colorado, and the USPS is the main postal provider he uses to ship his products.

He said if more aspects of the postal service becomes privatized like FedEx or UPS, small businesses like his father’s that rely on mail ordered deliveries will face significantly lower income, because shipping costs will skyrocket.

Kone said his dad tried shipping exclusively with FedEx for a while, but with no avail.

“In a lot of rural areas or even going to other countries, most customers weren’t having it, the U.S. Postal Service, it might not be glamorous or have pretty marketing materials, but they have better rates and better reliability than any other major private shipping company because it is a public service,” he said.

He said it’s not supposed to be a for-profit agency.

“When you ship products to rural areas like West Virginia, it will make a loss, but you still do it because that’s the point of a public service,” said Kone. 

Michael Whitten, a retired WV AFL-CIO member said he worries about how this potential privatization of the postal service will affect getting his prescriptions by mail.

“People my age, they need their medicine, and they do a very good job bringing it to me, I don’t have to go out and get it,” Whitten said.

In addition, Postmaster DeJoy said he is calling on DOGE to take a closer look at the calculation of USPS’ retirement obligation, and the “mismanagement” of its worker’s compensation program that’s overseen by the Labor Department. He said this program resulted in quote, “approximately $400 million a year in excessive charges.”

Under his 10-year reform plan known as Delivering for America, DeJoy said he has cut his workforce by about 30,000 positions since 2021, and looks to cut another 10,000 through early retirement buyouts.

Whitten said the postal service workers do a good job and have good retirement, and they should be left alone.

He said as a retired AFL-CIO member who knows the importance of unions, he wants to support USPS workers the best he can.

“Because of that, I really don’t have any financial problems because I work union, and that’s why I’m here to help support them, and I don’t want to see them lose their jobs,” said Whitten.

Thursday’s rally in Charleston was to bring a number of representatives out banding together in equal opposition sentiments, including retired Postmaster Dave Staton in Charleston, NALC Local President Troy Lahue, and former Congressional political candidate Wes Holden.

The rally coincides with similar rallies currently taking place across the country to oppose this potential privatization motive for the USPS.