The president of the National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association discusses President Trump’s push to privatize the Postal Service.
Don Maston is president of the National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association, which has more than 130,000 members delivering mail to rural and suburban communities throughout the U.S. Maston spoke with Ledyard King about President Trump’s push to privatize the U.S. Postal Service, his thoughts on recently departed Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, and why he thinks rural America needs its letter carriers more than ever. This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
What are the biggest concerns facing your members?
The biggest concern we’re facing right now are these threats we’ve been hearing from the White House, from Elon Musk and DOGE, about privatizing the Postal Service and eliminating workers or eliminating services. There’s a general anti-labor theme that we’re hearing across America right now. The most concerning thing I’ll say right now is the state of where we are as a country as far as the labor force goes, as far as the federal workforce goes, the future of the Postal Service, and the impact on our members.
