David Steiner is the next head of the U.S. Postal Service : NPR

David Steiner, a FedEx board member and former CEO of Waste Administration seen right here in 2013, has been chosen to be the following postmaster basic by the U.S. Postal Service’s governing board.

Joshua Roberts/Bloomberg through Getty Pictures

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Joshua Roberts/Bloomberg through Getty Pictures

David Steiner will lead the U.S. Postal Service as the following postmaster basic, because the federal mail company faces an unsure future below the Trump administration.

Amber McReynolds, chair of the USPS Board of Governors, introduced the board’s appointment at an open session of a board assembly Friday. She mentioned Steiner is about to start out in July.

Steiner, a former Waste Administration CEO, has served on the board of FedEx, a prime USPS competitor that had collaborated with the Postal Service for “last-mile” package deal deliveries in hard-to-reach rural areas and on air transportation. These partnerships, nonetheless, have ended in recent years.

Steiner is now getting ready to take the helm of a beleaguered authorities company that thousands and thousands across the U.S. depend on for sending and receiving remedy, funds, ballots and different mail.

The board’s appointment comes amid considerations that Trump officers stay decided to exert extra management over an company that Congress established to be unbiased a long time in the past.

After Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s swearing-in ceremony in February, President Trump suggested a “form of a merger” between the Commerce Division and the Postal Service, sparking a collection of protests organized by USPS worker unions.

Trump has additionally announced plans to appoint Anthony Lomangino, a Republican donor, to affix the USPS governing board, which at the moment has 4 postal governors nominated by former President Joe Biden and one Trump-nominated governor who is about to depart by December. With 4 present vacancies, Trump has a chance to dominate the board with extra of his personal nominees. (A full board consists of 9 governors, plus the postmaster basic and deputy postmaster basic.)

In a USPS release asserting his place, Steiner mentioned, “I deeply admire the public service and business mission of this amazing institution, and I believe strongly in maintaining its role as an independent establishment of the executive branch.”

The appointment already has some critics, although.

In response to a Washington Post report on the board’s plans to nominate FedEx’s Steiner with Trump’s assist, Rep. Gerry Connolly of Virginia, the highest Democrat on the Home Oversight Committee, mentioned in a press release that the transfer is “a blatant conflict of interest and an attempt by President Trump to install a handpicked loyalist who he believes will put his interests over what may be best for the Postal Service and the American people.”

Brian Renfroe, president of the Nationwide Affiliation of Letter Carriers, the union representing carriers in cities, additionally opposes Steiner’s appointment.

“His selection isn’t just a conflict of interest—it’s an aggressive step toward handing America’s mail system over to corporate interests,” Renfroe mentioned in a press release. “Private shippers have been waiting to get USPS out of parcel delivery for years. Steiner’s selection is an open invitation to do just that.”

On the Nationwide Rural Letter Carriers’ Affiliation, President Don Maston says in a press release that the union is “ready to work” with Steiner.

“But we will be watching closely, especially since Mr. Steiner currently sits on the board of directors of FedEx, one of the Postal Service’s largely and aggressively non-union competitors,” Maston added. “The stakes—for rural communities, for working families, and for the future of our cherished public Postal Service—could not be higher.”

Congress arrange USPS, beforehand a cabinet-level company, to be unbiased of the White Home by means of the Postal Reorganization Act of 1970. The mail service has since been run by a politically appointed board of governors, which has the authority below federal law to nominate and take away the postmaster basic.

Louis DeJoy stepped down from that prime publish in March, whereas USPS continues to hold out a 10-year reorganization plan he established in 2021. His resignation got here shortly after getting into USPS into an settlement that enables the DOGE group of Trump’s billionaire adviser Elon Musk to assist discover “further efficiencies” at USPS.

Since 1982, the company has usually obtained no tax {dollars} to fund its operations, relying as an alternative on stamp gross sales and different service charges. Whereas it posted a surplus on this fiscal yr’s first quarter, it posted a web lack of $3.3 billion within the second quarter, Luke Grossmann, USPS chief monetary officer, mentioned on the open session of the governing board assembly on Friday. The mail service has been struggling to stability its books for years, losing $9.5 billion final yr.

As president, Trump has been a vocal critic of the Postal Service’s funds since his first administration, when USPS additionally grew to become entangled in his unfounded claims of widespread fraud involving mail-in voting.

At a December press conference, Trump mentioned that privatizing the USPS was “not the worst idea” he is ever heard. Such a transfer would doubtless additional scale back mail service in rural communities and faces bipartisan opposition amongst members of Congress.

Editor’s notice: USPS is a monetary supporter of NPR.

Edited by Benjamin Swasey