More than 75 mail carriers, postal service workers and supporters gathered near UF’s campus on March 23 to protest the Trump administration’s proposed changes to the U.S. Postal Service, which include cutting 10,000 jobs, billions of dollars and potentially privatizing the federal agency.
Spanning all four corners of the intersection at University Avenue and 13th Street, the rally was one of more than 200 nationwide organized by local branches of the National Association of Letter Carriers, a labor union representing the USPS’s non-rural letter carriers.
The rallies came after outgoing U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy's agreement to reform the USPS with the help of tech mogul Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. Gainesville’s NALC branch wrote in a statement that DOGE will “carve up” and “take away the independence” of the USPS.
Local union members at the protest donned red shirts blazoned with “Fight Like Hell!” Some protestors wore star-spangled attire or waved American flags as passing vehicles honked their horns repeatedly in support, prompting cheers from protestors. Many held signs saying “Our U.S. mail is not for sale” or “Hands off USPS.” Other signs made reference to Musk, declaring he should be subpoenaed or sent to Guantanamo Bay.
George Atwood, the treasurer of Gainesville’s NALC branch, has been a USPS mail carrier for almost 30 years. As one of nearly 73,000 veterans employed by the postal service, Atwood said he felt the highly structured operations mirrored the work environment he grew accustomed to in the military.
Working for a federal entity like the USPS also allows him to receive credit for his military service time toward retirement. Privatizing the USPS could erase that benefit, he said, preventing him and other veterans in civil service from retiring early.
Service members aren’t the only people who could be affected by privatization, Atwood said.
“Rural America will lose,” he said, citing concerns that a privatized postal service would neglect deliveries to more remote communities because it isn’t profitable. The USPS serves as a “last mile” carrier to the 51.5 million addresses that private carriers don’t deliver directly to.
P.K. Compton, a union representative for the local branch of the National Rural Letter Carriers' Association, said privatization could drastically affect the people he delivers mail to.
People in rural areas would have to pay a premium to get their mail, Compton said, “or they’re just not going to get them at all.” He said older people or those without reliable transportation would struggle to get their medicine or mail-in ballots.
Beyond the delivery services, the community aspect of mail delivery is critical to more isolated addresses, said Addie Harford, president of Gainesville’s NALC branch. She said social interaction between mail workers and their customers gave “a sense of normality” during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“When everything was shut down, the mailman still was there,” Harford said. “It gave people that glimmer of hope that we’re going to come out of this.”
The USPS has been a constant in American society since its founding in 1775, intended to spread revolutionary ideals throughout the colonies before transforming into an expansive mail delivery network that serves every address in the country.
“We’re older than the Constitution itself,” said Mackenzie Bowden, the outreach lead for the political action committee of Gainesville’s NALC branch. “We are a central part of this government and of this country.”
Bowden has been a mail carrier for six years, and she said her favorite part of the job is bonding with the people she serves. Having a regular route, seeing the same people every day and getting to wish them a “Merry Christmas” is so important to the community structure, she said.
She read aloud part of the USPS’s unofficial motto: “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.”
“We hold that dearly to our hearts,” she said, referring to the mantra. “A hurricane comes through, we’re still delivering mail. A tornado comes through, we’re still delivering mail. Wildfires happen, and we still deliver mail. That sense of normalcy is very, very important to us, and we kind of hold this country together, man.”
Contact Pristine Thai at pthai@alligator.org. Follow her on X @pristinethai.
Pristine Thai is a university general assignment reporter and a third-year political science and journalism major. Her free time is spent attending classical music concerts or petting cats.
