Elon Musk Wants Post Office, Amtrak Privatized

Billionaire Elon Musk, who is advising President Donald Trump on plans to radically shrink the U.S. government, said that the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) and passenger railroad Amtrak should be privatized, David Shepardson reported for Reuters.

Amtrak reported in December that ridership had surpassed pre-COVID-19 levels for the first time in 2024.

"I think logically we should privatize anything that can reasonably be privatized," Musk said at a Morgan Stanley conference. "I think we should privatize the Post Office and Amtrak, for example… We should privatize everything we possibly can."

He acknowledged that such moves would require congressional approval.

Last month, Trump said he was considering merging the Postal Service with the U.S. Commerce Department, a proposal that Democrats argue would violate federal law.

The Postal Service has lost more than $100 billion since 2007, including $9.5 billion in the 12 months ending September 30. However, earlier this month, it reported a fourth-quarter profit of $144 million.

As email usage surged, the agency has suffered from an 80% decline in first-class mail volume since 1997, now reaching its lowest level since 1968.

Meanwhile, Amtrak reported in December that ridership had surpassed pre-COVID-19 levels for the first time in 2024, increasing 15% over 2023 to a record 32.8 million customer trips.

Despite this, the rail operator posted an adjusted operating loss of $705 million for the 12 months ending September 30, a 9% improvement over 2023.