The Neoliberal Assault on Public Services: Lessons from the USPS and Implications for Education

Once, the United States Postal Service (USPS) stood as a pillar of middle-class stability, offering reliable service and secure, well-paying jobs that allowed workers to build dignified lives. Today, it is a shadow of its former self, burdened by policies that have driven many postal workers to live in their cars and now threaten to spark a nationwide strike. The USPS’s decline is no accident; it is the result of deliberate efforts to undermine a public good. Financial mandates, like the requirement to pre-fund pensions decades into the future, and so-called “efficiency” measures that have slashed services and overburdened staff, were never about improving the service. These were tools to weaken public confidence, degrade working conditions, and create openings for private corporations to profit.

The trajectory of the USPS serves as a chilling warning for the future of public education. Policies like Agenda47 and Project 2025 promise to reshape schools through privatisation and austerity under the guise of parental choice and accountability. Yet, beneath these promises lies the same neoliberal logic that has gutted the postal service. Public money is siphoned into private coffers whilst schools, teachers, and students are left to bear the cost of this manufactured crisis. The fate of the USPS illustrates what happens when private profits and efficiency take precedence over community needs and employee welfare. If we do not resist, our schools may follow the same path: underfunded, overburdened, and stripped of their purpose as a public good.

How the USPS Was Set Up to Fail

In 2006, Congress passed and President Bush signed the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (PAEA), a piece of legislation that would fundamentally reshape the USPS (then, the Republicans controlled all branches of government). Under its terms, the Postal Service was uniquely required to pre-fund retiree health benefits for 75 years—a mandate imposed on no other government agency or private corporation. This obligation, ostensibly about ensuring long-term fiscal responsibility, was in reality a poisoned chalice. By forcing the USPS to allocate billions annually for pensions decades in advance, Congress created a manufactured financial crisis that left the service struggling to operate under crushing debt.

The consequences were immediate and far-reaching. Burdened by these financial constraints, the USPS was forced to reduce investments in infrastructure and modernisation, making it less competitive against private courier services like FedEx and UPS. Efforts to “enhance efficiency” further eroded the quality of service. Routes were lengthened, deliveries delayed, and staffing levels stretched to breaking point. Once a model of reliability, the USPS became a frequent source of frustration for customers, whose faith in the service began to wane.

But this was no accident. The PAEA wasn’t just poor policy; it was a calculated move to undermine the Postal Service as a public good. By creating an environment in which the USPS appeared inefficient and financially unsustainable, the groundwork was laid for arguments in favour of privatisation. The narrative was simple: the market could do better. Yet, this ignores the fact that the USPS was deliberately hamstrung by rules designed to make it fail. The ultimate goal was not reform, but the dismantling of a public institution so its functions could be parcelled out to private interests. What happened to the USPS is a playbook for the neoliberal assault on public goods, and its lessons are a warning for the future of public education.

The Human Cost for Postal Workers

The Post Office was once synonymous with stable, middle-class employment. Postal workers enjoyed fair pay, dependable benefits, and the dignity of a job that supported families and strengthened communities. Today, that reality has crumbled. Under the relentless strain of austerity measures and manufactured financial crises, the USPS has become a cautionary tale. Many postal workers now find themselves living in cars, their wages insufficient to keep pace with rising costs. The promise of stable, secure employment has been replaced with precarious conditions, where workers face impossible demands, stagnant pay, and little relief.

The impending nationwide strike by postal workers is not just a demand for better compensation but a cry for basic dignity. Air-conditioned vehicles, livable wages, and manageable workloads—these are not extravagant asks but essential protections for a workforce pushed to its limits. Postal workers are routinely overburdened by longer routes, higher package volumes, and reduced staffing, a by-product of so-called efficiency measures that prioritise cutting costs over humane labour practices. For many, the job has devolved into an unrelenting grind, with burnout and exhaustion as constant companions.

The consequences extend far beyond the workers themselves. Communities, particularly rural and underserved ones, are losing the reliability of a service that was once a lifeline. Delayed deliveries, lost mail, and reduced access have become commonplace, eroding public trust in an institution that has long been a cornerstone of American life. A public good meant to connect and serve has instead become a symbol of exploitation, where workers and communities bear the cost of policies designed to fail.

The plight of USPS workers is not just a labour issue—it is a stark warning about the consequences of treating public services as expendable. What has been done to the USPS workforce could easily be the future of teachers and other public-sector employees if neoliberal policies are allowed to continue unchecked.

Neoliberalism’s Playbook for Public Goods

Neoliberalism, in the context of public goods, operates as a framework that prioritises “market efficiency,” privatisation, and profit over the communal value and purpose of public services. It redefines services like education and mail delivery not as essential public functions but as opportunities for corporate exploitation. Under this ideology, the value of a service is measured not by its benefit to society but by its potential for private gain.

The strategies used to undermine public goods are neither new nor accidental. They are part of a deliberate, long-standing ideological project rooted in the neoliberal policies that gained dominance under leaders like Reagan in the United States and Thatcher in the United Kingdom. These policies marked a turning point in the Global North, as governments systematically dismantled public institutions under the guise of efficiency and fiscal responsibility. Yet, the seeds of this approach were sown even earlier, with echoes of colonialism and its exploitative frameworks repurposed for domestic policy.

Financial mandates, such as the USPS’s obligation to pre-fund pensions decades in advance, are not anomalies but hallmarks of this playbook. Such measures are designed to create artificial crises that strain public institutions to their breaking points. Once these institutions falter under the weight of impossible demands, the narrative of inefficiency and wastefulness is amplified, providing justification for privatisation. Public trust is eroded as services are deliberately underfunded and degraded, paving the way for private interests to step in. This transition is invariably presented as a solution, promising innovation and improvement, yet the reality is a hollowing out of infrastructure, reduced accountability, and relentless profit-taking at the expense of service quality and equity.

This process mirrors a broader neocolonial logic, where public resources—once considered collective assets—are systematically extracted and transferred to private entities. The result is a steep decline in the quality and accessibility of services across the Global North, from transportation systems and postal services to healthcare and education. Communities are left to shoulder the consequences: diminished access, rising costs, and a weakened social fabric.

Neoliberalism, much like colonialism before it, thrives on dispossession. It systematically dismantles the institutions designed to uphold collective welfare, replacing them with systems of exploitation that enrich the few at the expense of the many. This logic explains not just the decline of public services like the USPS, but the broader erosion of social infrastructure across much of the Global North. The trajectory is clear: a deliberate shift away from collective responsibility towards an extractive model that prioritises private gain over public good, leaving communities to grapple with the fallout.

Turning the Schools and the Post Office into Sears and K-Mart

The trajectory of the USPS offers a grim preview of what could happen to public education if neoliberal policies are allowed to dominate. The decline of the USPS mirrors the fate of retail giants like Sears and K-Mart, which were deliberately hollowed out by vulture capitalists. These corporations were saddled with unsustainable debt, their assets stripped to maximise short-term returns for private equity firms, and their operations starved of investment until they were no longer viable. Once the vultures had picked them clean, they cut the businesses loose and moved on, leaving workers and communities to deal with the fallout. This same playbook is being applied to public education.

Underfunding schools and imposing unfunded mandates function much like the USPS’s pre-funding requirement for pensions. Public schools are forced to do more with less, meeting impossible demands while resources are drained away. Efficiency measures, framed as necessary cost-saving strategies, exacerbate the strain. Larger class sizes, fewer support services, and deteriorating facilities are the educational equivalents of longer mail routes and delayed deliveries. Teachers, like postal workers, bear the brunt of these pressures. Many face stagnating pay, burnout, and increasingly precarious working conditions, with some struggling to afford housing or food security—a stark reflection of the challenges USPS workers now endure.

Privatisation is often presented as the solution to these manufactured crises, but it merely compounds the damage. Vouchers and charter schools divert public funds to private entities, leaving public schools underfunded and under-resourced. While these private institutions often provide less accountability and serve fewer students with special needs, the public schools that remain become safety nets of last resort, serving only those who cannot “opt out.” Just as taxpayers have been left to shoulder the financial burdens created by the USPS’s decline, communities will bear the cost of failed experiments in education reform.

The same forces that hollowed out Sears, K-Mart, and the USPS are circling public education. Their goal is not to improve outcomes for students or teachers but to extract value for private gain. If this trajectory is allowed to continue, the consequences will be devastating: an education system stripped of its purpose as a public good, leaving teachers, students, and communities to pick up the pieces of a deliberately dismantled institution.

Lessons for Education: Avoiding the USPS Trap

The decline of the USPS offers a stark warning about the future of public education if neoliberal policies continue unchecked. Teachers, like postal workers, are already facing mounting pressures: stagnating pay, increased workloads, and a growing crisis of burnout. Many educators are on the brink of financial insecurity, struggling to afford housing and basic necessities. The spectre of widespread strikes, similar to those seen in the USPS, looms large. Meanwhile, students and families are left to grapple with the consequences of diminished service quality, as underfunded schools struggle to provide the resources and support needed for meaningful learning. This mirrors the decline in reliability and accessibility that USPS customers now experience.

To avoid this trap, we must reject the notion that market-driven solutions have a place in public education. Policies that strengthen and support public schools should take precedence over schemes that funnel resources into privatised alternatives. Adequate funding is essential, not only to maintain infrastructure but also to ensure that schools can provide the resources and opportunities all students deserve. Supporting teachers with fair pay, manageable workloads, and access to professional development is critical to sustaining a robust education system.

Resisting calls for privatisation and vouchers is equally important. These measures weaken public schools, siphoning funds while offering no accountability or guarantees of equity. Education is a public good, not a commodity, and treating it as such risks leaving communities without the strong, accessible schools they rely on. By prioritising policies that centre students, families, and educators, we can ensure that public education remains a cornerstone of equity and democracy, rather than following the USPS into a future of exploitation and decline.

Final thoughts …

The decline of the USPS offers a sobering glimpse into what could become of public education if we allow neoliberal exploitation to continue unchecked. The parallels are clear: public institutions starved of resources, burdened with manufactured crises, and rebranded as inefficient to justify their dismantling. Like the USPS, public schools risk being hollowed out by policies that prioritise market forces over their essential role as community anchors and engines of equity.

Public goods like education must remain insulated from the corrosive influence of privatisation and profit-seeking. Schools are not businesses, and students are not customers; they are members of our communities who deserve investment in their futures. It is imperative to reject narratives that frame public services as inherently wasteful and instead hold accountable those who exploit them for private gain.

This is a call to action. Advocate for policies that strengthen public schools and the teachers who sustain them. Insist on equitable funding, fair wages, and adequate resources for all students. Protect education as the public good it is meant to be—accessible, equitable, and free from the predatory forces that have already wreaked havoc on other public services. Together, we can ensure that schools remain a cornerstone of democracy and opportunity for generations to come.