Recent statements from the Trump administration about dismantling or privatizing the US postal system have prompted protests like this around the country.
In front of the Downtown Fairbanks Post office, demonstrators carried signs and were careful not to block the sidewalk or the driveways.
Bernie Hoffman, President of the American Postal Workers Local 1416, read from a statement.
“The Trump administration is preparing an illegal and hostile takeover of the USPS, threatening the stability of our jobs, our workplaces, and the public service we proudly provide.”
She said the demonstration was by and for postal workers, but held in solidarity with other federal workers and institutions that are threatened with downsizing.
She said looking for waste in federal agencies is a good idea.
“It is a noble goal. Everywhere there is waste. it should be analyzed, but there needs to be a more strategic approach instead of, uh, the chainsaw, hatchet approach.”
The idea of privatizing the postal system has been considered by analysts for decades. The 250-year old service is an independent government organization that is older than the country itself. Last month, President Trump said he wants to give oversight of the service to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, even though the independent agency is overseen by a board of governors, not a cabinet secretary.
Hoffman says her union has carefully analyzed privatization.
“In a private post office, you'll see rates go up, delivery go down. in terms of service to the rural communities, the bush, the bypass mail, it will greatly be impacted," Hoffman said.
"Amazon's not gonna take a package out to 50-Mile Steese. They're not gonna drive it out to Manley Hot Springs or, you know, Minto,” Hoffman said.
“You know privatizing things means people want to make a profit,” said Mary Neibert, who was carrying a sign that said “no one is paying me to be here.”
She is not a postal worker.
“Just an American citizen who believes the postal service is important,” she said.
A lack of roads makes privatizing mail delivery just about impossible in Alaska. All mail delivery to roadless villages is by plane, and a lot of that is subsidized by the Bypass Mail System. That’s where packages are all handled by air carriers in minimum orders of 1,000 pounds. Food and dry goods are loaded on to pallets and shipped from Fairbanks through private carriers to villages.
“My sign says the post office belongs to the people, not to the billionaires,”said Mary Rock, a retired postal worker, who has worked with rural delivery.
“Most people, Joe Blow on the street, don't realize that if that (privatization) happens, the prices are going to go way up and the service is gonna go way down. And all the rural addresses. They're not gonna pay people to go out to all those. And bypass mail here for Alaska. That's a big deal too.”
The speed of federal cuts and terminations is triggering spontaneous or hurriedly-organized actions. Constituents trying to meet with U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan plan to picket the annual Republican Women’s Dinner at Pike’s Waterfront Lodge, and a group protesting the SAVE ACT, a proposal to curtail voting rights, will be marching from Fairbanks City Hall at 2 pm Saturday.