David Steiner, former CEO of the country's largest waste management company and currently serving on the FedEx Board of Directors, is preparing to take over the U.S. Postal Service and become the 76th U.S. Postal Director.

The announcement of Steiner's appointment was made by USPS Board Chairman Amber McReynolds at a meeting of independent groups overseeing the service.

"We expect Mr. Steiner to join the organization in July assuming he successfully completed the ethical and safety licensing process currently underway," McReynolds said.

The board’s announcement Friday comes as President Trump and his adviser Elon Musk’s administration’s Department of Efficiency proposed the idea of ​​privatizing the nearly 250-year-old postal service, which has released nearly 250-year-old postal service, and the postal faces financial challenges amid changing mail and other issues.

The Postal Union has seen Steiner's choice as a harbinger to potentially privatize some or all of the ancient quasi-public institutions, which are largely self-funded and have a mission to serve every address in the country - nearly 167 million residences, businesses and postal boxes.

The postal union protests nationwide, involving potential privatization, layoffs and the possible termination of universal service obligations.

Brian L. Renfroe, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers, said Steiner is not only any executive in the private sector, but also a member of the board of directors of one of the post office’s top competitors.

"His choice is not only a conflict of interest, but a positive step in handing over the U.S. mail system to corporate interests," Renfroe said in a statement. "For years, private shippers have been waiting for delivery of USPS to exit packages. Steiner's choice is a public invitation to do so."

Renfroe's union represents 205,000 active city letter carriers and about 90,000 retirees.

Mark Dimondstein, president of the U.S. Postal Union, who represents more than 220,000 USPS employees and retirees, compared the appointment of Steiner to the fox guarding the chicken coop.

“The agenda of FedEx is very different from that of the Public Post Office. They are the main competitors of the U.S. Post Office,” he said. “I’m not talking about any attributes of a person, but for me, this is the last type of person you’ll be responsible for public agencies as anchors in the mailing bag industry.”

Steiner, who will leave the FedEx board, said in a written statement that he admires USPS’s public service mission and called it an “incredible honor to be asked to lead the world’s greatest postal organization.”

"I believe in my independent role as an executive branch," said Steiner, who served as CEO of Waster Management Inc. from 2004 to October 2016.

McReynolds called Steiner in a written statement “a suitable person to lead the postal service at the moment to ensure that this grand and historic organization flourishes in the future.”

“Dave is a highly respected leader and executive with a tremendous vision, experience and skills that can be applied to the long-term tasks and business needs of the Postal Service,” she added. “Our board looks forward to working with Dave to fulfill the core mission of delivering universal and outstanding services to the U.S. public and conducting it in a financially sustainable way.”

The postal service is in a 10-year modernization and cost-cutting program that began with the postmaster in 2021 Louis Dejoyresigned in March. The plan is an attempt to stop the agency’s losses, which has a budget of about $78 billion per year, mostly self-funded, including through stamps and parcels.

The initiative, dubbed “Delivery for the United States,” received a noticeably mixed review. Although postal officials believe this has led to significant efficiency gains, some MPs criticized it for causing delays in mail, but unsustainable postage increases and business declines.

In addition to privatization, it also talks about the possibility of moving USPs under the control of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

The Washington Post first reported on Steiner's choice.