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Efforts to reform or privatize the United States Postal Service have been around for decades. But they've gained new traction under the Trump administration, which has openly mused about making big changes at an agency even older than the United States. 

At first glance, some changes make a modicum of sense. Even as traditional mail has diminished in the internet age, the number of private delivery services, such as UPS, FedEx and Amazon, has proliferated. One of them, the argument goes, could deliver the mail more efficiently at lower cost to the taxpayer. 

But that model breaks down in Louisiana's rural communities like where Aleke Kanonu Jr. is anything but a faceless government bureaucrat.

Every day, Kanonu drives a hundred miles to deliver the mail to fewer than 700 mailboxes. It's hard to see a profit-oriented company agreeing to drive so far for so few boxes. But the postal service is required to go there.

For the people in Branch, Kanonu is not just a postal worker, he's a part of the community.

"Everybody looks forward to getting their mail every day and talking to people," Branch resident Michael Williams, a retired doctor, told this newspaper's Jenna Ross. Williams built his house far out in the country because he liked the quiet, but he relishes his contact with his postal worker. When the temperature rises, he leaves water in the mailbox for Kanonu.

Louisiana has more than 1,300 rural postal routes, serving thousands of residents. Many of them live in areas where internet service is spotty or expensive. The nearest store or pharmacy may be miles away. For those, the postal service brings them needed correspondence, medicine, payments and bills.

While there have been calls to reform or abolish the U.S. Postal Service before, significant changes appear closer than they have been under past administrations. President Donald Trump has suggested moving the USPS — which operates independently, though it is part of the executive branch — into the Commerce Department. Elon Musk and the Department of Governmental Efficiency have targeted the postal service for privatization. Others have suggested reducing its size or outsourcing many of its services to reduce costs. 

We support efficiency and transparency in government, and do not object to efforts to make mail service more cost-effective. But we worry that, in this case, radical changes to what is for many Louisiana residents a vital service could be a difficult lesson in unintended consequences.

Branch is just one of hundreds of communities throughout Louisiana that could suffer with the privatization of the postal service. Our elected congressional representatives, who are charged with considering these proposals, should keep them in the forefront of their minds as they consider any potential postal service reform.