Aileen Day said that a podcast she co-created about the history of the U.S. Postal Service is a “labor of love born out of anger” in response to the Department of Government Efficiency’s cuts across government.
“Understanding how the post office survives past existential threats — whether it was corporate lobbying, political attacks or technology change — I think helps us understand this moment better but also gives us more hope,” she said in an interview with Government Executive. “We feel like this is the first time it’s happened, but it’s happened a lot in the past, and just understanding the history really helps us figure out today how we fight back.”
In “People of Agency,” Day, a political communications consultant, and her co-host — Maia Warner-Langenbahn, who also hosts a podcast dedicated to finding humor across a hodgepodge of topics — tell the stories of individuals who have shaped USPS over its 250-year history.
In episode one, which was released on Nov. 9, the duo discuss Mary Katherine Goddard, who likely became the first female postmaster in colonial America when she was put in charge of Baltimore’s mail in 1775 and printed the first copy of the Declaration of Independence that listed all of its signatories.
Day and Warner-Langenbahn in the episode describe Goddard as a “girlboss” but note that she enslaved a woman named Belinda Starling.
For another early episode, they talk about the spoils system, which is when a new president would replace tens of thousands of government and postal employees with his political supporters. That practice started to be stamped out beginning in the 1880s, and Day argues that process offers a “playbook” for defending public institutions like USPS.
“Yes, it’s a little scary in terms of these [current] threats, but there’s hope here,” she said in her interview. “Institutions are contested spaces. They will serve whoever we fight for them to serve, and they can serve the people again.”
President Donald Trump has mused about privatizing USPS, but his postmaster general, David Steiner, said he is opposed to privatization or removing the postal agency’s independence within the government.
There also is a bipartisan, bicameral resolution (H Res 70; S Res 147) against privatizing USPS.
While DOGE had a presence at USPS, the cost-cutting effort’s work there was largely unrelated to the postal agency’s ongoing reorganizations.
So far, Day and Warner-Langenbahn have published six episodes and plan to release about a dozen in total. Day also said that future seasons may focus on other civic institutions like public libraries or the news media.
She’s been encouraged by listener feedback, especially that people are recommending it to others.
“We’ve gotten [direct messages] and emails from postal workers themselves that have really just made my heart sing,” Day said. “A response I got back from a postal worker in the Chicago area was that they’re having a hard time convincing even other postal workers of the threat they’re seeing today, and this has been such a helpful tool for them to share with other postal workers.”
