Protesters gathered outside the Boothbay Harbor Post Office on March 20, joining the thousands gathering nationwide to challenge the privatization of the U.S. Postal Service. Protestors were also at the Boothbay and Edgecomb post offices.

This comes in response to President Trump’s potential move to place the USPS under the Commerce Department. Last week, USPS Postmaster General Louis DeJoy signed an agreement with the DOGE team led by billionaire Elon Musk to help find “further efficiencies” in the mail service, per NPR. USPS is working to cut 10,000 employees through its early retirement program.  

Protesters handed out flyers provided by the American Postal Workers Union that outlined the possible consequences of turning the postal service over to a private entity. This includes ending reliable mail delivery to rural areas, increasing mailing costs and cutting 600,000 union jobs. “No matter how you voted in last year’s election, no one voted to destroy the Postal Service,” says the handout.  

“It’s not a phony worry,” said Nancy Parsons-Kanter, event organizer. Parsons-Kanter expressed the importance of small-town post offices and shared her fear that residents may have to drive long distances to send or receive mail if they were shuttered. 

“The post office is community, and what we need more of is community, not less,” added fellow protestor Cathy Sherrill.  

The attendees were part of Lincoln County Indivisible, a chapter of the Indivisible organization started in 2016 “to elect progressive leaders, rebuild our democracy, and defeat the Trump agenda,” according to Indivisible's website.