BATON ROUGE - Letter carriers in Louisiana rallied Sunday against a Trump administration plan they say could threaten jobs and mail service. 

Letter carriers from around the state were seen on the corner of Bluebonnet Boulevard and Perkins Road in Baton Rouge Sunday as they rallied against the Trump Administration's proposal to place USPS under the control of the Department of Commerce. 

"We're basically fighting for not just ourselves, but we're fighting for our customers who depend on us six or seven days a week in some cases," mail carrier Cory Champagne said.

Since 1970, the postal service has operated as an independent, self-financing agency. It currently employs over half a million workers tasked with making deliveries from cities to rural areas.

"My grandfather retired from the post office, my dad retired from the post office. I want the same opportunity in my future to retire from the post office," mail carrier Terrence Butler said.

Right now, the postal service is under a Board of Governors. It had billions in losses, including a $9.5B deficit last year and a $6.5B loss in 2023. Because of that, Trump wants to get rid of the board. Instead, he wants to privatize the postal service and sell it to the highest bidder.

Troy Scott, Louisiana president of the National Association of Letter Carriers, warned that a government takeover could jeopardize millions of jobs reliant on the postal network, along with rural and urban delivery services and affordable shipping rates.

"Our issue is to provide the service, whether you're mailing a letter from Miami to Seattle or from Anchorage to Albuquerque, it's the same price. And in our rural community, which Louisiana has a lot of, they're counting on medicine, they're counting on mail. And some of the larger carriers don't go to the rural areas. We go to every address every day, six days a week,” Scott said.

Their message Sunday was to leave the postal service and their customers alone. 

"I get to interact with all types of people, all walks of life, I love it. So, we do need each other. Some people don't talk to people unless it is us," mail carrier Lawanna Thomas said.

Carriers say they'll keep fighting to protect the postal service and the communities that rely on it, hoping lawmakers will hear their message.