That the US has failed as a country?

A Soviet joke goes like this: "Daddy, daddy, they've said on the radio that vodka price goes up next month! Does it mean that you won't drink as much anymore?" — "No, son, it means that you won't eat as much no more".

So. The new private owner(s) will try to increase their profit. Increasing the efficiency of the processes already in place while providing the same services with the same coverage/quality/etc. at the same prices is indeed one way to increase the profit... but it's one of the hardest ways. Hiking up the prices and discontinuing services with smallest margins is a much simpler, easier, and even more effort-efficient way so this is what's going to happen first.

I read the whole article, and it had a lot of informed discussion within it, but ultimately that discussion felt a little pointless.

The crisis is manufactured, the debate of “what to do” does not need to be a discussion.

The USPS is a no-brainer public service and the only reason there is any question of its value is due to the severely broken, dysfunctional, corrupt Congress.

If it’s unprofitable, it’s barely unprofitable, especially in the scope of government services.

How many days of the Iran war would fully fund the USPS’ operating budget deficit for a year?

It's a casualty of political corruption (both moral in terms of Party first politics) and run-of-the-mill crony capitalism. That's what it means.

The consequences are far reaching for many existing industries. It may never be unraveled once initiated. It will give rise to more concentrated wealth and power. This is by design.