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United States Postmaster General Louis DeJoy announced plans to step down on Tuesday. This comes after multiple reports detailed billions of losses in recent years and a new call to have the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) audit the United States Postal Service (USPS).
In the Tenure announcement, DeJoy stated, “While there remains much critical work to be done to ensure that the Postal Service can be financially viable as we continue to serve the nation in our essential public service mission, I have decided it is time to start the process of identifying my successor and of preparing the Postal Service for this change.”
“The major initiatives we are currently endeavoring are multi-year programs and it is important to have leadership in place whose tenure will span this future period. After four and half years leading one of America’s greatest public institutions through dramatic change during unusual times, it is time for me to start thinking about the next phase of my life, while also ensuring that the Postal Service is fully prepared for the future.”
DeJoy was questioned by the House Oversight Committee in December, which found that, “Despite improvements made by Postmaster General DeJoy, the U.S. Postal Service’s delivery operation is still largely inefficient and unreliable for the American people.”
During a heated exchange with Rep. Rich McCormick, R-Ga., DeJoy was blamed for “the fall of the postal service.”
DeJoy retorted, “This Congress is responsible for the fall of the postal service. I am trying to fix the postal service.”
According to Reuters, the USPS has accumulated over $100 billion in losses since 2007, well before DeJoy’s governance of U.S. mail.
More recently, In 2020, Just the News reported that employee numbers continued to increase despite mail delivery declines, creating an estimated $521.6 million in unnecessary overtime pay alone during 2019, before DeJoy became Postmaster General.
In 2023, the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that the USPS had $1.7 billion in financial losses over a single quarter, despite their 2021 10-year strategic plan sought to cut costs and optimize delivery by 2031, and Congress passed the Postal Service Reform Act of 2022.
By the end of 2024, Judicial Watch decried the USPS for losing $9.5 billion for the 2024 fiscal year, increasing their $6.5 billion deficit by another $3 billion after receiving the 2022 Congressional “taxpayer bailout.”
It is unclear whether DeJoy stepping down will improve the continued troubles of the USPS, but, some Americans are offering another suggestion.
Political commentator Gunther Eagleman posted on X, stating, “When does @DOGE and @elonmusk start auditing USPS?”
He noted the continued USPS losses that spanned to 2007 and asked, “What other company could lose over $100B and stay in business?”
Independent reporting account Mario Nawfal wrote, “The USPS financial nightmare demands DOGE’s immediate attention. With a staggering $9.9 billion operating loss in 2024 and total liabilities of $78.2 billion against assets of just $45.6 billion, the Postal Service is effectively underwater by $32.6 billion.”
It added, “DOGE could identify cost-cutting opportunities in inefficient delivery routes, outdated facilities, and administrative bloat.”
