The United States Postmaster General, Louis DeJoy, has tendered his resignation, to take effect this coming Monday. From 2020 onward, DeJoy has been in charge of the United States Postal Service (USPS). His leadership has been marked by an unprecedented agency-wide restructuring. As the nation’s second largest employer, USPS’ 635,000 workers provided a critical service during this pandemic, but last year USPS lost $9.5 billion. DeJoy asked the USPS governing board to find his replacement earlier this year in February.
In a prepared statement accompanying the announcement, DeJoy reiterated the deep structural and financial issues that the USPS continues to face.
“Much work remains that is necessary to sustain our positive trajectory,” he stated.
The White House has likewise declined comment on its role in DeJoy’s exit. This comes on the heels of the White House’s recent move to fire the Amtrak chief executive. The decision deals a major blow to US passenger railroad service.
DeJoy had just recently asked a White House government efficiency team headed by Elon Musk to help solve most of those problems. Musk has previously expressed his support for privatizing the USPS. This position makes it more complicated than ever to read the tea leaves in the agency’s ongoing, internal debates about its future.
In the interim, Deputy Postmaster General Doug Tulino will lead the USPS until the postal board appoints a permanent successor. Despite financial challenges, the USPS has managed to cut its forecasted cumulative losses over a decade from $160 billion to $80 billion. The agency continues to be exempt from federal employee cuts ordered by Doge.
Politico and Stat News last month broke this story of political intrigue. In fact, their work uncovered that former President Donald Trump was preparing to sign an executive order to remove the USPS board of governors. In February, Trump teased that he was working on a merger of the USPS with the commerce department.