AAUW PUBLIC POLICY CONVERSATIONS – MAY 2025

With a firehose of news coming at us every day, some issues that may deeply affect our daily lives can get lost. One of them is a most critical institution: the United States Postal Service. It’s been caught up in the furor created by President Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Postmaster General Louis DeJoy informed Congress that he’d signed an agreement with DOGE and the General Services Administration on 3/13/25 to implement reforms, stabilize Postal Service finances and streamline operations. According to a 3/13/25 Government Executive report, DeJoy has been on a crusade since he took office in 2020 to eradicate wasteful layers in the Postal Service’s structure and delivery network, while increasing prices and slowing service, to put the agency on firmer financial footing. DeJoy said, “While we have accomplished a great deal, there is much more to be done.” DeJoy is in the midst of implementing a controversial plan to consolidate mail processing operations, move mail sorting away from individual post offices and allow mail that would normally get picked up each evening to instead sit overnight for pick up the following morning. He has said his Delivering for America plan would take 10 years to implement, though he has already missed his targets over the past four years to demonstrate profitability. He has received severe complaints about deteriorating service and persistently raising First Class mail and other prices.

Just months after telling Congress he would remain as Postmaster General “until somebody hauls me out of here,” in mid-February, DeJoy announced his decision to step down. This creates an opening for the agency’s governing board to fill this position in the midst of implementing sweeping changes to operations. Postmasters General serve no fixed terms and are chosen by the board. President Biden while in office, faced calls to fire DeJoy, who is a Republican mega-donor, though he could only be removed by the board or on his own volition. DeJoy’s cost-cutting efforts significantly raised postage rates, created a chorus of criticism from a wide-ranging and bipartisan set of congressional lawmakers, the agency’s regulators, its inspector general and stakeholders throughout the mailing community. One executive in the mailing industry speculated DeJoy’s timing was not a coincidence. He suggested it “sure feels like” he stepped aside so Trump could “change USPS in some other way.” President Trump briefly proposed privatizing the Postal Service in his first term.

Representative Gerry Connolly (D/VA) is the top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee with jurisdiction over the Postal Service. He quickly criticized the new partnership with DOGE. “The only thing worse for the Postal Service than DeJoy’s Delivering for America plan is turning the service over to Elon Musk and DOGE so they can undermine it, privatize it, and then profit off American’s loss,” Connolly said. “This capitulation will have catastrophic consequences for all Americans—especially those in rural and hard to reach areas—who rely on the Postal Service every day to deliver mail, medications, ballots and more.” Prior to taking office this year President Trump stated his interest in privatizing the USPS. More recently Elon Musk himself has suggested USPS should be privatized. Trump was considering signing an executive order to fold USPS into the Commerce Department, the Washington Post reported earlier this year, though that plan never came to fruition. He suggested in January that the Postal Service would continue to exist even if it was no longer a stand-alone agency. USPS independence is written in statute. Any change would likely require congressional action.