Louis DeJoy said Monday he will resign from leading the U.S. Postal Service. Photo: Jim Watson-Pool/Getty Images
U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy is stepping down from his job effective immediately — days after asking DOGE for help cutting costs.
Why it matters: The Postal Service has been the focus of intense scrutiny with Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. Members of the Trump administration have publicly contemplated privatizing or overhauling the service.
Driving the news: DeJoy said he was passing “the baton to Deputy Postmaster General, Doug Tulino, until the Governors name my permanent successor” in a statement first obtained by Reuters.
- Last week DeJoy gave DOGE a list of items he wanted help with and signed an agreement with the cost-cutting department earlier this month.
- DeJoy previously announced plans to cut 10,000 workers and billions of dollars from the budget.
Flashback: DeJoy was appointed to his role in 2020 and led the Postal Service during that year’s presidential election, when mail-in voting took on outsize importance due to the pandemic.
- The Postal Service ultimately pulled off the mass delivery of ballots with limited issues.
What they’re saying: “While we’re glad to see DeJoy go, the fear is that his mismanagement will continue casting a destructive shadow,” Kevin Yoder, a former Republican congressman and executive director of the advocacy group Keep US Posted, told Axios.
- “The time is now to stop following DeJoy’s leadership, and that means abandoning strategies like rate hikes and service delays which hurt businesses and everyday Americans alike,” Yoder said.
By the numbers: The Postal Service said in November that it projected a net loss of $9.5 billion for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30 after losing $6.5 billion during the same period the pervious year.
- The agency has 640,000 employees, according to DeJoy’s statement.
- Stamp prices have climbed 36% since 2019 in a string of six increases, going up from 50 cents to 73 cents.
Postmaster general search
What’s next: The U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors said Monday it has retained executive search firm Egon Zehnder to lead the search for “the 76th Postmaster General.”
- There is not an established timeline to announce the next postmaster.
How it works: According to federal law, “the selection of the Postmaster General rests with the Presidentially appointed and Senate confirmed members of the Board, who oversee the Postal Service as an independent establishment of the executive branch,” the board’s news release said.
Editor’s note: This story was updated with additional information throughout.
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