Postmaster General Louis DeJoy plans to leave the U.S. Postal Service after five years running the distressed agency.
USPS announced Tuesday that DeJoy, America’s 75th Postmaster General, had notified the Postal Service Board of Governors of his plans. The Governors of the Postal Service will begin searching for the next postmaster general.
“Louis DeJoy has steadfastly served the nation and the Postal Service over the past five years,” said Amber McReynolds, chairwoman of the USPS Board of Governors. “The Governors greatly appreciate his enduring leadership and his tireless efforts to modernize the Postal Service and reverse decades of neglect.”
DeJoy said more work remains to be done.
“The Postal Service has ironclad plans to reduce costs by over $4 billion annually, raise revenue by over $5 billion and adjust its operating network to integrate the delivery of all mail and package categories, achieving service standards that make modern-day sense and compete in the marketplace,” DeJoy said in a statement. “We are well on our way with these necessary changes, and I have been developing a leadership team whose careers reach further into the future than the one we have today.”
DeJoy’s tenure at USPS proved controversial. And the agency expects a net loss of $6.9 billion in fiscal year 2025.
“I am extremely proud of the 640,000 men and women of the United States Postal Service who live, work and serve in every American community,” DeJoy said. “Despite being victimized by a legislative and regulatory business model that produced almost two decades of devastation to their organization and workplaces, they have persevered and embraced the changes we are making in order to better serve their fellow citizens.”
USPS is an independent federal creation, required to be self-financing and deliver mail and packages to 169 million addresses six or seven days a week. USPS generally gets no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.
