The United States Postal Service is expected to cut 10 000 jobs from its workforce over the next 30 days, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy confirmed this week.
The positions will be eliminated through a voluntary early retirement programme.
DeJoy, who is in the process of finding a successor, said he also signed a deal to work with Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to identify “further efficiencies” within the USPS.
“Last night I signed an agreement with the General Services Administration and DOGE representatives to assist us in identifying and achieving further efficiencies. This is an effort aligned with our efforts, as while we have accomplished a great deal, there is much more to be done,” DeJoy wrote in a letter to Congress.
The agency’s financial struggles are well documented but it has so far remained immune to major federal government cuts, including mass firings carried out by DOGE across several other federal agencies.
In 2021, DeJoy told the House Committee on Oversight and Reform the USPS was in a “death spiral” and losing around $10 billion per year.
“Fixing a broken organisation that had experienced close to $100 billion in losses and was projected to lose another $200 billion, without a bankruptcy proceeding, is a daunting task,” DeJoy wrote to Congress this week.
“Fixing a heavily legislated and overly regulated organisation as massive, important, cherished, misunderstood and debated as the United States Postal Service, with such a broken business model, is even more difficult.”
DeJoy started looking for efficiencies and to reduce services after he was appointed during President Donald Trump’s first term.
This week, DeJoy said many of the issues facing the 53-year-old service are related to other branches of government, specifically the Office of Personnel Management, the Treasury Department, the Labour Department and Congress itself.
“We are happy to have others to assist us in our worthwhile cause. The DOGE team was gracious enough to ask for the big problems they can help us with,” he wrote.
“Among other initiatives, provided the following list of items that are in your hands and that have been intractable even though they have needed to be addressed for over a decade.”
Earlier this month, Musk said the USPS is a prime candidate for privatisation.
Trump has also previously expressed interest in privatising the service, while Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has voiced support for having the Commerce Department in charge of the USPS. (UPI)
