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Hi,
Trump-appointed Postmaster General Louis DeJoy is a complete disaster.
On-time delivery rates have cratered.1 Widespread incidents of lost packages are preventing people from getting lifesaving medicine and vital mail services. Meanwhile, DeJoy is jacking up postage rates again next month — the sixth rate increase since he took over in 2020.2
But there are signs that DeJoy may finally be feeling the pressure.
Last month, DeJoy announced that he will halt plans to consolidate dozens of mail-processing facilities around the country, which would have further delayed mail delivery in the run-up to the 2024 election, when tens of millions of Americans are expected to vote by mail.3
Here's the problem: DeJoy remains defiant that he will resume these consolidations after the new year — even though he effectively just admitted that he can't ensure reliable delivery if these changes are put in place.
Louis DeJoy was nominated by Donald Trump and confirmed by an all Trump-appointed board. He was the first postmaster general in two decades without prior USPS experience, and before he was nominated, he was a major Republican Party donor and Trump fundraiser.4
Now, after nearly five years with DeJoy in charge, almost every state is below target levels for on-time service even as postage rates have risen by a whopping 31%.5
It's a "death spiral," according to the head of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a nonpartisan policy think tank.6
That's why DeJoy is facing increased bipartisan opposition to his 10-year modernization plan, which would, among other changes, shut down as many as 400 sorting and delivery facilities nationwide, forcing even local mail to travel hundreds of miles for sorting.7,8
Now DeJoy has tacitly admitted that if his proposed mail-sorting consolidation plans go forward, he can't ensure that mail ballots will be delivered on time for the 2024 election. But people rely on the mail for all kinds of life-or-death needs, including medications, Social Security checks, and much, much more.
The bottom line is clear: Louis DeJoy has been a disaster. To save the U.S. Postal Service, DeJoy must go.
We've mobilized over 100,000 people to demand that Louis DeJoy be fired. Now we're asking for your help to turn up the heat on the U.S. Postal Service's Board of Governors to finally take action.
With gratitude,
The team at Demand Progress Action
Sources:
1. Government Executive, "As USPS institutes network reforms, mail delivery hits a 3-year low," February 22, 2024.
2. Associated Press, "Post Office wants to hike stamp prices for 5th time in 3 years to make up for 'defective' pricing system," April 9, 2024.
3. United States Senate, "Postmaster General DeJoy and U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors," May 8, 2024.
4. Fortune, "The Trump donor whom Biden can't fire is running the U.S. Postal Service directly into the ground—just what everyone warned about when he was confirmed during the pandemic," April 10, 2024.
5. Government Executive, "Lawmakers are asking the USPS regulator to block DeJoy's latest price hikes," May 23, 2024.
6. Fortune, "The Trump donor whom Biden can't fire is running the U.S. Postal Service directly into the ground—just what everyone warned about when he was confirmed during the pandemic," April 10, 2024.
7. Common Dreams, "'Fire DeJoy' Demand Intensifies as 10-Year Plan to Sabotage Postal Service Takes Effect," September 29, 2021.
8. The Guardian, "'It's going to delay the mail': the fight over Louis DeJoy's USPS plan," December 15, 2023.
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