DeJoy had said in February that he had intended to step down but hadn’t set a date.
Louis DeJoy, the head of the troubled U.S. Postal Service, announced his resignation on Monday after almost five years in the role. His departure comes amidst discussions by President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency about potentially privatizing mail services.
DeJoy had previously stated his intention to step down without specifying a date. His exit adds to the uncertainty surrounding the future of the Postal Service, with Trump contemplating placing it under the control of the Commerce Department to address financial losses at the organization, which has been operating independently since 1970 and has faced challenges due to the decline of first-class mail.
Deputy Postmaster General Doug Tulino will serve as the interim head until a permanent successor is appointed by the Postal Service Board of Governors. DeJoy, who assumed the post in 2020 during Trump’s first term, was a Republican contributor with a background in logistics and marked the first non-career postal employee to hold the position in nearly twenty years.
DeJoy’s tenure was marked by the COVID-19 pandemic, surges in mail-in election ballots and efforts to stem losses through cost and service cuts.
“I believe strongly that the organization is well positioned and capable of carrying forward and fully implementing the many strategies and initiatives that comprise our transformation and modernization, and I have been working closely with the Deputy Postmaster General to prepare for this transition, DeJoy said in a statement.
He added that “much work remains that is necessary to sustain our positive trajectory.”
The National Association of Letter Carriers’ president, Brian L. Renfroe, said in a statement Monday that the union stands ready to work with whomever the board selects as the next postmaster general.
“The future of the Postal Service is on the line, and choosing someone with innovative ideas and appreciation for our Constitutionally mandated service is essential,” Renfroe said.
The Postal Service Board of Governors said in a statement Monday evening that they had retained global search firm Egon Zehnder to help find the agency’s next leader. There’s no established timeline for when the announcement of the next postmaster general will be made, the statement said.
Earlier this month, DeJoy said he planned to cut 10,000 workers and billions of dollars from the USPS budget and he’d do that working with DOGE, according to a letter sent to members of Congress.
USPS workers, including mail carriers, have gathered over the past week to protest the cuts and the plan they say will dismantle the service.
Critics of the plan fear negative effects of the cuts will be felt across the country. Democratic U.S. Rep. Gerald Connolly, of Virginia, has said in response that turning over the service to DOGE would result in it being undermined and privatized.
USPS employs about 640,000 workers who deliver mail, medicine, election ballots and packages across the country, from inner cities to rural areas and far-flung islands.
The USPS has been largely self-funded since 1970. The bulk of its annual $78.5 billion budget comes from customer fees, according to the Congressional Research Service. Congress provides a relatively small annual appropriation — about $50 million in fiscal year 2023 — to subsidize free and reduced-cost mail services.
