WASHINGTON — Postmaster General Louis DeJoy is set to reduce the U.S. Postal Service budget by billions of dollars and cut 10,000 jobs. DeJoy will be collaborating with Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency for this endeavor, as per a letter delivered to members of Congress on Thursday.
DOGE is stepping in to assist USPS in tackling significant challenges at the $78 billion-a-year agency, which has faced financial difficulties in recent times. The partnership also involves the General Services Administration in a bid to support the Postal Service in recognizing and attaining additional efficiencies.
USPS has identified various issues such as the mishandling of the agency’s retirement funds and Workers’ Compensation Program, along with a range of regulatory obligations that the correspondence characterizes as “constraining regular business operations.”
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“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.
Critics of the agreement fear negative effects of the cuts will be felt across America. Democratic U.S. Rep. Gerald Connolly of Virginia, who was sent the letter, said turning over the Postal Service to DOGE would result in it being undermined and privatized.
“This capitulation will have catastrophic consequences for all Americans – especially those in rural and hard to reach areas – who rely on the Postal Service every day to deliver mail, medications, ballots, and more,” he said in a statement.
USPS currently employs about 640,000 workers tasked with making deliveries from inner cities to rural areas and even far-flung islands.
The service plans to cut 10,000 employees in the next 30 days through a voluntary early retirement program, according to the letter.
Neither the USPS nor the Trump administration immediately responded to emails from The Associated Press requesting comment.
The agency previously announced plans to cut its operating costs by more than $3.5 billion annually. And this isn’t the first time thousands of employees have been cut. In 2021, the agency cut 30,000 workers.
As the service that has operated as an independent entity since 1970 has struggled to balance the books with the decline of first-class mail, it has fought calls from President Donald Trump and others that it be privatized. Last month, Trump said he may put USPS under the control of the Commerce Department in what would be an executive branch takeover.
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The National Association of Letter Carriers President Brian L. Renfroe said in a statement in response to Thursday’s letter that they welcome anyone’s help with addressing some of the agency’s biggest problems but stood firmly against any move to privatize the Postal Service.
“Common sense solutions are what the Postal Service needs, not privatization efforts that will threaten 640,000 postal employees’ jobs, 7.9 million jobs tied to our work, and the universal service every American relies on daily,” he said.
DeJoy, a Republican donor who owned a logistics business, was appointed to lead USPS during Trump’s first term in 2020. He has faced repeated challenges during his tenure, including the COVID-19 pandemic, surges in mail-in election ballots and efforts to stem losses through cost and service cuts.
