USPS agrees to work with DOGE on reform, planning to cut 10,000 workers
[March 14, 2025]
WASHINGTON (AP) — Postmaster General Louis DeJoy plans to
cut 10,000 workers and billions of dollars from the U.S. Postal Service
budget and he’ll do that working with Elon Musk ’s Department of
Government Efficiency, according to a letter sent to members of Congress
on Thursday.
DOGE will assist USPS with addressing “big problems” at the $78
billion-a-year agency, which has sometimes struggled in recent years to
stay afloat. The agreement also includes the General Services
Administration in an effort to help the Postal Service identify and
achieve "further efficiencies.”
USPS listed such issues as mismanagement of the agency's retirement
assets and Workers’ Compensation Program, as well as an array of
regulatory requirements that the letter described as “restricting normal
business practice.”
“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.
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Postmaster General Louis DeJoy testifies before a House Oversight
and Reform Committee hearing on the Postal Service on Capitol Hill,
Monday, Aug. 24, 2020, in Washington. (Tom Brenner/Pool via AP,File)
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.
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.
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