WASHINGTON, D.C., USA — United States Postmaster General Louis DeJoy reportedly told Congress Thursday the USPS and DOGE made a deal to cut costs and employees over the next month.
DeJoy reportedly wrote a letter to Congress detailing USPS’ plans to cut its workforce by 10,000 workers over the next 30 days with the help of a voluntary retirement program announced in January. The post office, an independent government agency, currently employs roughly 640,000 people and has cut roughly 30,000 jobs since 2021, according to Reuters.
“It has long been known that the Postal Service has a broken business model that was not financially sustainable without critically necessary and fundamental core change,” he wrote. “Last night I signed an agreement with the General Services Administration and DOGE representatives to assist us in identifying and achieving further efficiencies.”
The letter goes on to say the USPS is projected to lose $200 billion. It didn’t state when the projected loss would have hit, but USPS lost an estimated $9.5 billion last year.
Democrats have denounced the privatization of USPS and urged President Donald Trump to “reverse course on any planned executive order surrounding the Postal Service immediately.”
Any attempts to privatize the USPS would be a betrayal to the more than 640,000 postal employees who work tirelessly every day to ensure mail is delivered to every corner of the country.I joined @RepNikkiB and 150+ Democrats to condemn USPS privatization efforts by the Trump… pic.twitter.com/R8ZgYP2Yx6
— Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (@repcleaver) March 13, 2025
Conversations about privatizing the USPS have been ongoing and floated by Trump previously. It also comes weeks after DeJoy announced he is stepping down and looking for a successor after a nearly five-year tenure.
The announcement comes days after the USPS advertised it was looking to hire part time, full time and seasonal positions nationwide.
What is the USPS? Can it be privatized?
The USPS in its current form was established by the Postal Reorganization Act of 1970.
That law clearly states that the mail has to be delivered by the federal government, not private companies: “The United States Postal Service shall be operated as a basic and fundamental service provided to the people by the Government of the United States, authorized by the Constitution, created by Act of Congress, and supported by the people.”
The law also lays out the fundamental requirements of that service, such as delivering six days a week and delivering to every address in the country, no matter how remote and expensive it is to reach.
Because these functions are enshrined in federal law, the president cannot change them with executive orders.