U.S. Postal Service’s Board of Governors expressed concerns about U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s 10-year plan to slow first-class mail delivery, but the plan is moving forward.
One of the new governors appointed by President Biden said changing service standards is “strategically ill-conceived, creates dangerous risks that are not justified by the relatively low financial return, and doesn’t meet our responsibility as an essential part of America’s critical infrastructure.”
Ronald Stroman, a former deputy postmaster general, also noted that mail delivery was below the pre-pandemic levels and that the changes would disproportionally “impact our seniors, middle- and low-income Americans, [and] small businesses, who are our most loyal customers and most dependent on us.”
Louis DeJoy acknowledged the changes would be uncomfortable, but that critics who want an increase in services, while keeping prices low and cutting employee benefits are “single-interest issues disguised as solutions.”
DeJoy’s “Delivering for America” program aims to streamline operations, eliminate the use of air-carriers for long distance delivery, and invest in new delivery vehicles.
Another new governor, Anton Hajjar, said there “is a lot to like” in DeJoy’s plan, but was concerned about ending air carriers to move the mail.
The commission did agree to raise the cost of first-class stamps from 55 cents to 58 cents beginning August 29.
Meanwhile, the USPS announced a $120 million/five year contract with XPO Logistics, where DeJoy served as an executive after the company purchased New Breed Logistics, the trucking firm he owned for more than 30 years.
Since becoming Postmaster General, DeJoy and his family have divested millions in XPO shares, but DeJoy’s family businesses continue to lease four North Carolina office buildings to XPO.
Those leases could generate up to $23.7 million in rent payments for the DeJoy businesses over the next decade.
A USPS spokesman said DeJoy did not participate in the process of acquiring the XPO contract with the USPS, in which there was competitive bidding.
