Head of the Post Office Resigns, as DOGE Seeks to Downsize It

The Postmaster General, Louis DeJoy, has resigned from his role at the postal service. It had already been known that DeJoy would be leaving the position, but his departure comes earlier than expected.

“Louis DeJoy has steadfastly served the nation and the Postal Service over the past five years,” said Amber McReynolds, chairwoman of the Board of Governors, in February, when DeJoy’s departure was originally announced. “The Governors greatly appreciate his enduring leadership and his tireless efforts to modernize the Postal Service and reverse decades of neglect.”

DeJoy’s “tireless efforts to modernize the Postal Service” haven’t amounted to better service. Indeed, contrary to what McReynolds says, DeJoy has often been accused of fucking up the mail, not making it better. Sometimes he has been accused of fucking it up intentionally, while other times he’s been accused of just being incompetent. On the whole, he has been associated with failure, not success—a trend that his resignation is consistent with.

In September, a NBC News investigation claimed that “some of the country’s slowest mail is in presidential swing states with strict mail ballot delivery deadlines,” causing some concern as to whether the dysfunctionally slow mail could translate to significant aggregates of ballots not getting counted. DeJoy was installed as Postmaster General in May 2020 during Trump’s previous administration, but even his former and current boss hasn’t been happy.The Wall Street Journal reports that “in recent days [Trump] had been preparing to fire DeJoy, according to people familiar with the matter.” Now, DeJoy is headed out the door of his own accord.

DeJoy has stepped down just as Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has sought to make major cuts to the agency, spurring nationwide protests from postal workers. Rightwing forces have talked for years about privatizing the mail, a move that would undoubtedly put a greater financial burden on Americans.

The efforts to dismantle the post office have led critics to decry DOGE’s activities. Democratic U.S. Rep. Gerald Connolly of Virginia recently said, of the proposed changes: “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.”