Drop off boxes for different couriers including the USPS, FedEx, and UPS; Lawmakers and unions have worried the involvement of DOGE in the Postal Service could lead to a privatization push. Image: Sharkshock/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffThe USPS will begin working with Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to look for ways to cut costs and streamline operations – something outgoing Postmaster General Louis Dejoy has been working on since his appointment in 2020 through his ambitious and controversial Delivering for America strategy.
“Last night I signed an agreement with the General Services Administration and DOGE representatives to assist us in identifying and achieving further efficiencies,” Dejoy wrote in a letter to House and Senate committee leaders with jurisdiction over the Postal Service. Dejoy listed several “intractable” challenges facing the sprawling organization that he could use help mitigating:
- Mismanagement of self-funded retirement assets and the actuarial miscalculations of our retirement obligations; Functions that reside within OPM and Treasury and costing USPS several billion dollars per year.
- Mismanagement of the Workers’ Compensation Program resulting in approximately $400 million dollars a year in excessive charges; Administered by the Department of Labor.
- Unfunded mandates imposed by legislation costing billions per year.
- Burdensome regulatory requirements – “The Postal Regulatory Commission is an unnecessary agency that has inflicted over $50 billion in damage to the Postal Service by administering defective pricing models and decades old bureaucratic processes that encumber the Postal Service.”
Dejoy has often sparred with the PRC, an independent agency with a compliance and oversight role, and which is responsible for helping set rates. Rep. Gerald E. Connolly, the ranking member on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, warned that Dejoy’s letter spells out actions that would lead to “privatization and politicization” of the USPS, something he said would be made easier by eliminating the PRC.
The initial letter received immediate pushback. “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,” Connolly said. “Reliable mail delivery can’t just be reserved for MAGA supporters and Tesla owners.”
In a follow up letter dated March 17 to committee members, Dejoy clarified that “DOGE engagement is not expansive but directed” and promised that “only the data and information required to pursue these initiatives will be provided to the DOGE team members.” He earlier had pointed out that the Delivering for American Plan was getting close to paying off after years of effort, noting that in the first quarter of 2025 the USPS turned a $1 billion profit.
Postal unions were quick to sound the alarm, after watching budgets and employment rolls get slashed throughout the federal government. A statement from the American Postal Workers Union said it was “on full alert” and “the moment there is any indication that DOGE is seeking access to personal and private information regarding employees, the APWU is prepared to take immediate legal action.”
It also vowed to defend contractual protections and working conditions of postal workers.
In an organization the size of USPS there remains opportunities to get more efficient. A recent article in Fedweek by Paul Stiedler, who studies the USPS (The US Postal Service is a DOGE Delight) listed several changes that might be pursued by DOGE. Among them: Pension investment reform (the investment of $250B in pension assets beyond government bonds), downsizing to focus on mail delivery rather than packages, and shifting from pensions to defined contribution plans for new employees. “The time is now for DOGE to focus on USPS and for Postal Service management and employees to work together to shed the agency’s fat and make it a respected, efficient, servant of the people,” Stedler wrote.
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