Leaders at the United States Postal Service (USPS) have released a progress report on their 10-year plan to overhaul the agency through cost cuts and streamlining plans, saying the approach has begun to improve service reliability and financial sustainability after just two years.
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy launched his “Delivering for America” (DFA) strategy a year after taking over the unprofitable agency in 2020, tweaking delivery schedules and applying postage stamp rate hikes as part of a plan to improve profitability. Under the plan, USPS will expand its parcel delivery services to meet spiraling e-commerce demand and focus on more lucrative business customers.
Congress added support for the plan in 2022 when it passed a postal reform bill that eased some of the employee benefit requirements that have hamstrung the service’s finances for decades.
According to DeJoy, the plan is now gaining traction as shown by milestones like: 98% of the American public receiving mail and packages within three days, a reduction of the projected 10-year loss despite inflation, the conversion of 125,000 pre-career employees to full-time positions, and contracts having been awarded to replace aging mail delivery trucks with an electrified fleet.
DeJoy has also attracted criticism for some of those steps, such as an initial version of the fleet replacement plan that included mostly diesel instead of battery powered trucks, and a proposal to slow certain package delivery schedules.
However, DeJoy today said that the latest progress report shows his plan is realistic and achievable. “As we enter the third year of our Delivering for America plan, there is a new energy and vibrancy at the U.S. Postal Service,” DeJoy said in a release. “As I travel the nation meeting with the great men and women of the Postal Service, it is clear the investments we are making are paying off — and it is showing through our improved delivery for the American people and our business customers.”
