Bringing USPS Out of the Box

Checking the mailbox is part of every American’s day. Most of us don’t ever think about how a tiny envelope or a giant box gets from one side of the country to the other but we are keenly aware when there is a disruption in mail service. It is so important, not only to commerce, but to our experience of democracy that it’s enshrined in the Constitution.

The USPS delivers 425 million pieces of mail a day and employs over 600,000 people. It’s a massive institution with direct oversight by the federal government. People often spend their entire career at the Post Office and while this can create institutional integrity, it can also slow down growth and development in a rapidly changing world where technological developments can outpace our capacity to change laws. Because of this, the USPS has been boxed into a mode of operation that no longer serves the organization or our country’s citizens.

President Biden signed the Postal Service Reform Act of 2022 on April 6. This is a huge step in taking the Post Office out of some of those constraints and opens up new possibilities for the organization. The main function of this law is to lift the 2006 requirement that the Post Office pre-fund the health benefits for its retirees. No other private or public organization is required to do this and many see this as the main cause of the financial losses of the Post Office in the past couple of years. Additionally, the law provides more flexibility around price increases which will keep it competitive with private shipping and logistic companies.

The Reform Act passed with bipartisan cooperation and the support of the American Postal Workers Union. Many are attributing this success to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy.

DeJoy has been a polarizing figure inside our polarized political climate. His nomination to PMG was criticized because he had no Post Office experience. His 31 years of logistics in the private sector however gave him that “out-of-the-box” perspective on the industry as a whole that led to the passing of these reforms..

“With the legislative financial reforms achieved today, combined with our own self-led operational reforms, we will be able to self-fund our operations and continue to deliver to 161 million addresses six days per-week for many decades to come,” said Postmaster General and CEO Louis DeJoy. “I thank the Senate and our Committee leadership that broke the 10-year logjam which has long constrained the finances of the Postal Service. The Postal Service serves every American every day and so it’s only right that our future is now collectively assured by members of all political parties.”

We need the Post Office and we need the Post Office to be financially solvent. In 2020, prior to DeJoy’s appointment as Postmaster General, the USPS recorded a net loss of 9.2 billion dollars. That was cut in half under DeJoy’s oversight to 4.9 billion. The Post Office is not a private business beholden to shareholders, but it does owe, us, the citizens continued and uninterrupted service.

We’ve already seen DeJoy begin to take the USPS out of the constraining legislative box in two short years, and pave the way for future improvements during his tenure. Hopefully, he’ll break down the box and recycle it properly, too.

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