USPS to Work With DOGE to Cut Workers  03/14 06:13

   

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- Postmaster General Louis DeJoy plans to cut 10,000 
workers and billions of dollars from the U.S. Postal Service budget and he'll 
do that working with Elon Musk 's Department of Government Efficiency, 
according to a letter sent to members of Congress on Thursday.

   DOGE will assist USPS with addressing "big problems" at the $78 
billion-a-year agency, which has sometimes struggled in recent years to stay 
afloat. The agreement also includes the General Services Administration in an 
effort to help the Postal Service identify and achieve "further efficiencies."

   USPS listed such issues as mismanagement of the agency's retirement assets 
and Workers' Compensation Program, as well as an array of regulatory 
requirements that the letter described as "restricting normal business 
practice."

   "This is an effort aligned with our efforts, as while we have accomplished a 
great deal, there is much more to be done," DeJoy wrote.

   Critics of the agreement fear negative effects of the cuts will be felt 
across America. Democratic U.S. Rep. Gerald Connolly of Virginia, who was sent 
the letter, said turning over the Postal Service to DOGE would result in it 
being undermined and privatized.

   "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," he said in 
a statement.

   USPS currently employs about 640,000 workers tasked with making deliveries 
from inner cities to rural areas and even far-flung islands.

   The service plans to cut 10,000 employees in the next 30 days through a 
voluntary early retirement program, according to the letter.

   Neither the USPS nor the Trump administration immediately responded to 
emails from The Associated Press requesting comment.

   The agency previously announced plans to cut its operating costs by more 
than $3.5 billion annually. And this isn't the first time thousands of 
employees have been cut. In 2021, the agency cut 30,000 workers.

   As the service that has operated as an independent entity since 1970 has 
struggled to balance the books with the decline of first-class mail, it has 
fought calls from President Donald Trump and others that it be privatized. Last 
month, Trump said he may put USPS under the control of the Commerce Department 
in what would be an executive branch takeover.

   The National Association of Letter Carriers President Brian L. Renfroe said 
in a statement in response to Thursday's letter that they welcome anyone's help 
with addressing some of the agency's biggest problems but stood firmly against 
any move to privatize the Postal Service.

   "Common sense solutions are what the Postal Service needs, not privatization 
efforts that will threaten 640,000 postal employees' jobs, 7.9 million jobs 
tied to our work, and the universal service every American relies on daily," he 
said.

   DeJoy, a Republican donor who owned a logistics business, was appointed to 
lead USPS during Trump's first term in 2020. He has faced repeated challenges 
during his tenure, including the COVID-19 pandemic, surges in mail-in election 
ballots and efforts to stem losses through cost and service cuts.