In D.C., DOGE is the talk of the town. Whether it’s conservatives applauding every move Elon Musk’s governmental organization makes or bureaucrats crying about having to account for their time at work, everybody can’t stop talking about DOGE. This includes the United States Postal Service (USPS), which has authorized DOGE to swoop in and save the day.
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“The U.S. Postal Service has authorized Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to help eliminate red tape hurting financial and operational performance in a move Democrats decried but some postal workers say could be beneficial,” reports FreightWaves.
“It also gave concrete figures on previously announced force reductions, saying it expects to eliminate 10,000 jobs through a voluntary early retirement program,” the report continues. “Meanwhile, postal workers and community activists this week plan to protest Trump administration expressions of interest in selling the Postal Service to private sector owners.”
The USPS has been bleeding money for a long time, including a whopping $9.5 billion in the last fiscal year. Yet shipping prices keep going up while service has been dissatisfactory for millions of Americans.
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, who is leaving his office once the Trump administration identifies a successor, has been trying to turn things around for about three years. He set out to make the USPS profitable by the end of this decade, although it sounds like a fool’s errand of the highest order.
DeJoy told lawmakers last week that he signed an agreement with DOGE and the General Services Administrations to identify inefficiencies and, as FreightWaves reports, “tackle big challenges related to retirement benefit calculations and investments, which have been a drag on Postal Service finances, and reform the Postal Regulatory Commission.”
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“The Postal Service once faced the immediate threat of insolvency, which would have required a taxpayer bailout…” DeJoy wrote to congressional leaders. “Our efforts have provided a lifeline to our organization and [a pathway that is] financially sustainable. I ask that you please engage with the Postal Service, our DOGE representatives, and the federal agencies that need… to correct for the deficiencies of the past.”
Related: Shrieking Federal Employee Says the Quiet Part Out Loud About DOGE Fears
DeJoy believes that fixing accounting errors and revamping pension and worker’s compensation programs will help the USPS become more solvent, which is why he’s seeking DOGE’s help. He also believes that cutting burdensome regulations can save money. But, naturally, Democrats and left-wing media outlets are up in arms.
“As you explain in the letter, this agreement authorizes DOGE to ‘assist’ the Postal Service, presumably in making drastic cuts to Americans’ mail service and firing thousands of postal employees,” Rep Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) carped in a press release disguised as a “letter” to DeJoy. “The actions of employees operating under the ‘DOGE’ moniker have thus far been shielded from transparency and accountability, but this cannot continue.”
“This backroom agreement between the billionaire-led DOGE and Postmaster DeJoy sets off alarm bells about this administration’s plans for the Postal Service’s role as a cornerstone public institution,” complained a bunch of Democrats in another letter. (These folks love them some letters.) And the Daily Beast rushed out with the breathlessly melodramatic headline, “USPS Chief Calls in DOGE to Slash Your Local Post Office.”
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Postal employee unions have dueling views of DeJoy’s efforts to team up with DOGE:
The National Association of Letter Carriers, which represents 200,000 delivery personnel, endorsed DOGE’s involvement based on the need for structural changes to achieve profitability, which could ultimately lead to workers getting more pay, and initial assurances it doesn’t involve job cuts or access to workers’ records.
“These policy changes are needed to improve the Postal Service’s financial viability, and we welcome anyone’s help who can influence Congress and the administration to finally enact them,” NALC President Brian Renfroe said in a statement.
The American Postal Workers Union, which represents more than 200,000 postal employees and retirees and nearly 2,000 private sector mail workers, blasted the Postal Service’s invitation to DOGE.
“There is no legitimate role for DOGE in the USPS or any other federal agency. The public Postal Service was created by Congress as an independent government agency with robust oversight from the Office of Inspector General, the Postal Regulatory Commission, and the Board of Governors, as well as congressional committees,” the union said.
The bottom line in all of this is that the USPS needs a massive overhaul. Whether it’s privatization, as President Donald Trump has hinted at, or a DOGE-spearheaded retooling, the USPS needs more than window-dressing and halfhearted attempts at minor tweaks.
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The left can gripe about DOGE all it wants — and you’d better believe it will — but DOGE could help the USPS in a lot of ways. The question is: is it too late?
What a time to be alive! Elon Musk and DOGE are doing the yeoman’s work of showing just how entrenched, wasteful, and entitled our federal bureaucracy is.
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