DeJoy Permanently Restructures USPS — 10-Year Plan Slows First-Class Mail to 'Save Money'

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy releases 'Delivering for America,' a 10-year strategic plan that permanently slows first-class mail delivery, optimizes transportation networks by eliminating late and extra trips, cuts post office hours, and raises postage prices. The plan assumes Congress will relieve the USPS of the requirement to pre-pay retiree health care costs — which Congress does with the Postal Service Reform Act of 2022, signed by President Biden. Despite receiving this financial relief, DeJoy's plan does not reverse the dismantling of sorting machines or restore service standards to pre-2020 levels. The plan permanently institutionalizes the mail slowdown that critics had warned would suppress mail-in voting. In October 2022, U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan rules that DeJoy's pre-election changes had harmed mail delivery and that DeJoy had violated federal law by not obtaining an advisory opinion from the Postal Regulatory Commission. Sullivan orders USPS to restore service to pre-July 2020 levels, but implementation is slow and incomplete, with USPS citing operational challenges.