The general director of the United States Postal Service, Louis DeJoy, informed Congress members on Thursday that he signed an agreement with the General Services Administration and the Department of Government Efficiency of Elon Musk to adjust the Postal Service's budget.
This initiative comes after the Postal Service decided in January to reduce 10,000 jobs through an early retirement offer for eligible workers.
In a letter sent to Congress, DeJoy lamented that the Postal Service's business model was "broken" and not financially sustainable without essential and necessary changes.
According to DeJoy, fixing such a large and crucial organization, which had experienced losses close to 100 billion dollars and was projected to lose another 200 billion, was a difficult task. Additionally, the Postal Service faces heavy legislative regulation that limits its normal business practices.
The agreement with DOGE seeks to help the Postal Service address these "big issues" in an agency with liabilities of up to 78 billion dollars a year that has struggled in recent years to stay afloat.
The goal of the agreement is to identify and achieve "greater efficiencies" in the Postal Service's operation, which has faced issues such as poor management of retirement assets and the workers' compensation program, as well as a series of restrictive regulatory requirements.
However, the agreement has caused some criticism, especially from Democratic lawmakers, like Representative Gerald Connolly, who expressed concern that handing the Postal Service over to DOGE could lead to the privatization of the institution and the loss of a vital service for Americans.
