After nearly five years, Louis DeJoy is stepping down from leading the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) following significant post-COVID losses and cuts. According to CNN, DeJoy announced the news on Tuesday and asked the Postal Service Board of Governors to begin searching for his successor.

“As you know, I have worked tirelessly to lead the 640,000 men and women of the Postal Service in accomplishing an extraordinary transformation,” he wrote. “We have served the American people through an unprecedented pandemic and through a period of high inflation and sensationalized politics.”

DeJoy has spearheaded the postal service since summer 2020 during President Donald Trump’s first term. Before that, he was a Republican donor and committed Trump fundraiser who owned a logistics business. CNN reported he’s the first postmaster general in almost 20 years without a postal service career.

To help the U.S. Postal Service modernize its operations and deal with losses accrued during the pandemic, DeJoy developed a 10-year plan to steer the service in the right direction. The plan detailed efforts to make the mail delivery system more efficient and reduce costs by consolidating mail processing centers. He encouraged postal customers to prepare for “uncomfortable” spiked rates as the postal service worked to stabilize its financial standing.

Those against the plan, including members of Congress, said early consolidations slowed service and, should they continue, could negatively impact rural mail delivery. DeJoy disputed their claims and told a House subcommittee in September that the Postal Service was working on revamping “ratty” structures and pursuing other changes to support “a Postal Service for the future.”

Some of those pursuits included purchasing electric vehicles, an effort DeJoy defended to Congress after it gave the service $3 billion following the delivery of millions of ballots for November’s presidential election, The Guardian reported.

DeJoy and the Postal Service claimed to see a turn to profit in fiscal year 2024. But CBS News reported the service reported two consecutive years of increasing losses. In November, the Postal Service reported its annual loss at nearly $10 billion, a significant jump from the $6.5 billion noted the prior year. According to The Guardian, first-class mail is down 80% since 1997, its lowest since 1968.

DeJoy’s letter said he’s ready to be “as helpful as possible in facilitating a transition.”

Additional details about his departure have not been shared.

Louis DeJoy

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