User:Jonathan with U.S. Postal Service/Postmaster General draft

Postmaster general (current version)
On May 6, 2020, the USPS Board of Governors, all selected by Trump and confirmed by the Senate, announced DeJoy's appointment as postmaster general and CEO, despite concerns about conflicts of interest. That day, the National Association of Letter Carriers president Frederic Rolando congratulated him on his appointment but warned of politicization of the USPS, writing: "Keeping politics out of the Postal Service and maintaining its independence is central to its success." DeJoy did not go through the normal vetting process for postmaster general; two separate search firms were used by the USPS board, and neither firm mentioned DeJoy in their list of candidates.

While he divested shares in UPS and Amazon before taking on his role, DeJoy drew scrutiny for not divesting from his $30–$75 million equity stake in XPO, a subcontractor for USPS. Under his tenure as postmaster general, USPS has increased its business with XPO. Additionally, when DeJoy sold his Amazon shares, he purchased stock options in Amazon that represent between 20 and 100% of his prior holdings. USPS prioritizes Amazon package delivery.

DeJoy is the first postmaster general in two decades without prior experience in the United States Postal Service. Upon assuming office on June 16, 2020, he began taking measures such as banning overtime and extra trips to deliver mail,to reduce costs. He did not communicate the reasons for such changes within the organization, and such measures also resulted in slowing of the mail service. Congressional Democrats called for the measures to be rolled back. More than 600 high-speed mail sorting machines were scheduled to be dismantled and removed from postal facilities, raising concerns that mailed ballots for the November 3 election might not reach election offices on time. Mail collection boxes were removed from the streets in many cities; after photos of boxes being removed were spread on social media, a postal service spokesman said they were being moved to higher traffic areas but that the removals would stop until after the election.

On August 7, 2020, DeJoy announced he had reassigned or displaced 23 senior USPS officials, including the two top executives overseeing day-to-day operations. He said he was trying to breathe new life into a "broken business model". Rep. Gerald E. Connolly, who chairs the House committee that oversees the USPS, said the reorganization was "deliberate sabotage".

In a letter to postal workers on August 13, 2020, DeJoy confirmed reports of delays in mail delivery, calling them “unintended consequences” of changes that eventually would improve service. At the same time that he was taking measures that postal workers and union officials said were slowing down mail delivery, President Trump told a TV interviewer that he himself was blocking funds for the postal service in order to hinder mail-in voting.

After congressional protests, the USPS inspector general began a review of DeJoy's policy changes and whether he was complying with federal ethics rules. On August 18, 2020, DeJoy announced that the Postal Service would suspend cost-cutting and other operational changes until after the 2020 election. He said that equipment that had already been removed would not be restored. Documents obtained by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington indicated that DeJoy lied under oath when he testified to Congress on August 24 that he did not order the restrictions on overtime. At this Congressional testimony DeJoy admitted that he was unaware of the cost of mailing a postcard or a smaller greeting card, the starting rate for US Priority Mail, or how many Americans voted by mail in the 2016 elections.

In September 2020, a court blocked the USPS from sending Colorado households a mailer with false and misleading information about vote-by-mail for Colorado. Secretaries of state had requested that DeJoy show them previews of the mailers that the USPS intended to send out, but DeJoy refused.

The next month, USPS agreed to reverse all changes implemented in June that affected mail services to Montana, settling a lawsuit brought by the state's governor against the institution and DeJoy a day before a hearing was to take place in U.S. District Court in Great Falls. The government institution agreed to reverse removal of collection boxes and mail sorting machines, closure or consolidation of mail processing facilities, reduced retail hours, banning or restricting overtime, and restriction of late or extra trips for timely mail delivery, affecting all 50 states.

USPS was sued in federal court in September of 2020 by American Oversight to "compel the release of directives, guidance, analyses, and key emails from Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and his chief of staff related to voting by mail" after USPS failed to respond to FOIA requests for such information within the legally designated time period. When USPS released DeJoy's calendar in response to the lawsuit, it was almost entirely redacted.

DeJoy received criticism for his decision on February 24, 2021 to award a $6.5 billion contract to modernize the USPS fleet exclusively to Oshkosh, which had previously admitted a lack of expertise in producing electric vehicles and would therefore be unable to make good on President Biden's pledge to make the USPS 100% electric. In addition, Congressman Tim Ryan has referred to the SEC a $54 million purchase of Oshkosh stock made hours before the contract was announced.

DeJoy and his wife currently have $30-70 million invested in companies related to the USPS. He plans to further slow down first-class mail delivery, reduce post office hours, and raise postage prices--which would impact voters, families, and small businesses in several states. With the mostly Trump-appointed USPS board of governors behind him, when asked how much longer he intended to stay postmaster general, he said: "A long time, get used to me."

In 2022, DeJoy flouted instructions by the Joe Biden administration to electrify the USPS fleet. Instead, DeJoy put in a $11.3 billion order to renew the existing USPS fleet with mostly gasoline-powered vehicles. The EPA criticized the USPS for the order, pointing to the environmental costs of the fleet ($900 million of damage over 20 years), the low fuel efficiency, and the short-sightedness of making a long-term investment in gasoline-powered vehicles. In response to the backlash, DeJoy signaled that the USPS may add more electric trucks to the order.

Postmaster general (revised version)
On May 6, 2020, the bipartisan USPS Board of Governors, all selected by Trump and confirmed by the Senate, announced DeJoy's appointment as postmaster general and CEO, despite concerns about conflicts of interest. That day, the National Association of Letter Carriers president Frederic Rolando congratulated him on his appointment but warned of politicization of the USPS, writing: "Keeping politics out of the Postal Service and maintaining its independence is central to its success." Two search firms were used by the USPS board, and neither firm mentioned DeJoy in their list of candidates.

While he divested shares in UPS and Amazon before taking on his role, DeJoy drew scrutiny for not divesting from his $30–$75 million equity stake in XPO, a subcontractor for USPS. Under his tenure as postmaster general, USPS has increased its business with XPO. Additionally, when DeJoy sold his Amazon shares, he purchased stock options in Amazon that represent between 20 and 100% of his prior holdings. USPS prioritizes Amazon package delivery. An investigation carried out by the US Postal Service's inspector general found that DeJoy "met all the applicable ethics requirements" related to his investments.

DeJoy is the first postmaster general in two decades without prior experience in the United States Postal Service. Upon assuming office on June 16, 2020, he began taking measures such as banning overtime and extra trips to deliver mail, purportedly to reduce costs. He did not communicate the reasons for such changes within the organization, and such measures also resulted in slowing of the mail service. Congressional Democrats called for the measures to be rolled back. More than 600 high-speed mail sorting machines were scheduled to be dismantled and removed from postal facilities, raising concerns that mailed ballots for the November 3 election might not reach election offices on time. In the summer of 2020, the longstanding practice of removing mail collection boxes from low-traffic areas became a controversial issue, as photos of their removal spread on social media. This practice had been ongoing for decades, due to the public's declining use of first-class mail. In August 2020, DeJoy announced that the Postal Service would halt the removal of mailboxes and decommissioning of mail-sorting equipment until after the November election.

On August 7, 2020, DeJoy announced he had reassigned or displaced 23 senior USPS officials, including the two top executives overseeing day-to-day operations. He said he was trying to breathe new life into a "broken business model". Rep. Gerald E. Connolly, who chairs the House committee that oversees the USPS, said the reorganization was "deliberate sabotage".

In a letter to postal workers on August 13, 2020, DeJoy confirmed reports of delays in mail delivery, calling them “unintended consequences” of changes that eventually would improve service. At the same time that he was taking measures that postal workers and union officials said were slowing down mail delivery, President Trump told a TV interviewer that he himself was blocking funds for the postal service in order to hinder mail-in voting.

After congressional protests, the USPS inspector general began a review of DeJoy's policy changes. On August 18, 2020, DeJoy announced that the Postal Service would suspend cost-cutting and other operational changes until after the 2020 election. He said that equipment that had already been removed would not be restored. Documents obtained by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington indicated that DeJoy lied under oath when he testified to Congress on August 24 that he did not order the restrictions on overtime. At this Congressional testimony DeJoy admitted that he was unaware of the cost of mailing a postcard or a smaller greeting card, the starting rate for US Priority Mail, or how many Americans voted by mail in the 2016 elections.

In September 2020, a court blocked the USPS from sending Colorado households a mailer with false and misleading information about vote-by-mail for Colorado. Secretaries of state also requested that DeJoy and his staff show them previews of any future mailers that the USPS intended to send out.

The next month, USPS agreed to stop all changes implemented in June that affected mail services to Montana, settling a lawsuit brought by the state's governor against the institution and DeJoy a day before a hearing was to take place in U.S. District Court in Great Falls. The government institution agreed to stop removal of collection boxes and mail sorting machines, closure or consolidation of mail processing facilities, reduced retail hours, banning or restricting overtime, and restriction of late or extra trips for timely mail delivery, affecting all 50 states.

USPS was sued in federal court in September of 2020 by American Oversight to "compel the release of directives, guidance, analyses, and key emails from Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and his chief of staff related to voting by mail" after USPS failed to respond to FOIA requests for such information within the legally designated time period. When USPS released DeJoy's calendar in response to the lawsuit, it was almost entirely redacted. A March 2021 report from the Postal Service's inspector general found that the vast majority of mail-in ballots and registration materials in the 2020 election were delivered to the relevant authorities on time.

DeJoy received criticism for his decision on February 24, 2021, to award a $6.5 billion contract to modernize the USPS fleet exclusively to Oshkosh, which had previously admitted a lack of expertise in producing electric vehicles and would therefore be unable to make good on President Biden's pledge to make the USPS 100% electric. In addition, Congressman Tim Ryan referred to the SEC a $54 million purchase of Oshkosh stock made hours before the contract was announced.

As of March 2021, DeJoy and his wife had $30-70 million invested in companies related to the USPS.

After the Biden administration contacted the Postal Service about the possibility of mailing free COVID-19 test kits to Americans in December 2021, DeJoy collaborated with the White House to help USPS deliver approximately 380 million home test kits from January 2022 through May 2022.

In February and March of 2022, DeJoy worked with Rep. Carolyn Maloney and Rep. James Comer to build bipartisan support for the Postal Service Reform Act of 2022, which lifted financial burdens placed on the Postal Service by the 2006 Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act and required the agency to continue delivering mail six days per week. The bill was signed into law by President Joe Biden on April 6, 2022.

In February 2022, DeJoy was criticized by Democrats for placing a $11.3 billion order to renew the USPS fleet with primarily gas-powered vehicles. DeJoy cited an ongoing Postal Service environmental review as well as the agency's grave financial condition as reasons for not including more electric vehicles in the initial order. In December 2022, DeJoy and senior members of the Biden administration announced plans to buy 66,000 electric vehicles for the USPS fleet, with a goal of purchasing almost exclusively electric delivery vehicles by 2026. The first order in this plan, a contract to purchase 9,450 EVs manufactured by Ford and 14,000 electric vehicle charging stations, was announced in February 2023.