Louis DeJoy is finally headed for the exit.
Good riddance? Maybe. But don’t pop the champagne just yet. His departure isn’t a triumph for the U.S. Postal Service—it’s the prelude to a bigger attack: full-blown privatization.
And that, unlike DeJoy’s clunky reign, won’t be easily reversed.
DeJoy: The Wrecking Ball Disguised as Reform
Let’s not sugarcoat it—Louis DeJoy was a political landmine dropped into the Postal Service at the worst possible time. Appointed in 2020 by a Trump-friendly USPS board, he showed up with a donor resume and zero experience running anything remotely like the Postal Service.
Within months, he banned extra delivery trips, cut overtime, and yanked out mail-sorting machines by the hundreds. Timing? Oh, just ahead of a pandemic-era election with record mail-in voting. What a coincidence 1.
Delays exploded. Ballots vanished. Public trust cratered.
And what did DeJoy say? “They’re not needed.” He refused to reinstall the stripped equipment. Even as public outrage and lawsuits mounted, he stood firm. Because that was the point 1.
But here’s the twist: DeJoy wasn’t just a hack. He was the opening act.
Mission Accomplished: Weaken It, Then Sell It
DeJoy’s infamous “Delivering for America” plan slowed down mail delivery standards, closed facilities, laid off workers, and jacked up postage—all in the name of cost-cutting. But let’s be real: it wasn’t about saving the USPS.
It was about making the USPS look unsalvageable.
Because the worse it runs, the easier it is to sell off. That’s the game plan. Make the patient look terminal, then convince everyone the only cure is corporate hospice.
And now that DeJoy’s damage is done? The vultures are circling.
Trump has already floated the idea—again—of privatizing the Postal Service. GOP-aligned think tanks like the Heritage Foundation and Cato Institute are foaming at the mouth, calling USPS a relic that should be run like FedEx 2 3.
And don’t be fooled by their business-speak. “Efficiency,” “modernization,” “cost recovery”? Translation: gut rural delivery, raise rates, fire thousands. All to make room for profit margins and shareholder reports.
USPS Was Never Meant to Be Profitable
Let’s clear up the biggest lie in this whole debate: the U.S. Postal Service is not a business.
It is a public service. Its job is to reach every address in the country—yes, even that one cabin in Alaska or the tribal village at the bottom of the Grand Canyon 4.
It delivers ballots, medications, Social Security checks. It’s a civic lifeline, not a quarterly earnings call. And yet politicians—mostly on the right—keep demanding that it turn a profit or shut down.
Would you ask the fire department to be profitable? The military? Public schools?
No. Because they’re essential.
So is the post office.
The Real Endgame: Kill the Universal Service Obligation
Right now, USPS is legally required to serve every American at a uniform price. That’s called the Universal Service Obligation (USO). It’s the reason a stamp costs the same whether you’re mailing across town or to the middle of nowhere 5.
Privatization nukes that.
In a privatized system, your ZIP code becomes your tax bracket. Rich cities get cheap, fast delivery. Poor or rural communities? Good luck. Delivery once a week—if at all. And you’ll pay extra for it.
No profit? No service.
Workers Get Screwed, Too
Let’s not forget: USPS is one of the largest employers of Black Americans, veterans, and people without college degrees. It’s been a path to the middle class for generations 6.
Privatization blows that up. Layoffs. Union-busting. Gig work replacing career jobs. It’s the Uber-ification of government service—bad for workers, worse for customers.
But great for CEOs and investors.
Enjoy Your $12 Letter
Here’s the kicker. All this so FedEx and UPS can charge you $12 to send a basic letter—unless you live in a profitable urban corridor. Forget your grandma in rural Iowa. Private couriers don’t want her business.
And that “Forever” stamp? Gone.
The very idea of affordable, universal, daily mail will be a relic—like payphones or dial-up internet. And when it’s gone, it’s gone.
Louis DeJoy’s retirement doesn’t signal USPS’s salvation.
It’s the starter pistol for its final sell-off.
Sources
[1] USPS chief concedes changes causing delays but won’t restore sorting machines – The Guardian
[2] USPS Needs Major Reforms, Not a Bailout – The Heritage Foundation
[3] Privatizing the U.S. Postal Service – Cato Institute
[4] U.S. Postal Service Primer: Answers to Key Questions – U.S. GAO
[5] IBM Report on USPS Universal Service Obligation – USPS
[6] The US Postal Service helped build the Black middle class – The Guardian
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