US Postal Service Signs Agreement with Musk’s DOGE to Reduce Losses.

The director of the US Postal Service, Louis DeJoy, told Congress on Thursday (March 13) that he has signed an agreement with billionaire Elon Musk’s Government Efficiency Department (DOGE) aimed at comprehensively reforming federal agencies to help the struggling organization address its “big issues.”

The US Postal Service is an independent government agency with 635,000 employees, and it reported a loss of $9.5 billion last year. In a letter to Congress, DeJoy stated that the Postal Service plans to cut 10,000 jobs next month, which will be achieved through a voluntary early retirement program announced in January. The agency has already eliminated 30,000 jobs since 2021.

DeJoy mentioned that the US Postal Service has reached agreements with the Government Efficiency Department and the General Services Administration (GSA), allowing the government reform team to “help us identify and achieve further efficiencies… The Government Efficiency Department team is very keen to help us solve the big issues.”

Over the past five years, DeJoy has led a vigorous restructuring of the US Postal Service, including reducing projected losses from $160 billion to $80 billion within a decade, a strategy similar to that being adopted by the Government Efficiency Department, which involves downsizing the workforce and renegotiating or canceling contracts.

Last week, Musk stated that he believes the US Postal Service should be privatized.

The US Postal Service is implementing new service standards that are expected to save the organization at least $36 billion over the next decade.

Since 2007, the US Postal Service has accumulated over $100 billion in losses. The agency reported a profit of $144 million in the fourth quarter last month.

(Adapted from Reuters report)