SUFFOLK CLOSEUP - U.S. Postal Service Slows Delivery Times And Raises Rates

SUFFOLK CLOSEUP

By Karl Grossman

U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, who has roots in Suffolk County—in Melville—is under intense fire as he directs the U.S. Postal Service to slow delivery times and at the same time raise its prices.

“U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy Under Pressure to Resign,” began the headline of an Associated Press article in June. “As he approaches his first anniversary at the U.S. Postal Service’s helm, DeJoy is under mounting pressure to resign,” it said. “He’s been criticized by lawmakers from both parties for changes to the agency that have resulted in service slowdowns. Democrats are particularly worried that he’s purposely undermining the post office…”

The piece continued that “the scrutiny” of Mr. DeJoy “has intensified as the Justice Department investigates him over political fundraising at the North Carolina-based company he ran prior to his work at the post office.”

Before moving to North Carolina, Mr. DeJoy had run a trucking business based in Suffolk County, New Breed Logistics, which he took over from his father, Dominick DeJoy, also of Melville, who died in 2001. 

The attack on Louis DeJoy has been going on for some time.

As the Boston Globe in an editorial last August headed, “Louis DeJoy Must Resign. Now,” stated: “The postmaster general has proved himself unfit to serve as the Postal Service chief and has undermined American democracy in the process….Since DeJoy has taken over the post office, the agency has curtailed overtime pay, removed over 600 mail sorting machines, and either locked up or taken out letter collection boxes. These supposedly cost-saving measures have resulted in slowing down mail delivery, potentially disenfranchising voters at a massive scale come November if their mail-in ballots are not processed or delivered on time.”

 “The Postal Service,” said the Boston Globe,” is an agency that should remain nonpartisan — a standard that is difficult to uphold under DeJoy, a major donor to Donald Trump and the GOP. Before joining the post office, DeJoy was a finance chairman for the Republican National Committee…He has also been riddled with conflicts of interest, having to divest his stocks in UPS and Amazon upon his appointment, and he still owns a major equity stake in XPO, a USPS contractor, totaling somewhere between $30 million and $75 million.”

Mr. DeJoy has defended his tenure and his new 10-year plan for the Postal Service, “Delivering for America.” In an interview in The New York Times earlier this year, Mr. DeJoy said: “We have to start the conversation and we’re losing $10 billion a year, and that’s going to continue to go up unless we do something.”

Jim Hightower, editor of of The Hightower Lowdown, declared earlier this year: “Once Trump megadonor Louis DeJoy—who has no postal experience whatsoever—was sworn in as Postmaster General last June, he abruptly set about slashing overtime, taking crucial equipment out of service, and rewriting work rules—moves he admitted would result in delays and worse service. You don’t have to be in Who’s Who to know what’s what….DeJoy’s monkeywrenching was just one more step…by corporate interests to destroy our public post office.”

Nevertheless, Mr. DeJoy told critics in Congress in June: “Get used to me.” Appearing before the House of Representatives Oversight and Reform Committees at a hearing on “Legislative Proposals to Put the Postal Service on Sustainable Financial Footing,” Mr. DeJoy testified: “I’m not a political appointee. I was selected by a bipartisan board of governors and I’d really appreciate if you’d get that straight.”

The Postmaster General can only be removed by the Postal Service governing board which has nine voting members. President Biden has appointed three new members of the board but, by law, no more than five can be from the same party. Two existing Democratic members have publicly supported Mr. DeJoy and his “Delivering for America” plan.

Meanwhile, as Newsday in an article in October, headlined “What to know about slow mail, higher prices,” related, “starting” last month what the Postal Service labels “new service standards…are going into effect. That means it will take longer for certain kinds of mail—about 40% of first class and 7% of periodicals” to get delivered. The  piece by Matthew Chayes noted that “as of August 29^th, the cost of a first-class stamp increased “to 59 cents from 55 cents” and posed the question: “What has service been like on Long Island in advance of the change?” The answer: “Slower. Newsday reported in June that nearly every category of mail—first class, packages, periodicals—is taking longer to reach Long Island’s 215 or so zip codes…”

Karl Grossman is a veteran investigative reporter and columnist, the winner of numerous awards for his work and a member of the L.I. Journalism Hall of Fame. He is a professor of journalism at SUNY/College at Old Westbury and the author of six books.