Who is Louis DeJoy? US Postmaster General resigns days after asking Musk-led DOGE for assistance with various issues

DeJoy has been heading the agency since 2020. In February, he asked the Postal Service governing board to identify his successor. However, he did not give any indication that he was planning to step down.

“I believe strongly that the organization is well positioned and capable of carrying forward and fully implementing the many strategies and initiatives that comprise our transformation and modernization, and I have been working closely with the Deputy Postmaster General to prepare for this transition,” DeJoy said in a statement.

“Much work remains that is necessary to sustain our positive trajectory,” DeJoy added, according to the New York Post. He noted that Deputy Postmaster General Doug Tulino will head the agency until a permanent successor is named by the postal board. He also said that they have hired a search firm.

Back in February, President Donald Trump said he was considering merging the United States Postal Service (USPS) with the Commerce Department. Democrats protested, saying the move would violate federal law.

This month, Musk said he believes USPS, an agency with 635,000 employees that lost $9.5 billion last year, should be privatised. USPS has notably been exempt from DOGE-directed federal employee reductions.

Who is Louis DeJoy?

Over the last five years, DeJoy has led an effort to restructure USPS, including cutting forecast cumulative losses over a decade from $160 billion to $80. He is known for having used tactics that were similar to the Department of Government Efficiency team, including shrinking the workforce and cancelling or renegotiating contracts.

Congress.gov says of the 75th Postmaster General of the United States, “Prior to joining the Postal Service, he spent more than 35 years growing and managing a successful nationwide logistics company.”

It adds, “As chairman and CEO of New Breed Logistics, DeJoy spent decades in collaboration with the U.S. Postal Service, Boeing, Verizon, Disney, United Technologies and other public and private companies to provide supply chain logistics, program management and transportation support. New Breed Logistics was a contractor to the U.S. Postal Service for more than 25 years, supplying logistics support for multiple processing facilities. The company received Quality Supplier Awards from the Postal Service on four separate occasions. In 2014, New Breed merged with XPO Logistics, with DeJoy serving as CEO of XPO Logistics’ supply chain business in the Americas before his retirement in December 2015. He then joined the company’s board of directors where he served until 2018.”

It adds that DeJoy “committed to creating a long-term, viable operating model for the Postal Service that will ensure the organization can fulfill its public service mission while remaining self-sustaining” as Postmaster General. He is a member of the Board of Trustees at Elon University in North Carolina, and earned his Bachelor of Business Administration from Stetson University.