Bloomberg Businessweek - USA (2020-09-07)

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ELECTION 2020

4. THE VOTE

DeJoyalsogotinvolvedinpolitics.

Alongwithhiswife,AldonaWos,he’s

givena totalof$2.6milliontoRepublican

politiciansandcauses.Healsohosted

fundraisersforGeorgeW.Bushin 2006

andTrumpin2017.“Icertainlydon’tsee

myselfrunningforpublicoffice,”DeJoy

tolda localbusinessjournalina rare

interviewfouryearsago.“That’sjustnot

mything,althoughI lovepolitics. I love

supportingcandidates.”

This pastime wasn’t without its

rewards.Wos,a physician,servedas

U.S.ambassadortoEstoniaunderBush,

andTrumphasnominatedhertobe

theU.S.ambassadortoCanada.DeJoy

wasselectedfora position first held by

BenjaminFranklin.

Inonesense,DeJoyis a throwbackto

anothereraattheagency.Formuchof

itshistory,thepostmastergeneralwas

pickedbythepresident.Usuallythejob

wenttoa politicaloperativewhothen

handedoutpostaljobstopartyloyal-

ists. Theshining examplewouldbe

FranklinRoosevelt’spostmastergeneral,

JamesFarley,whorantheDemocratic

NationalCommitteewhilesimultane-

ouslyapprovingstampdesigns.

Becauseofmediocremanagementby

patronagehires,thenation’smaildeliv-

eryoperationalmostunraveledinthe

1960s.ThatpromptedPresidentRichard

NixontosignthePostalReorganization

Actof1970,creatingthenewlychris-

tenedUSPS,anindependent agency

whosechiefexecutiveofficerwouldbe

selectedbya bipartisanboardofnine

presidentiallyappointedgovernors.No

morethanfivecouldbelongtothesame

party.Forthenext 50 years,therewould

benopostmastersgeneral with close ties

totheWhiteHouse.

UnderTrump,thatchanged.Thepres-

identappointeda Republican-dominated

boardwillingtonameoneofhistopfund-

raiserstoruntheagency.Themovewas

boundtocreatesuspicion.Whowouldbe

runningtheagency—DeJoy or his friend

intheWhiteHouse?

Thenewpostmastergeneralsounded

excited,inhisownparticularway,onhis

firstdayonthejob,June15.“Asyouwill

soondiscover,I amdirectanddecisive,”

hesaidina videotohisnewemploy-

ees,soundinglike a CEOwho’d just

completeda hostiletakeover.“Idon’t

mince words, and when I see problems,

I worktosolvethem.”Ashe

wouldlatertestifybeforethe

HouseandSenate,heimmersedhim-

selfinpostalissues,becomingfixated

withtryingtofindoperationalefficien-

cies.They’dhavetobesignificantones.

Ashispredecessor,MeganBrennan,told

Congresslastyear,thePostalService’s

financialwoeshadcausedit todefaulton

$48billionofmandatedhealth-carepre-

paymentsforfutureretireessince2012.

DeJoytriedtooperatequietly,as

he’ddoneatNewBreed. Butthat’s

noteasyattheUSPS,whichhasmore

than630,000 employees, many of

themrepresentedbyvariousunions.

InJulyinternalUSPSmemossurfaced

warningofmajordeliverydisruptions

tocome.Oneofthem,describedasa

“mandatorystand-uptalk”meantto

begivenbymanagerstotherankand

file,saidlatedeliveryrunsfromdistri-

butioncenterstobranchofficeswould

nolongerbeallowed.“Oneaspectof

thesechangesthatmaybedifficultfor

employeesisthat—temporarily—you

mayseemailleftbehindormailonthe

workroomfloorsordocks,”it said.In

otherwords,trucksmightnowdepart

withoutallthemail inthebuilding.

Thatcontradictedwhatunionleaders

saywastheUSPS’slongtimepractice.

Another memo, titled “PMG’s

[PostmasterGeneral’s]Expectationand

Plans,”saidovertimewasbeingelimi-

nated.“TheUSPSwillnolongeruse

excessivecosttogetthebasicjobdone.

If theplantsrunlate,theywillkeep the

mailforthenextday,”it said.

DeJoy’scriticspointoutthatovertime

spendingwasupbecauseofhighrates

ofabsenteeism.“Ina pandemic,over-

timeis nota nicethingtohave,”saysU.S.

RepresentativeGerryConnolly,a Virginia

Democrat and member of the House

Committee on Oversight

and GovernmentReform.

“It’sessentialtogettingthe

jobdone.Fortythousand

postalworkershavecome

downwithCovid-19orbeen

quarantined. Forty thou-

sand!Thatmeansthereare

workershortages all around

thecountry.”

Connollyandothercom-

mittee members

sought answers

fromDeJoyabout

the memos and

weretoldina letterfromUSPSGeneral

CounselThomasMarshallthatbecause

neitherhadoriginatedfromthePostal

Service’sheadquarters,they“shouldnot

betreatedasofficialstatementsofPostal

Servicepolicy.”Thestand-uptalkwas

producedbytheleadershipoftheagen-

cy’ssouthernareabetweenFloridaand

Texas,Marshallwrote,whereasthemus-

ingsaboutDeJoy’sexpectationswerepre-

paredbya “midlevelmanager.”Evenso,

DeJoyhadclearlyconveyeda philosophy,

andit wasguidingmanagers.

InRochester,theNALC’sMontgomery

startedgettingcallsfromcustomerswho

wanted toknowthe whereaboutsof

theirlatepackages.Hesayshetoured

thelocalplantandsawmailcartsover-

flowing with parcels. RobStahl, an

electricaltechnicianatthefacilityand

presidentofthelocalAmericanPostal

WorkersUnionchapter,saysthat’sbeen

the casesinceareamanagersimple-

mentedDeJoy’snewplan.“Theycame

downandsaidthatthetrucksleave

ontimenomatterwhat,”Stahlsays.

“Sometimestheyleaveempty.”

Paul Hogrogian,president ofthe

44,000-memberNational PostalMail

HandlersUnion,sayshediscussedthis

problemwithDeJoyinlateJulyandthe

postmaster general wasunworried:

“He’sinsisted,‘Wehavetomakethe

trucksrunontime.We’llgetthemail

totheplatformeventually.Temporarily,

theremaybesomeunintendedconse-

quences, but we’ll get it to work.’ ”

Publicly,thepostmastergeneralsaid

little,whichwasprobablyill-advised.He

was,afterall,someonewho’ddonated

$1.2million to the Trump Victory

fund, which is devoted to reelecting a

○ A USPS DELIVERY BAR CODE SORTER

*0023-453-21-23

RETURN TO SENDER^

FROM LEFT: USPS; ANTHONY BEHAR/SIPA USA/AP PHOTO