◼ POLITICS Bloomberg Businessweek February 8, 2021
35Inaddition, theUSPSfound itselfstewing
incontroversyafteritsRepublican-dominated
BoardofGovernorshiredLouisDeJoy,a major
Trumpfundraiser,inMay 2020 asthenation’s
75thpostmastergeneral.DeJoy’searlyeffortsto
imposeefficiencyontheUSPSinthemidstofthe
pandemicresultedinwidespreadmaildelaysand
ledDemocratstoaccusehimofconspiringtoslow
ballotdeliveryonbehalfoftheWhiteHousebyalso
removingmailboxesandsortingmachines.It didn’t
matterthatthesecondtwoinitiativeshadbeenin
theworksbeforeDeJoy’sarrival.
Whileconcernsabouthisallegiancesdomi-
natedtheheadlines,theBidencampaignoffered
someconcrete,if lessnoticed,proposalstohelp
thePostalService.It calledforemergencyfinan-
cialrelief.It alsoadvocatedmaintainingsix-day-a-
weekmaildeliveryandeliminatinga requirement
thattheagencyprefunditsfutureretireehealth
benefitseveryyear,whicheffectivelydroveit into
insolvencyasoverallmailvolumefell.Prefunding
accountedforabouthalfoftheUSPS’s 2020 losses.
Shortlyaftertakingoffice,Bidenissuedanexec-
utiveordercallingfortheelectrificationofthe
PostalService’smorethan230,000trucks,vans,
andothervehiclesaspartofhisplantoaddresscli-
matechange.Presumably,hisadministrationhasa
plantocoverthecostofreplacingtheagingfleet,
estimatedtobemorethan$5billion.TheUSPS
doesn’thavethatkindofmoney.
Aswithmuchofhisoverallagenda,themajority
ofwhatBidenhopestoachieveonpostalissues
dependsoncongressionalcooperation.Although
DeJoy’sdetractorswouldpreferotherwise,the
presidentcan’thireandfirethepostmastergeneral.
That’s up to the nine members of the Board of
Governors, who are appointed by the president, sub-
ject to Senate confirmation. Four of the current six
appointees are Republicans. Biden has the oppor-
tunity to tilt the board against DeJoy by filling three
vacant positions with governors of his own.
There’s no indication that Biden has DeJoy’s
ouster in mind. When asked about it at a White
House briefing on Jan. 25, spokeswoman Jen Psaki
said, “We all love the mailman and the mailwoman.
I don’t have anything for you on it.” Postal worker
unions aren’t calling for DeJoy to go, either. They’re
waiting for him to release a 10-year plan for the
USPS that he’s been working on. “The jury’s out,”
says Jim Sauber, chief of staff for the National
Association of Letter Carriers and a member of the
Biden transition team on the USPS.
What should be encouraging for Biden is that
there was bipartisan support in the House in the
waning days of the Obama administration for a
postalreformbillthatincludeddoingawaywith
prefunding by integrating retired postal workers into
Medicare, something the USPS has long supported.
The Trump administration opposed getting rid of
prefunding. Democratic and Republican House lead-
ers say they’re hoping to get postal reform mov-
ing again. “We need to help the Postal Service buy
sometimetocreatea newbusinessmodel,”says
RepresentativeGerryConnolly,a Democratfrom
Virginia.(TheUSPSFairnessAct,introducedinboth
housesofCongressinearlyFebruary,wouldtakea
steptowardthatbyeliminatingprefunding.)
Unionleadersalsoseeanopeningforthepassage
ofsimilarlegislationintheSenatenowthatMichigan
DemocratGaryPetersis chairmanoftheHomeland
SecurityCommittee,replacingRepublicanRon
JohnsonofWisconsin,whomtheydescribeasan
obstacletosuchefforts.“Hewasagainstanypostal
reform,”saysPaulHogrogian,presidentofthe
NationalPostalMailHandlersUnion.A spokesman
forJohnsondeclinedtocomment.
UnionswouldalsoliketoseeBidenmakegood
onhispledgeofsupportfora directcashinfusion
enablingtheagencytohiremoreworkersand
reversetheCovid-relateddeclineinservice.Mark
Dimondstein,presidentoftheAmericanPostal
WorkersUnion,lamentsthatalmost20,000USPS
employeesa day,outofa 644,000-personwork-
force,have beeninquarantinebecausethey’d
eithertestedpositiveforCovid-19orbeenexposedto
somebodyinfected.“Thepandemichashada huge
toll,”hesays.“Alotofsickness,fartoomuchdeath.”
Atthesametime,theUSPShasstruggledwith
whatSatishJindel,presidentofShipMatrix,a devel-
operofsoftwarethatenablescustomerstotrack
theirshippingoperations,describesasa record
numberofparcelsduringtheholidayseason,fol-
lowedbya recordnumberofreturns.Helaudsthe
PostalServicefordeliveringalmost95%ontime
duringthelastweekoftheDecemberrush.The
samecan’tbesaidforfirst-classandmarketing
mail,betterknowntomostpeopleasthejunkier
variety.“Servicerightnowis worsethanit’sbeenin
atleast 25 years,”saysMichaelPlunkett,president
oftheAssociationforPostalCommerce,anorgani-
zationrepresentingbanks,insurancecompanies,
andotherlargeusersofthesemailclasses.A USPS
spokesmansaystheagency’sperformancehas
improvedinrecentweeksasit’sbroughtaboard
morefull-timeemployeesandpaidmoreovertime.
However,thepandemichasalsohighlighted
theimportanceoftheUSPS.Itspackagevolume
rose18%in 2020 assequesteredAmericansdid
moreonlineshopping.Inthemidstofthecrisis,
theservice also transported 135 million ballots▼ USPS annual net
income2005 2020$0b-5-1 0-1 5