DeJoy Under Fire for Deteriorating USPS Service

In an unprecedented collective effort, a group of high-profile parcel and mailing associations has come together to send a formal letter to Postmaster Louis DeJoy, addressing the deteriorating levels of USPS service and the DeJoy’s plan to fix it. The letter’s main plea? Do not raise prices for USPS services.

Letter to DeJoy Highlighting Deteriorating USPS Service Levels Pleads to Keep Prices at Affordable Levels

Soon after Louis DeJoy became Postmaster General in May of 2020, he promised to help steer the Postal Service back to financial health. Some of DeJoy’s critics argued that, due to his longstanding political affiliations, he would raise prices for USPS services in order to do so. In practice, DeJoy has already imposed temporary price increases to drive revenue growth. However, the letter states that raising prices would do more damage to the Postal Service than have the opposite effect.

The sentiment in the letter is clear: USPS is facing record-breaking backlog, leading to widespread delays. Some packages have taken months to reach their final destination during the past year (if said package, in fact, reached its destination at all). Due to these delays, individuals and small businesses throughout the country have lost confidence in the Postal Service’s promise to provide timely delivery. However, while the letter acknowledges the challenges that USPS currently faces, it argues that raising prices for competitive products would only drive on-the-fence customers away…and, in essence, lose USPS the critical business it needs in order to survive.

The following is an excerpt from the letter:

“The Postal Service’s financial condition did not develop overnight and is not simply due to inadequate revenue – nor can it be remedied simply by raising prices, particularly through an unanticipated increase at a time when customer allegiance has been so severely compromised by poor service. Customers already prepared to walk out the door should not be asked to pay more – now or in the future – for something whose value they concurrently have reason to doubt.”

If you’d like to read the full letter, you can do so on the Parcel Shipper’s Association website.

Who Co-Signed the Letter

The following individuals co-signed the letter to Postmaster General DeJoy on behalf of their organizations:

• Stephen Kearney – Executive Director, Alliance of Nonprofit Mailers
• Mark Pitts – Executive Director, American Forest & Paper Association
• Michael Plunkett – President and Chief Executive Officer, Association for Postal Commerce
• Christopher Oswald – Senior Vice President of Government Relations, Association of National Advertisers
• Maynard Benjamin – President, Envelope Manufacturers Association
• Kate Muth – Executive Director, International Mailers’ Advisory Group
• Todd Haycock – President, Major Mailers Association
• Tonda Rush – General Counsel, National Newspaper Association
• Paul Boyle – Senior Vice President of Public Policy, News Media Alliance
• Donna Hanberry – Executive Director, Saturation Mailers Coalition
• Hamilton Davison – President and Executive Director, American Catalog Mailers Association
• Steve Krejcik- President, Association for Mail Electronic Enhancement
• Rita D. Cohen – Senior Vice President of Legislative and Regulatory Policy, Association of Magazine Media
• Michael Plunkett – President, Delivery Technology Advocacy Council
• George White – President, Greeting Card Association
• Leo Raymond – Managing Director, Mailers Hub
• Robert Galaher – Executive Director, National Association of Presort Mailers
• Arthur B. Sackler – Executive Director, National Postal Policy Council
• Jim Cochrane – Chief Executive Officer, Parcel Shippers Association

Additional Recipients

Note: the co-signers of the letter didn’t just single out Postmaster General DeJoy. They also addressed the letter to the following recipients:

• Ron Bloom – Chairman of the USPS Board of Governors
• Tammy L. Whitcomb – US Postal Service Inspector General
• Gary C. Peters and Rob Portman – Chair and Ranking Member (respectively), US Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
• Carolyn Maloney and James Comer – Chair and Ranking Member (respectively), US House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Reform