The U.S. Postal Service has awarded a $120 million contract to a shipping company that Postmaster General Louis DeJoy used to run and still has financial interest in.1 And this contract is partly paid for by a hike in prices that took effect last Sunday.2 This is deeply unethical, but so far, the USPS Board of Governors has done nothing to stop DeJoy from destroying the mail—and profiting from it on its way down. Demand Progress is pressuring the Board of Governors to rid the USPS of Louis DeJoy and Congress to pass legislation to protect the post office. And we are working to ensure that personnel making the decisions in the federal government are doing so in the interest of the people, not to line their own pockets. The price increase that took place this week is part of DeJoy’s 10-year plan that he unveiled last spring, which includes sharply raising prices while simultaneously slowing mail delivery, making it significantly less competitive and harder to sustain.3 And while the plan calls for ending air transport for first-class mail, it still pays out hundreds of millions of dollars to contractors like XPO Logistics, DeJoy’s former corporation, which he still garners millions of dollars a year from.4 Making the mail more expensive won’t hurt most giant corporations, who are allowed to negotiate their own rates with the USPS.5 It hurts the individual in an urban center who has to pay $8 to mail a rent check certified to a landlord. It hurts the retiree in rural America who can’t afford the shipping costs to receive medication anymore. Demand Progress has mobilized the grassroots to send more than 100,000 messages to get rid of DeJoy and save the post office. Now we need your help to continue the fight, especially with DeJoy’s newly announced plans beginning to take effect. The Biden administration needs to be cleared of anti-government Trump appointees, starting with Louis DeJoy. Will you donate to Demand Progress? Thanks for standing with us. Robert Cruickshank, Sources: 1. The Washington Post, "DeJoy maintains financial ties to former company as USPS awards it new $120 million contract," August 6, 2021 |
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