Tag: Louis DeJoy delaying Americans’ mail

Louis DeJoy’s chaotic first year at USPS: A litany of political controversies, mail delays and FBI investigations

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Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has only been in office one year and, since he was appointed to head the U.S. Postal Service last May, he has been at the center of controversy. Now, for his first-year anniversary, his office has released a statement confirming he is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), according to USA Today.

A spokesperson for DeJoy confirmed, “the Justice Department is investigating campaign funds involving his former North Carolina business New Breed Logistics.” The Washington Post also reported that a number of DeJoy’s current and former employees had been interviewed by the Justice Department and asked about company activities and their political contributions.

The announcement comes months after DeJoy incorporated a number of controversial changes that subsequently impacted the Postal Service’s ability to effectively carry out day-to-day operations. Last June, then-Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) penned a letter to the board of governors, the Federal Reserve System’s governing body which is responsible for DeJoy’s appointment, to verbalize his concerns about the postmaster. Continue reading.

What you should know about USPS — and how it descended into crisis

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Postmaster General Louis DeJoy is days away from announcing his plan for the Postal Service to restore timely service and solve more than a decade of financial problems

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy is expected to roll out his plan to reshape the nation’s mail service, making a deeper imprint on a government agency that has weathered a pandemic, a historic election and a crushing holiday season during his brief tenure.

The blueprint is sure to cause further delivery slowdowns — DeJoy said as much during a recent hearing on Capitol Hill — at a time when the U.S. Postal Service already is recording some of its worst performance metrics in generations. Cost-cutting measures the postal chief implemented over the summer have been blamed for much of those declines.

But the agency — and DeJoy’s role — is widely misunderstood. Here’s eight common misconceptions: Continue reading.

As USPS delays persist, bills, paychecks and medications are getting stuck in the mail

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Consumers are inundating lawmakers with stories of late bills — and the late fees they’ve absorbed as a result

Mark Currie of Virginia had three checks snagged in postal delays in three months. In New Jersey, Lois Fitton says she was forced to pay interest on a credit card balance because the bill never arrived. Jim Rice says two insurance companies canceled policies for his property management business in Oklahoma after the payments got lost in the mail.

As the service crisis at the U.S. Postal Service drags into its eighth month, complaints are reaching a fever pitch. Consumers are inundating members of Congress with stories of late bills — and the late fees they’ve absorbed as a result. Small-business owners are waiting weeks, even months, for checks to arrive, creating cash-flow crunches and debates on whether to switch to costlier private shippers. Large-scale mailers, such as banks and utilities, are urging clients to switch to paperless communication, a shift that would further undercut the agency’s biggest revenue stream.

The growing outcry adds another dimension to the agency’s myriad crises: a clogged processing and transportation network, severe staffing shortages and $188.4 billion in liabilities. The prolonged performance declines have eroded the reputation of one of the few government agencies that boast generations of broad public support. Continue reading.

DeJoy’s Postal Service policies delayed 7 percent of nation’s first-class mail, Senate Democrat’s report says

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The postmaster general suspended some cost-cutting maneuvers but not the moves experts say are behind the worst problems

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s controversial midsummer operational directives delayed nearly 350 million pieces, or 7 percent, of the country’s first-class mail in the five weeks they were in effect, according to a new report published Wednesday by the Senate’s top Democrat in charge of postal oversight.

A month after taking charge of the U.S. Postal Service, DeJoy implemented stricter dispatch schedules on transport trucks that forced workers to leave mail behind and prohibited extra mail trips, leading to well-documented bottlenecks. Managers under him also cracked down on overtime, which postal workers commonly rely on to complete routes, though DeJoy has denied having a role in those cutbacks.

The report portrays an agency whose leadership was barely prepared to implement the new policies, did not anticipate the upheaval they might cause and is still trying to find its balance as the November election draws near and millions of people continue to experience longer wait times for their mail and packages. Continue reading.