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.