US Postal Service Plans to Cut 10,000 Jobs: What to Know

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy plans to cut 10,000 jobs and slash billions from the U.S. Postal Service budget, working in coordination with Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, according to a letter sent to Congress on Thursday.

DOGE will assist the USPS in tackling "big problems" at the $78 billion-a-year agency, which has struggled financially in recent years. The agreement also includes the General Services Administration (GSA) to help identify and implement "further efficiencies."

Why It Matters​

The USPS, which employs approximately 640,000 workers, posted a $9.5 billion loss in the fiscal year ending September 2024. This latest effort is part of a broader attempt to curb costs as the agency grapples with calls for privatization and potential restructuring under President Donald Trump's administration.

The planned staff reductions will occur through a voluntary early retirement program, first announced in January, which has now expanded to specify the number of employees expected to leave.

DOGE head Elon Musk, during a virtual appearance at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media, and Telecom Conference: "I think logically we should privatize anything that can reasonably be privatized. I think we should privatize the Post Office and Amtrak, for example...We should privatize everything we possibly can."

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US Postal Service plans to cut 10,000 jobs: What to know

DOGE will assist in tackling "big problems" at the $78 billion-a-year agency, which has struggled financially in recent years.

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[Ghoti Ichthus]

Oh but he did sort mail in the morning at the office. You are talking about the days of the old green relay boxes. Yes the carrier sorted and bagged the mail and it was then delivered to the green relay boxes where the carrier then snatched it for delivery. Also the out going mail was left in the green boxes and was picked up with undeliverable mail and brought to the office where clerks sorted out the out going with the route undeliverable mail. Out going was then set for the trucks to come pick it up and the bagged mail that needed to be reworked, forwarded, cancelled, etc was placed in the case. In some larger cities carriers did not even have a vehicle. They rode public transportation. This is why when I was riding a bus to work for a while I rarely paid fare for the ride because of the tradition any one in a letter carrier uniform rode for free. So yeah you are talking long ways back and there was delivery twice a day. But as things changed in the 1970s and some what ealier in some places it was dropped to once a day only. These days some days some people don't get their mail at all some days if the office is to short handed or filled with very slow new people. We had for a time people out delivering mail till as late as 10 pm. But because of the number of carriers that have been attacked in some areas they don't want them out past 7 pm and so they just cut off delivery and it is brought back. The next morning a susb is sent out to finish what was not delivered the day before. I was not there for the days of the Cushman trikes but I did start out on the Jeeps and all of our delivery vehicles are right side drive. Some collection vehicles are use for delivery at time but that is mostly for walking routes where it does not matter what side you drive on. I have delivered out of a 2 ton but it was all walking swings on my route. After that I ran collections for the rest of the day.

Where I was, the older mail men that were close to retirement and some others that might be hurt, etc. and the clerks did the sorting before everyone came in. It was a huge deal when the mail men had to start sorting. IIRC, that might have been some of the impetus for going to only one delivery a day

That might have been a local thing that the Post Office did, too. Winters in Minnesota were hard on the mail men. They either trudged through snow, or risked a fall on shoveled walks and driveways that might still have some ice. Then, people (or their kids) just shoveled and called it good, or hired a neighborhood kid Pretty much no one wasted money on salt in the residential areas, although a few used sand to provide some traction, especially on steps and right outside the door. Once a neighborhood kid consistently did a really good job, he or she had that neighbor as a customer for a looooooooooooooooooooooooooong time