Draft:Louis DeJoy

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Todo General research; see what more people think about this guy

Louis DeJoy (20 June 1957–) is some rich man serving as the head of the U.S. postmaster general since 2020, replacing retired Megan Brennan. The extent of his relevant qualifications is "didn't get hit by a USPS truck". If you guessed that the person so thoroughly unqualified and hostile to a position they're supposed to represent, if you guessed that they are a Trump administration appointment, you'd be correct! Indeed, DeJoy is a walking conflict of interest, as he is a top loyal Trump donor and has his companies hold service contracts with the USPS.

His work

Appointed during the convenient year of a major presidential election, DeJoy has one thing in mind: the goals of his policies are apparently to undermine the USPS and public confidence in it (the public usually sees the post office as very favorable compared to many other government institutions) such as reducing overtime, loosening delivery standards to let them deliver later, and removing high-speed mail-sorting machines, under the excuse that it'll make the post office "fiscally solvent". A federal judge back in September said that "the Postal Service’s actions are not the result of any legitimate business concerns". We're sure it's just coincidence that Trump, during election season, happened to try to sow distrust in mail-in voting.^{Do You Believe That?} At least these policies were temporary and would be reversed after the 2020 election.

His policies with the post office are also considered very unpopular, with reports of post office workers resisting or even defying them, such as mechanics delaying orders to remove mail-sorting machines to the point the supervisors gave up, postal workers ignoring supervisors' advice to leave election mail behind, postal workers delivering packages on their own time, and so on. There were interviews with anonymous workers and union members with clear intents to defy DeJoy the moment he stepped into the leadership position.

Unsurprisingly, the guy has came under a ton of fire, especially during his oversight of the mail service during the 2020 presidential election, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic that necessitated vote-by-mail for most people. His actions on trying to gut the postal service have been blamed for increased costs of mails, delays in the service, and more. He was frequently accused of trying to run the postal office as a business rather than a governmental service, threatening the benefits, increasing workloads, and threatening overtime. There have been multiple calls for him to resign. Dejoy denies any of this, stating that he was just trying to save the agency from collapse. Indeed, there is a grain of truth that the agency has struggled with the pandemic, with a statement from the Government Accountability Office, reported in The Chicago Tribune, that $87 billion was lost over the past 14 budget years despite dealing with increased package volumes. This is partially due to the structural changes it went through in the 1970s, particularly when it was changed to be both a business and a public service, without the revenue from tax payers.