Postmaster General Louis DeJoy resigns

The head of the beleaguered U.S. Postal Service, Louis DeJoy, resigned Monday after nearly five years in the position, leaving as President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency have floated the idea of privatizing mail service.

DeJoy had said last month he planned to step down but hadn’t set a date. He leaves an agency with an uncertain future. Trump has said he is considering putting USPS under the control of the Commerce Department in an attempt to stop losses at the $78 billion-a-year agency, which has operated as an independent entity since 1970. It has struggled at times to balance the books with the decline of first-class mail.

Deputy Postmaster General Doug Tulino will take on the role until the Postal Service Board of Governors names a permanent replacement for DeJoy, who became postmaster general in the summer of 2020 during Trump’s first term. He was a Republican donor who owned a logistics business and was the first person to hold the position in nearly two decades who was not a career postal employee.

DeJoy’s tenure was marked by the COVID-19 pandemic, surges in mail-in election ballots and efforts to stem losses through cost and service cuts.

“I believe strongly that the organization is well positioned and capable of carrying forward and fully implementing the many strategies and initiatives that comprise our transformation and modernization, and I have been working closely with the Deputy Postmaster General to prepare for this transition,” DeJoy said in a statement.