Opinion | Louis DeJoy: The Postal Service is getting better. Don’t stop us now.

When I arrived in June 2020, the situation at this beloved institution was dire. At the start of the pandemic, accumulated losses were approaching $90 billion, and we were on track to lose another $200 billion by 2030. We survived by suspending payments to our employee retirement fund and deferring investments in and maintenance of facilities, vehicles, and equipment. As a result, the Postal Service workforce was ill-prepared to provide consistent, long-term service to the American public. This was well known in Washington, but there was no plan for dealing with this crisis anywhere, from anyone.

As I took over the Postal Service, I reorganized our team and worked with the Board of Governors to revive and transform this organization into a viable entity for the future. Our 10-year plan, Delivering for America, released in March 2021, included an agenda to improve our efficiency and accuracy, reduce costs, improve service, increase revenue, and create work environments that work for our employees. It identified legislative, regulatory, employment, and investment initiatives to reverse the decline and rebuild the Postal Service.

Three years later, our accomplishments have been significant. We worked with Congress to pass the Postal Service Reform Act, which eliminated unfair financial burdens on the Postal Service resulting from the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006. We used our regulatory authority to make the price adjustments needed to correct more than a decade of flawed pricing. We converted nearly 180,000 non-permanent workers to full-time jobs, stabilizing our workforce and providing our employees with opportunities for long-term careers.

As of September 2023, 98 percent of Americans received their mail and packages within three days. While we have recently struggled to overcome our degraded operating conditions as we opened new facilities and remodeled and repositioned existing ones, we will soon return to a level of performance that can make the nation proud.

Meanwhile, over the past three years, we have saved approximately $2.5 billion annually by reducing approximately 50 million labor hours; this fiscal year alone, we have reduced transportation costs by nearly $1 billion while significantly increasing our revenue and expanding our market share in the parcel delivery industry. We have already invested more than $15 billion to renovate our facilities, acquire new vehicles and equipment, and modernize our technology. These investments provide our employees with the tools they need to perform in today’s business environment, where we must compete for our revenue with formidable commercial enterprises. Along the way, we have rapidly deployed our people, technology, and logistics expertise to package and deliver more than 900 million coronavirus test kits to people across the country in less than two days from ordering, reaffirming our role in the nation’s critical infrastructure.

We have reduced our projected losses over 10 years from more than $160 billion to $65 billion, and we are working hard to eliminate the remaining losses in the coming years. Our progress clearly demonstrates the effectiveness of our plan, and it is imperative that we continue on this path.

Delivering for America is the only comprehensive strategy that can save the Postal Service and allow this indispensable organization to not only survive but thrive. Now that we are on this path, we call on the voices that continue to defend the status quo to recognize that inaction has proven to create a death spiral for the Postal Service. Our initiatives halt this decline, prepare the Postal Service for today’s America, and build an institutional character to face the future. These mutually supportive actions are essential to our operational and financial success. Waiting is not an option. Only by moving forward together can we build a modern Postal Service that will effectively serve the needs of the American people for generations to come.