Delivering for America
In March 2021 Postmaster General Louis DeJoy launched a ten-year plan to remake the Postal Service as a ground-based logistics network, with regional mega-plants, mail moved off airplanes, aggressive pricing, and 106,000 new vehicles. The episode keeps a ledger of real savings against slower First-Class standards and meltdowns in Richmond and Atlanta, then compares USPS with UPS and FedEx, which choose their routes while USPS serves about 169 million addresses.
Who's who
- Louis DeJoy+2 more episodesPostmaster General who launched the Delivering for America plan
- David Steiner+2 more episodes76th Postmaster General, who kept the logistics modernization
- Jon OssoffGeorgia senator who pressed DeJoy over the Atlanta delivery meltdown
- Carol ToméUPS chief executive who announced insourcing of rural last-mile deliveries
Where it happens
- Richmond, Virginia+4 more episodesEarly regional consolidation that caused severe delivery delays
- Atlanta, Georgia+10 more episodes2024 consolidation meltdown that drew Senate hearings
- Spartanburg, South CarolinaPlant where Oshkosh Defense builds the new delivery vehicle
Timeline
- March 23, 2021USPS releases Delivering for America, a ten-year plan to reach break-even
- October 1, 2021First-Class service standards relaxed from 1-3 days to 1-5 days
- 2023Richmond consolidation causes severe delays across central Virginia
- Early 2024Atlanta consolidation melts down; bipartisan pressure intensifies
- 2024USPS moves its air cargo contract from FedEx to UPS
- July 2025David Steiner becomes Postmaster General
Still debated
Analysts dispute whether narrowing losses came from the plan's operational savings or from the 2022 reform law's accounting relief. Defenders call slower standards honest pricing of reality, while critics say the plan ratified drop, and whether break-even's absence means failure remains open.