National Grange meets with Postmaster Dejoy

March 4, 2022 – National Grange President Betsy Huber and Legislative Director Burton Eller met Wednesday with Postmaster General Louis DeJoy in his office to discuss his vision and plan to achieve financial stability and service excellence in the U.S. Postal Service.

General DeJoy expressed his excitement to serve in his position because of his background in logistics and business organization. He told how the USPS still relies on 40-year-old procedure manuals and operates in facilities that are dark and outdated. He sees needed improvements in facilities and operations that he can make to enable the Postal Service to achieve financial stability and operate more efficiently.

The Postal Service Reform Act, expected to pass the Senate by next week, will stabilize and reform the USPS for the future. The Grange supports and has lobbied for several years for passage of postal reform, and this Act contains most of the Grange’s priority concerns, numerous common-sense reforms and cost savings measures. The Grange has long advocated for maintaining six-day delivery and elimination of the requirement to prefund retiree health benefits. It also expands special rates for local newspaper delivery, another Grange priority.

General DeJoy mentioned the recent successful delivery of more than 270 million COVID-19 test kits to American households across all states, with average delivery time of 1.2 days. This was a major, Service-wide mobilization effort with strong interagency collaboration among the Postal Service, White House, Department of Health and Human Services, and Department of Defense.

He also spoke about the new USPS Connect program which promises to offer affordable and faster local, regional, national and Sunday delivery and pickup options. 

General DeJoy’s ten-year plan includes over $40 billion in capital investments over the next ten years to modernize the Postal Service, adapt to customers’ changing needs, and achieve the universal service mission.  The National Grange will continue to communicate with the Postmaster General’s office and monitor the progress of the planned reforms.