The US postmaster general, Louis DeJoy, said on Tuesday he had asked the US Postal Service (USPS) governing board to identify his successor.
In November, DeJoy warned that the post office, which has lost more than $100bn since 2007, must continue to cut costs or will remain on the path to either a “government bailout or the end of this great organization as we know it”.
USPS did not say when DeJoy – who has headed the agency since 2020 – plans to step down. His announcement comes weeks after Donald Trump took office.
USPS is implementing a 10-year restructuring plan announced in 2021 that aims to eliminate $160bn in predicted losses over the next decade. USPS now projects $80bn in losses over the period and plans further cuts to address the shortfall.
He has faced criticism in Congress about processing network consolidation plans.
DeJoy in December defended USPS’s plan to buy a rising number of electric vehicles after Congress gave it $3bn after overseeing the delivery of tens of millions of ballots for last November’s presidential election.
First-class mail volume continues to fall, dropping 3.6% year-over-year to 44.3bn pieces. First-class mail use is down 80% since 1997 and is at its lowest level since 1968.
In September, USPS said it would not hike stamp prices in January for the first time in two years. USPS in July raised the price of a first-class mail stamp to 73 cents from 68 cents and increased overall mailing services product prices by 7.8%.
