Louis DeJoy
Louis DeJoy is an American businessman who served as the 75th U.S. postmaster general. He was appointed in May 2020 by the Board of Governors of the United States Postal Service and resigned on March 24, 2025. Before being appointed, he was the founder and CEO of the logistics and freight company New Breed Logistics and was a major Republican Party donor and fundraiser for Donald Trump. DeJoy was the first postmaster general since 1992 without any previous experience in USPS, and the first postmaster general in U.S. history to come directly from the board of a privately owned competitor to the public–private partnership of the USPS entity. His companies still hold active service contracts with the USPS, generating controversy over conflict of interest.
DeJoy was criticized for his cost-reduction policies enacted after assuming office in June 2020, which included eliminating overtime, and banning late or additional trips to deliver mail. The Postal Service also continued responding to long-term declines in first class mail volume with ongoing decommissioning of hundreds of high-speed mail-sorting machines and removal of the lower-volume mail collection boxes from streets. These practices were also criticized as mail delivery became delayed. The changes took place during the COVID-19 pandemic and in the lead-up to the 2020 presidential election, raising fears that the changes would interfere with voters who used mail-in voting to cast their ballots, possibly intentionally. Congressional committees and the USPS inspector general investigated. In August of that year, amid public pressure, DeJoy said that the changes would be suspended until after the election, and in October the USPS agreed to reverse all of them.
In March 2021, DeJoy issued a 10-year plan called "Delivering for America" to stabilize the finances of the Postal Service by slowing first class mail delivery, optimizing transportation networks, cutting post office hours, and raising prices. The plan assumed Congress would relieve the USPS of the requirement to pre-pay retiree health care costs, which with DeJoy's urging it did with the Postal Service Reform Act of 2022.
DeJoy attracted criticism and lawsuits from environmentalists and Democratic politicians when he decided to purchase 90% gasoline-powered delivery vehicles in 2022, which he justified in part by the agency's financial situation. After additional federal funding was provided by the Postal Service Reform Act of 2022 and Inflation Reduction Act, DeJoy revised these plans twice; the final version orders 83% electric vehicles through 2028 and 100% electric thereafter.
Early life
DeJoy was born on June 20, 1957 in Brooklyn, New York City, and grew up in Islip, New York. He is the son of second-generation Italian immigrants to the United States. His father worked in trucking and was assaulted multiple times, prompting his son to seek a safer line of work. DeJoy earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in accounting from Stetson University in DeLand, Florida.Career
After graduating, DeJoy became a certified public accountant licensed to practice in the state of Florida.New Breed Logistics
DeJoy was CEO of High Point, North Carolina-based New Breed Logistics from 1983 to 2014.Dealing with USPS
New Breed was a United States Postal Service contractor for over 25 years, providing shipping logistics support to USPS mail processing facilities; specifically, NBC News reported that the company was contracted to provide a pilot mail transport equipment service center in Greensboro, North Carolina. A 2001 audit by the USPS inspector general found that the USPS had given New Breed Logistics noncompetitive contracts of more than $300 million, starting in 1992. The audit concluded that the noncompetitive contracts cost taxpayers $53 million relative to competitively-bid contracts. The audit highlighted that the awarding of the noncompetitive contracts did not meet USPS requirements and that it potentially increased the USPS's costs and performance risks. Former Postal Service inspector general David Williams said that it was "puzzling" that the finding was not referred for investigation.DeJoy responded that the review found no evidence of a failure to fulfill the terms and conditions of their contract, and the USPS also disputed some of the findings of the audit, saying that the high costs were instead due to the company operating in a high-labor-cost environment. A letter from Paul Vogel, the vice president of operations at the USPS in 2000, said that while they generally agreed with the findings, the noncompetitive contracts might have led to other unconsidered cost savings. A separate letter from other USPS officials to the inspector general on the same date also said that the New Breed contracts helped provide the basis for other noncompetitive contracts and that they were awarded in accordance with USPS guidelines.
In addition, two reports to Congress in 1999 stated that $9 million and $33 million, paid separately to New Breed, could have been "put to better use". The USPS inspector general at the time, Kelly Corcoran, retired in 2003 after a federal investigation into her abuse of authority, waste of public money and promotion of questionable personnel practices; her poor practices and subsequent removal hampered any further investigation.
Acquisition by XPO
The company was acquired by the Connecticut-based freight transporter XPO Logistics for a reported $615 million. Following that acquisition, he served as CEO of XPO's supply chain business in North America until his retirement the next year and was appointed to a strategic role on XPO Logistics' board of directors where he served until 2018.LDJ Global Strategies
When hepostmaster general and CEO, DeJoy was president of LDJ Global Strategies, a Greensboro, North Carolina-based boutique firm with interests in real estate, private equity, consulting, and project management.Republican Party fundraising
DeJoy has served as a major donor and fundraiser for a number of high-profile Republican Party politicians. He helped fund President George W. Bush's 2004 reelection campaign, co-chaired Rudy Giuliani's North Carolina fundraising campaign in 2008, and donated a combined $27,700 to Jeb Bush's 2016 presidential campaign. He donated $1.2 million each to Donald Trump's 2020 campaign, and to the Republican Party since 2016.In April 2017, DeJoy was named one of three deputy finance chairmen of the Republican National Committee, along with Trump's then-lawyer Michael Cohen, as well as venture capitalist and philanthropist Elliott Broidy. In May 2019, DeJoy became local finance chairman for the 2020 Republican National Convention, then planned for Charlotte, North Carolina.
In September 2020, The Washington Post and The New York Times reported that according to former employees at DeJoy's logistics company New Breed, he participated in a straw donor scheme, reimbursing employees for making political donations. Employees, particularly managers, were expected to contribute to fundraisers for Republican candidates and organizations; they were allegedly reimbursed in full through the company's system of bonuses.
Campaign finance records show that employees at New Breed gave substantial sums to Republican candidates and negligible amounts to Democrats. Between 2000 and 2014, when New Breed was sold, 124 employees gave a combined total over $1 million. Many of these people had not donated before they worked at the company and have not done so since leaving.
At an August congressional hearing DeJoy emphatically denied having engaged in such practices. The House Committee on Oversight and Reform opened an investigation into the allegations and the possibility that DeJoy lied to the committee, and called for the Postal Service to suspend him. North Carolina attorney general Josh Stein said that reimbursing someone for a political contribution would be a violation of the law and that "Any allegation that's this serious merits investigation." By the end of 2020, the Wake County, North Carolina district attorney's office had decided that it would not pursue a criminal investigation of New Breed's alleged campaign finance law violations. The office formally announced this decision in April of the following year. In December 2021, the Federal Election Commission voted 4–1 to dismiss two criminal complaints against DeJoy related to the straw donor allegations, citing approximately 20 New Breed employees who denied being pressured to make campaign contributions. CNN reported in June 2021 that the FBI was investigating the matter. That investigation was eventually closed, with no charges being filed as of 2023.
Postmaster general
Selection and conflict of interest controversy
On May 6, 2020, the bipartisan USPS Board of Governors, all selected by Trump and confirmed by the Senate, announced DeJoy's appointment as postmaster general and CEO, despite concerns about conflicts of interest. That day, the National Association of Letter Carriers president Frederic Rolando congratulated him on his appointment but warned of politicization of the USPS, writing: "Keeping politics out of the Postal Service and maintaining its independence is central to its success." In the process to identify a new postmaster general, the USPS Board hired two search firms, neither of which included DeJoy in their final list of candidates. USPS Board chair Mike Duncan, who had also served as chairman of the Republican National Committee and had known DeJoy personally, was involved with DeJoy's recommendation for the role. DeJoy was the first postmaster general in two decades without prior experience in the United States Postal Service. Instead he had three decades of experience in the private delivery sector.While he divested shares in UPS and Amazon before taking on his role, DeJoy drew scrutiny for not divesting from his $30–75 million equity stake in XPO, a subcontractor for USPS. Under his tenure as postmaster general, USPS has increased its business with XPO. Additionally, when DeJoy sold his Amazon shares, he purchased stock options in Amazon that represent between 20 and 100% of his prior holdings. USPS prioritizes Amazon package delivery. A subsequent investigation carried out by the US Postal Service's inspector general found that DeJoy "met all the applicable ethics requirements" related to his investments. As of August 2020, DeJoy and his wife had $30–70 million invested in companies related to the USPS according to a USA Today report.