When a plan in Washington, D.C. is not working, federal agencies usually create another plan or keep pushing forward. Modifying the plan or starting over is almost never the chosen option, especially when the creator of the plan is also the head of the agency.
The most intransigent current example of this problem in the nation’s capital was exemplified in United States Postmaster General (PMG) Louis DeJoy’s July 8, 2024, op-ed in The Washington Post. Despite ample and growing evidence of significant problems in his 10-year “Delivering for America” (DFA) plan, PMG DeJoy has doubled down again in his comments.
The op-ed states that the plan “is the only comprehensive strategy in existence that can save the Postal Service and empower this indispensable organization not just to survive but thrive. Now that we are on this path, we call on voices who continue to advocate the status quo to recognize that inaction has been proved to create a death spiral for the Postal Service.”
PMG DeJoy not only expresses total commitment to his plan but also dismisses other ideas that may work better and claims his critics do not want anything to change. In other words, no one else is able to fix the USPS except the current postmaster general and no plan will work other than his.
Critics of the plan are not calling for the everything to remain the same at the USPS. They are pointing out what needs to change or be stopped in the DFA plan so that the USPS can become more efficient. And many of them have been trying to get the USPS back on track long before PMG DeJoy took over.