When I checked my Cornell admissions decision, I did not frantically tear open an envelope but instead clicked a button on the online admissions portal. In fact, the vast majority of my friends have no idea how much a stamp costs; they don’t need one to press send. The United States Postal Service (USPS) for many merely represents the period before modern technological advancement. Growing up just off of Boston Post Road, the first postal route from Boston to New York City since the 1700s, I am not ignorant of the USPS’s importance, and I find it all the more reason to fight for the currently struggling agency’s success.

The USPS bears vital responsibilities. The service is the middle-man between the government and the people, businesses and their customers, and among Americans themselves. A USPS mail carrier has delivered my absentee ballot for the past three election cycles–a service I take especially seriously as a public policy student. During the 2020 general election, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, the USPS successfully delivered 99.7% of mail-in ballots within five days. The USPS is differentiated from its mail-carrying competition by its Universal Service Obligation (USO), an assurance that the USPS serves every address in the United States and U.S. territories. This obligation is central to the USPS’s culture of accessibility and makes it the largest delivery service in the world, serving 167 million addresses with the same prices. 

The USPS cannot fall short when tasked with such important responsibilities, but mail-in-ballot success in 2020 is not reflective of the service’s everyday performance. The USPS faces an enduring financial crisis that restricts its operations when needed most. The service has lost a staggering $69 billion from 2008 to 2018. The demands of the USO limit the options available to cut costs even as mail volume decreases. This dilemma is persistent as USPS has remained fixed on the Government Accountability Office’s High Risk List since 2009 which reflects the service’s nationwide challenges. In New York City alone, migrants face severe obstacles in receiving work permits, court notices, and other documents which, if not received, can lead to deportation. With a critical election coming up, I worry that the USPS may not keep the same successful record in mail-in-ballot delivery it displayed in 2020. 

Determining the best approach to postal reform is complex, but effective and responsible leadership during this process is vital. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy seeks to tackle these severe financial challenges through his ten-year “Delivering for America” plan, which is currently three years underway. Under the plan, DeJoy hopes to not only avoid the projected $160 billion in losses by 2030, but to also break even while improving service, maintaining competitive pricing and six-day delivery, and expanding to 7-day package delivery, all while increasing employee retention, innovation, and financial stability. 

DeJoy’s plan is ambitious, but it is not succeeding. USPS officials aimed to meet a 92.3% on-time delivery rate for single-piece, first class letters (the most common form of mail) this year, but from April to June, the rate was only 80.5%. The USPS further failed to match the 86.8% 2023 delivery rate over the same period. This failure is a significant disappointment, considering we have not yet reached the busy holiday season. Despite being under the Delivering for American reforms for a full year, the USPS reported a decrease in on-time delivery for all forms of postage in 2023 compared to the October 1 to December 29, 2022 period. Delivery times are not the only measure of the agenda’s disappointments. Despite DeJoy’s goals, the USPS reported a net loss of $6.5 billion from September 2022 through September 2023. 

These failures have not gone unnoticed on Capitol Hill as policymakers ask USPS leadership for answers and solutions. In May, 26 U.S. Senators across both sides of the aisle wrote to DeJoy to pause the implementation of his plan in reaction to the severe service disruptions experienced by their constituents. House Representatives wrote to the Postal Regulatory Commission expressing similar concerns at the higher costs of postal services. In September, Senator Jon Ossoff introduced the Postmaster General Reform Act of 2024, seeking to make the postmaster general position presidentially appointed and with shortened terms to hold USPS leadership accountable.

The USPS — and most importantly the American people it works for —deserve adequate support. As Postmaster General, DeJoy must take responsibility and be receptive to policymakers’ suggestions and the American people in need of proper mail service. He must reflect on whether implementing his Delivering for America plan is worth sacrificing the service’s core premise of reliability, especially ahead of the upcoming election. We should not settle on a doomed path and must ensure USPS leadership pursues a solution that delivers, so that the USPS can do the same.