# U.S. Postal Service reform bill passed into law **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [April 7, 2022, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-postal-service-reform-bill-passed-into-law/962460 "2022-04-07T16:08:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2022, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-postal-service-reform-bill-passed-into-law/962460/21 "2022-04-13T15:46:20Z")
I’ve been using Informed Delivery for awhile now, but I do not understand _why_ they introduced it. Does it make money some how? ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2022, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-postal-service-reform-bill-passed-into-law/962460/22 "2022-04-20T17:17:16Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > I wonder. If the Dems could get Ketanji Brown Jackson through the grist mill, why not this the same way? Because the post of SCJ is “sexier.” Most people probably haven’t noticed or care about the effect of DeJoy on their post service ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2022, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-postal-service-reform-bill-passed-into-law/962460/23 "2022-04-20T17:43:25Z")
Our home delivery is VERY erratic. I would estimate that we receive mail no more than 4 days a week - and we often get regular mail on Sundays! Very irregular delivery times as well. Sometimes it is unbelievably quick, others, more than a week. Really a shame, as the reliability of the USPS is something that has been ingrained in me for decades. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2023, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-postal-service-reform-bill-passed-into-law/962460/24 "2023-03-24T01:27:11Z")
Recent TIME article says that Louis DeJoy was instrumental in getting the Republicans to sign on to the postal reform bill, and also that the USPS will be fully electric vehicles by 2026: > [@](#): > > Louis DeJoy thought his workday was done as he arrived home one evening in February 2022. The Postmaster General was locked in a grueling, monthslong battle with Congress over a bill to shake up the Postal Service. But as he settled in, his cell phone rang and, pulling it out, he saw who was calling and could already guess why. It was Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. The second most powerful Democrat in America wanted to know how the whip count was coming. > > As it happened, the count was coming along very nicely. DeJoy may be best known as the Trump-era GOP megadonor the left accused of meddling with mail-in voting to subvert the 2020 election. But by the time Schumer called him on that frigid winter night, DeJoy was on his way to convincing congressional Republicans—120 in the House and 29 in the Senate—to buy into a lengthy Democratic wish list of postal reforms. When President Joe Biden signed the landmark legislation into law two months later, it guaranteed a union-friendly version of six-day mail service and stabilized health coverage for the 650,000 USPS employees. “There’s no way we could have gotten [the] votes without Louis DeJoy,” says Jim Sauber, the chief of staff for the National Association of Letter Carriers at the time. “That’s for sure.” > … > Defying the far right, he delivered more than 500 million COVID-19 test kits to Americans in the winter of 2022. Crossing conservatives last December, he agreed to transition the Postal Service’s entire fleet to electric vehicles by 2026. DeJoy’s capstone collaboration with Democrats was the Postal Service Reform Act, which is arguably the most bipartisan piece of major legislation in the Biden era, drawing 10 more GOP Senate votes than the $1 trillion infrastructure bill. > **[Louis DeJoy's Surprising Second Act](https://time.com/6263424/louis-dejoy-trump-election-postal-reform/)** > > Initially cast as a Trumpian villain, Louis DeJoy is quietly delivering for the Postal Service, and Democrats ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2023, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-postal-service-reform-bill-passed-into-law/962460/25 "2023-03-24T01:51:57Z")
I’m confused. I distinctly remember a few years ago they decided on the new fleet of trucks. The design aesthetic was goofy looking, but that part is irrelevant. What was infuriating was that it was very much internal combustion engines, not electric. Even more infuriating was that this ICE fleet was expected to be in service for decades to come. Did that weird-looking gas-powered revision get scrapped? I thought they already started production a couple years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2023, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-postal-service-reform-bill-passed-into-law/962460/26 "2023-03-24T01:55:11Z")
The Lordstown factory in Ohio was in the process of retooling to build the electric trucks the Postal Service had ordered, until they canceled the order. Yeah, it takes work to make new vehicles, but the work was being done. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2023, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-postal-service-reform-bill-passed-into-law/962460/27 "2023-03-24T02:02:24Z")
This is what I’m remembering: > **[Postal Service stands by plan for internal combustion engines - Roll Call](https://rollcall.com/2022/02/24/postal-service-stands-by-plan-for-internal-combustion-engines/)** > > The Postal Service is planning a new delivery fleet dominated by internal combustion engines despite objections from environmental groups. > The U.S. Postal Service is pressing forward with its plan for a new fleet dominated by internal combustion engines despite objections from environmental groups, the Biden administration and Capitol Hill Democrats pushing it to aggressively embrace electric vehicles. > “DeJoy’s plans for the postal fleet will drag us back decades with a truck model that gets laughable fuel economy. We may as well deliver the mail with hummers,” said Adrian Martinez, senior attorney on Earthjustice’s Right to Zero campaign. “DeJoy’s environmental review is rickety, founded on suspect calculations, and fails to meet the standards of the law. We’re not done fighting this reckless decision.” Apparently that plan is no longer happening? ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2023, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-postal-service-reform-bill-passed-into-law/962460/28 "2023-03-24T04:04:54Z")
So it may be that we were incorrect that DeJoy was a Trump toady, and instead he is an all purpose toady who will follow the orders of whomever is at the top, be it Trump of Biden. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2023, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-postal-service-reform-bill-passed-into-law/962460/29 "2023-03-24T04:18:24Z")
Um, isn’t this what you expect from a cabinet-level position? He’s supposed to work for the President as part of the executive branch. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2023, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-postal-service-reform-bill-passed-into-law/962460/30 "2023-03-24T04:22:07Z")
> [@Omniscient](#): > > Um, isn’t this what you expect from a cabinet-level position? He’s supposed to work for the President as part of the executive branch. ⁢ That would seem to negate the purpose of it being an elected\* position. The president can’t fire him. That said, if the article is correct, it doesn’t sound like he’s a toady at all. It sounds more like he made a dumb mistake that looked like he was helping Trump, and now is trying to make up for it and save his reputation. \*As in, elected by a board, not the general public. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2023, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-postal-service-reform-bill-passed-into-law/962460/31 "2023-03-24T04:25:52Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > That would seem to negate the purpose of it being an elected position. The president can’t fire him. It’s not an elected position, it’s an appointed position. Just like every other cabinet position, with the added layer of the appointed board. It’s still part of the executive branch. I think DeJoy is a hack, but criticizing the PMG for doing what the current President wants is pretty weird, it’s clearly part of the mandate (not all of it of course). The current structure was implemented primarily to curb cronyism, not to make it somehow wholly independent of the executive. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2023, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-postal-service-reform-bill-passed-into-law/962460/32 "2023-03-24T05:04:06Z")
> [@Omniscient](#): > > Um, isn’t this what you expect from a cabinet-level position? He’s supposed to work for the President as part of the executive branch. In general, yes, but Ideally you would want them to push back against something that is unethical or destructive to the agency they are supposed to be running. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2023, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-postal-service-reform-bill-passed-into-law/962460/33 "2023-03-24T05:14:55Z")
> [@Omniscient](#): > > The current structure was implemented primarily to curb cronyism, not to make it somehow wholly independent of the executive. ⁢ No one said anything about “wholly independent.” He was accused of being a toady, someone who does what they’re told no matter what. That isn’t his job. If it were, then the president would be able to fire him. Just because someone works for the executive branch doesn’t mean the president can tell them exactly what to do. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2023, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-postal-service-reform-bill-passed-into-law/962460/34 "2023-03-24T05:15:37Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > In general, yes, but Ideally you would want them to push back against something that is unethical or destructive to the agency they are supposed to be running. There’s no evidence of that in anything shared here. Your statement was not qualified, and implies that him adapting to the preferences of the POTUS is by its definition a sign of low character, ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2023, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-postal-service-reform-bill-passed-into-law/962460/35 "2023-03-24T05:19:43Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Just because someone works for the executive branch doesn’t mean the president can tell them exactly what to do. Up to a point, it does. It’s silly to suggest otherwise. The degree to which Trump has broken our ideas of what is normal is quite sad. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-postal-service-reform-bill-passed-into-law/962460.md?page=1)