VOTE FORWARD et al v. DEJOY et al

Filing 16

MOTION for Preliminary Injunction by AMY BOLAN, AARON CARREL, COLORADO ORGANIZATION FOR LATINA OPPORTUNITY AND REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS, INDERBIR SINGH DATTA, DANTE FLORES-DEMARCHI, PAUL HUNTER, SEBASTIAN IMMONEN, KATHRYN MONTGOMERY, SEAN MORRISON, PADRES & JOVENES UNIDOS, LINDA ROBERSON, MARTHA THOMPSON, VOCES UNIDAS DE LAS MONTANAS, VOTE FORWARD, GARY YOUNG (Attachments: #1 Memorandum in Support, #2 Exhibit Index, #3 Exhibit USPS OIG Report (Aug. 2020), #4 Exhibit USPS, Postal Operations Manual (Excerpts), #5 Exhibit USPS OIG Report (May 2020), #6 Exhibit USPS, Mandatory Stand-Up Talk: All Employees, #7 Exhibit Leaked USPS Powerpoint, #8 Exhibit DeJoy Testimony - House Oversight Hearing (Aug. 24, 2020), #9 Exhibit DeJoy Testimony - Senate Hearing (Aug. 21, 2020), #10 Exhibit Statement of DeJoy - House Oversight Comm. (Aug. 24, 2020), #11 Declaration Professor Justin Grimmer, #12 Exhibit USPS, Congressional Briefing (Aug. 31, 2020), #13 Exhibit Chart of States Where Voters' Mail-In Ballots Are Impacted By Defendants' Delays, #14 Exhibit USPS Letter to Pa. (July 29, 2020), #15 Declaration Eitran D. Hersh, #16 Exhibit House Oversight Hearing on USPS Operations - Transcript (Aug. 24, 2020), #17 Exhibit Senate HSGAC Hearing on USPS Operations - Transcript (Aug. 21, 2020), #18 Declaration Aaron Carrel, #19 Declaration Martha Thompson, #20 Declaration Kathryn Montgomery, #21 Declaration Sebastian Immonen, #22 Declaration Amy Bolan, #23 Declaration Inderbir Singh Datta, #24 Declaration Scott J. Forman of Vote Forward, #25 Declaration Alex Sanchez of Voces Unidas De Las Montanas, #26 Text of Proposed Order)(Duraiswamy, Shankar)

EXHIBIT 14

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Committee Testimony
Aug. 24, 2020
Copyright 2020 (c) Federal Information & News Dispatch, Inc. - All Rights Reserved.

Postal Service Operational Changes
CQ ABSTRACT

SCHEDULED WITNESSES

TESTIMONY

Committee Holding Hearing:
House Oversight and Reform Committee
CQ Abstract:
House Oversight and Reform Committee (Chairwoman Carolyn B. Maloney,
D-N.Y.) hearing on "Protecting the Timely Delivery of Mail, Medicine, and Mail-in
Ballots."
Scheduled Witnesses:
U.S. Postal Service Postmaster General Louis DeJoy Robert M. Duncan, chairman
of the U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors

Testimony:
Robert Duncan, Chairman, United States Postal Service Board of Governors

Committee:

House Oversight and Reform Committee

Subject:

Postal Service Operational Changes

Good morning. Thank you, Chairwoman Maloney, Ranking Member Comer,
and members of the Committee for inviting me to speak today.
My hope is that today's hearing will help policymakers and the American
people better understand some of the challenges facing the United States
Postal Service, and the steps that Postal management is taking to address
these challenges while ensuring the timely delivery of the mail.

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My name is Mike Duncan, and for the past two years I have served as
Chairman of the Board of Governors for the United States Postal Service. It is a
great honor to help oversee this critical and beloved American institution, and
its more than 630,000 dedicated workers.
The Postal Service regularly ranks as one of the most popular and trusted
government institutions in our nation, and for good reason. Every day, postal
workers are performing an essential service, connecting American
communities and serving as a vital economic driver and a part of our nation's
critical infrastructure.
Last fiscal year, the Postal Service delivered 143 billion pieces of mail to 160
million delivery addresses and operated more than 31,000 Post Offices. This
included servicing more than 45 million rural addresses, where we are
frequently the only delivery option.
I am a lifelong resident of rural Appalachia, so I know firsthand how important
the Postal Service is to communities like mine. I view the Postal Service as a
public service and believe strongly that it should remain a public institution.
The importance of the Postal Service has rarely been more evident than during
the COVID-19 pandemic. Every day, I am in awe of the courageous and hardworking women and men in our Postal workforce, who have stepped up in the
face of this national crisis. They are continuing to deliver life-saving
medicines, benefit checks, Census materials, and other important mail and
packages.
But while the work of the Postal Service necessarily continues, we still feel the
impacts of this disease. I think every day of the brave workers who have died
from the coronavirus and others who are suffering from its impacts. The Board
joins Postal management in prioritizing the safety of our workforce, and
ensuring they have access to needed personal protective equipment and other
materials necessary for their own care and wellness.
My service with the Postal Board of Governors began in August 2018, when I
was confirmed by the U.S. Senate along with then-Governor David Williams.
At the time, the Board had been without any Senate-confirmed Governors for
eighteen months. As a result, the Postal Service was operating under the

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management of a Temporary Emergency Committee of the Board of
Governors made up of the Postmaster General and the Deputy Postmaster
General.
My early months at the Board were spent working to get the Board itself back
up and operating, restoring its committee structure, and ensuring there was
the necessary oversight of the United States Postal Service.
The Board was active on several issues important to the Postal Service. Among
other items, the Board studied the Postal Service's Negotiated Service
Agreement process, and introduced a new set of protocols to better balance
the Postal Service's competitiveness with the need to properly finance our
services.
We worked on negotiations with the Universal Postal Union over ongoing
problems with the pricing system for the international exchange of small
packages. The resolution of these negotiations both eliminated an economic
distortion that resulted from the way certain prices were set in the
international arena, and enabled the Postal Service to better support
infrastructure development abroad that builds capacity for advanced
electronic customs data transmission and improvements in postal security.
The Board and Postal management worked to properly implement the STOP
Act, critical legislation that is helping to increase safety for Postal workers and
customers, while addressing our nation's tragic opioid crisis.
The Board was also pleased when the Postal Service was able to make a
significant repayment on our debt to the United States Treasury. At the time,
we viewed this as an important first step in efforts to get the Postal Service
back in the black.
In August 2019, the U.S. Senate confirmed Governor John Barger, Governor
Ramon Martinez and Governor Ron Bloom, restoring a statutory quorum to
the Board for the first time since 2014. As the governing body of the United
States Postal Service, the Board focused on developing a long-term vision for
the institution.

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The Board of Governors recognizes the immense value that the Postal Service
provides to Americans across the country, but at the same time, we recognize
the immense challenges facing this institution.
Over the past twenty years, the Postal Service has faced a confluence of
challenges - including economic, structural, regulatory, political and cultural
forces - that have contributed to a perfect storm of pressure points surrounding
a beloved institution. And while the Postal Service remains immensely
popular, there has been little interest or political will to take the steps
necessary to reform it for the long-term.
Last fall, Postmaster General Megan Brennan notified the Board of her
impending retirement. And in response, the Board immediately recognized
that we would be faced with the most important decision we would make as
Governors - the selection of a new Postmaster General.
The Board accepted this responsibility with great seriousness and a
commitment to find the best person for the job. The Board's Compensation
and Governance Committee - chaired by Governor Barger and including
Governor Martinez --was tasked with leading the search.
The committee selected two highly-respected executive search firms - Chelsea
Partners and Russell Reynolds Associates --to assist with the search and
provided us with access to its leading partners and experts.
Working with the experts at these firms, the committee sought input from key
stakeholders, including their fellow Governors, senior staff at the Postal
Service, and Postal employees. The Board then agreed on a detailed
"Specification" for the Postmaster General position. Our goal was to identify
an aspirational leader, capable of taking the Postal Service to new heights.
From there, the committee and experts commenced a thorough and
comprehensive search process. This work was collaborative, with the
executive search firms and the Board providing names of potential candidates,
and Russell Reynolds then reviewing backgrounds and vetting candidates to
see if they were worthy of consideration. Ultimately, they reviewed more than
212 qualified candidates, and conducted systematic interviews.

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From these efforts:
. 53 people were actively vetted by the search firms and presented to the
committee.
. 14 candidates were then invited to participate in First Round interviews with
all of the Governors.
. 7 candidates were invited by the Board to a more extensive and technical
Second Round interview.
. 4 candidates were identified as finalists - which led to more thorough
background checks and vetting.
. The finalist candidate was unanimously selected to serve as U.S. Postmaster
General, Mr. Louis DeJoy.
Prior to Mr. DeJoy's selection, in April 2020, the Board unanimously agreed to
a mission statement for the United States Postal Service, and we believe that
Mr. DeJoy was the best leader to serve that mission.
That mission was as follows:
. To serve the American people and, through the universal service obligation,
bind our nation together by maintaining and operating our unique, vital and
resilient infrastructure.
. To provide trusted, safe and secure communications and services between
our Government and the American people, businesses and their customers,
and the American people with each other.
. To serve all areas of our nation, making full use of evolving technologies.
To fulfill this mission, under our existing governing statutes, the Postal Service
must remain financially viable. But unfortunately, the Postal Service has
remained on a financial precipice for many years. The Postal Service has
experienced more than a decade of financial losses, and this year again is
closing in on another $11 billion in losses. There must be dramatic changes if
the Postal Service is to succeed.

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Mr. DeJoy was selected to be that transformational leader, who can help
strengthen the Postal Service for the long term. He is the fifth Postmaster
General since 1971 to join the institution from the private sector, and we
believe that private sector experience is an asset in identifying ways to improve
the Postal Service.
Mr. DeJoy spent his career helping to improve and manage sophisticated
logistics chains for Fortune 100 companies. He also brought a detailed
knowledge of Postal operations, having served as a major contractor to the
U.S. Postal Service for more than 25 years. In that role, he supplied logistics
support for multiple Postal Service processing facilities. And he has an
unwavering commitment to the Postal Service's public service mission.
In his just his first 70 days in the job, Postmaster General DeJoy has provided
the Board with regular briefings on his reform initiatives and the Board has
been supportive of these efforts. There are multiple reforms that the Postal
Service needs from Congress and the Postal Regulatory Commission, but
there are also ingrained inefficiencies in Postal operations that are within the
institution's ability to improve, and that is where management has focused.
Throughout this process, the Board's focus has been on ensuring that the
Postal Service operates more effectively and efficiently. Unfortunately, some
have sought to argue that these long-needed reforms are intended to disrupt
the ability of voters to use the mail for voting. Even the Postal Service's
consistent and long-standing recommendations and outreach to local election
officials have been maligned as threats. Nothing could be farther from the
truth.
The Postal Service will be prepared to safely, efficiently and securely help
Americans participate in the democratic process, as we have done in the past.
Postal management is taking all steps necessary to ensure we are ready for the
November elections. The Postal Service has a team of election mail
coordinators that will work within their designated localities to assist state and
local elections officials, and share information about mailing logistics and
services.

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The Postal Service has pro-actively communicated with state and local
officials, educating them about the Postal Service delivery process and
appropriate timelines. We are urging these officials to take Postal logistics into
account in their decision-making, and in their own communications to the
public, and quite simply to be mindful of how the mail works.
In addition, as we have done in the past, the Postal Service is employing a logo
and special tags for election mail that we have encouraged election officials to
utilize. These will help to provide greater visibility for this important mail in
our plants.
The Postal Service is also encouraging election officials to use Intelligent Mail
barcodes for their Election Mail. This barcode improves a mailer's ability to
track individual mail pieces, making it easier to track the delivery and return of
ballots.
It should be clear that the Postal Service is doing everything in its power to
help states and localities be ready for this election season, and to help ensure
that those who decide to use the mail to vote will have their votes counted.
We are very proud of the role we play in the democratic process, and of the
women and men in the United States Postal Service who will handle this
responsibility with the utmost diligence.
Thank you, Chairwoman Maloney, Ranking Member Comer, and Members of
the Committee for the opportunity to submit this testimony. I am happy to
answer any questions that you may have.
Read this original document at:
https://oversight.house.gov/sites/democrats.oversight.house.gov/files/Testimony%
20of%20USPS%20BOG%20Chairman%20Robert%20Duncan_COR%20824-20%20Heari....pdf
Louis DeJoy, Postmaster General, United States Postal Service

Committee:

House Oversight and Reform Committee

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Subject:

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Postal Service Operational Changes

Testimony:

Good Morning Chairwoman Maloney, Ranking Member Comer, and
Members of the Committee. Thank you for calling this hearing to discuss the
important work of the United States Postal Service.
I am proud to represent the more than 630,000 hard-working and dedicated
men and women of the Postal Service, who have proven, now more than ever,
the importance of the Postal Service in the daily lives of all Americans. It is an
incredible honor to serve the public and this organization as Postmaster
General.
INTRODUCTION
I assumed the role of Postmaster General just over 60 days ago with the goal of
preserving and strengthening this great American institution. The Postal
Service was established by Congress to fulfill a public service mission of
providing prompt, reliable, and universal postal services to the American
people, in an efficient and financially self-sustaining fashion. The Postal
Service's ability to fulfill that mission in the coming years is fundamentally at
risk, and changes must be made to ensure our long-term sustainability for the
years and decades ahead. The business model of the Postal Service--as
established by law--requires us to cover our costs through our own efforts, and
I view it as my personal obligation to put the organization in a position to fulfill
that mandate. I am absolutely convinced that with some help from Congress
and our regulator, we can do it, and that there is a bright future ahead for the
Postal Service. But it does require significant effort by the Postal Service to
change.
Since the Governors announced my selection as Postmaster General in May, I
have been fully immersed in understanding and evaluating all aspects of the
postal organization and business model, to understand the Postal Service and
the reasons for our current financial condition. I have been working closely
with postal leaders to learn every core area of our business. We have assessed
previous plans, as well as research and analysis about our products and

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services and the competitive marketplace. We have evaluated our operational
practices and the many ways we deliver value for our customers, as well as the
drivers of our troubling financial condition. We have looked to find the good in
the organization, which we will preserve and strengthen, and we have also
tried to identify the items that are obstacles to our success, and to chart a
course to surmount those obstacles.
I am an optimist by nature. For that reason, I am enthusiastic and energized
about the prospects for the future of the Postal Service and our untapped
promise. I have been extremely impressed by the dedication of the Postal
Service workforce and their commitment to the public service that we provide
the American people, and I am excited about the fantastic competencies of
this organization. I believe that there are tremendous opportunities available
to us if we are willing to grasp those opportunities, and to take the
transformative steps necessary to turn our business around and become
financially healthy, while remaining a vital part of the nation's critical
infrastructure.
Some may ask, why does the Postal Service need to transform? To that
question, I say that while I am optimistic about the future of the Postal Service,
I am also a realist, and am keenly aware of the magnitude of the financial
challenges we face. Our financial position is dire, stemming from substantial
declines in mail volume, a statutorily-imposed business model that is broken,
huge legacy retiree healthcare and pension liabilities, and a management
strategy that has not adequately addressed these issues. As a result, the Postal
Service has experienced over a decade of financial losses, with substantial net
losses every year since 2007. In FY 2019, net losses approached $9 billion
and we are closing in on $11 billion in losses for 2020. Currently, our
liabilities exceed our assets by approximately $135 billion. Without dramatic
change, there is simply no end in sight, and we face an impending liquidity
crisis that threatens our ability to deliver on our mission to the American
public.
At the same time, there is a critical need to make capital investments to ensure
effective and efficient operations, and meet the needs of the American people.
Our financial situation has forced us to defer capital investments over the past

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decade to preserve liquidity, which is not a sustainable strategy for success.
Most vitally, we need to invest in new delivery vehicles so that our letter
carriers can safely serve the American people and we can participate in the
growth of the new economy.
Changing this state of affairs and positioning the Postal Service for long-term
success and sustainability requires fundamental changes. It requires that we
stop simply talking about the ways to address the Postal Service's financial
condition, and instead start actually addressing them. It requires that the
Postal Service not be prevented from taking the steps necessary to transform
our organization to meet the challenges that we face. It requires a recognition
that in order to achieve the mission laid out by our statute --to provide highquality universal postal services in an efficient and self-sustaining fashion--the
Postal Service must continually adapt and adjust our operations to a constantly
changing world. We simply cannot be successful if we are subject to political or
regulatory requirements that force us to remain static in a world that is
incredibly dynamic.
I am not kidding myself, so I fully understand that these steps will not be easy,
which is likely one reason why they have not been taken before. But they are
necessary, and I am committed to doing the hard work. I certainly recognize
that not everyone will agree with the ideas I have concerning how to return the
Postal Service to a financially sustainable path. These solutions are based upon
my 30 years of commercial experience in the logistics business and the
listening, collaboration, and intensive reviews I've conducted with members
of our Postal Service team across the organization. My vision is of a Postal
Service that provides our essential public service in an efficient and effective
manner and that can adapt to the evolving needs of the American public in a
self-sustaining way, which is consistent with our statutory mandate as
established by Congress.
I also want to make certain things clear. One criticism that I have heard is that
some believe that I treat the Postal Service as a private sector business, rather
than a government service. I accepted the job of Postmaster General fully
committed to the role of the Postal Service as an integral part of the United
States Government, providing all Americans with universal and open access to

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our unrivalled processing and delivery network, as reflected in the Mission
Statement that the Board adopted on April 1, 2020. I fully embrace six-day
delivery of mail and packages as one of this organization's greatest strengths. I
also plan to invest in tools and equipment for our letter carriers, and to
enhance the stability of our non-career workforce, to continue to provide the
nation's most trusted service. At the same time, I recognize that in 1970,
Congress created an independent Postal Service designed to operate more like
a business, with substantial autonomy over its operations and the freedom to
make postal decisions outside of the direct political control of Congress or the
President. Congress has therefore recognized that achieving our public service
mission and acting in a business-like manner are not mutually exclusive.
Rather, making decisions based on the exercise of business judgment
regarding the best way to provide service to the American people is
fundamentally necessary if there is any hope for us to fulfill the Postal
Service's statutory mission.
I am also fully committed to preserving and protecting the Postal Service's
proud tradition of serving the American public in a nonpartisan fashion, and I
embrace the concept of public service as a public trust. I intend to uphold the
trust that has been placed in me by the Governors, and in that regard, I have
and will continue to abide fully with all of my ethical obligations, despite
assertions to the contrary. I have worked closely with ethics officials and have
followed their guidance, and will continue to do so. I took this job to give back
to my country and to hopefully do some good by putting the Postal Service
back on a financially sustainable path.
I recognize that our service performance has come into question recently. We
take these concerns seriously and are focused on stabilizing service to ensure
we meet our commitment to the American public. We deliver to 160 million
residences and businesses 6 days per week, and on a normal day the Postal
Service shows up and delivers 99.94 percent of the time. Unprecedented
conditions over the last six months, however, have contributed to service
instability in certain areas of the country that have escalated.
Since March 2020, the Postal Service has experienced mail delivery
challenges due to the COVID-19 global pandemic. The impacts of the

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pandemic have had broad reaching impacts on all aspect our operations, with a
limited supply of commercial air trips to carry our volume, decreased
employee availability as employees deal will health, home and community
impacts, and significant changes in mail and package volumes. However, our
overall ability to service our required deliveries during these difficult times still
remains above 99.88 percent. In addition, improvements we have made in our
transportation network have also revealed the need to realign some of our
other processes, which have temporarily impacted mail and package service
performance. We are acting to address those issues, and have seen immediate
improvements, and we will continue to make necessary corrections. Despite
these shortfalls, the American public's support of our employees has been
overwhelmingly positive and we continue to work diligently with hiring and
reallocating resources to ensure we deliver at expected levels.
Service, like many things, is local. And there are several cities and
communities that have been hard hit by the pandemic. These same cities and
regions are also some of the most complex delivery operations we manage. All
of that, combined with employee availability issues and difficulties in hiring
additional resources, have resulted in more significant delivery service
disruptions than reflected in the national average. The entire organization is
working collectively to restore consistent delivery service. We are mobilizing
all available resources and managing these offices at a national level.
Overcoming difficult times and providing a sense of normalcy for the
American public is just one critical attribute of this organization's resiliency
that has contributed to our legacy for the past 240 years. While our resiliency
has been tested, it has not been broken. You have my commitment, and that of
the entire organization, that we will stabilize operations and restore the
nation's confidence and trust in the Postal Service.
THE PUSH FOR PROGRESS AND FINANCIAL SUSTAINABILITY
The causes of the Postal Service's dire financial condition are well-understood,
and the only way that they can be solved is through significant and
fundamental reforms to our current business model. This requires action from

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Congress, the Postal Regulatory Commission (Commission), and the Postal
Service.
As the Postal Service has said for years, Congress and the Commission have
long delayed much needed legislative and regulatory reforms which would
have helped to address the situation. Congress must enact reform legislation
that addresses our unaffordable retirement payments. Most importantly,
Congress must allow the Postal Service to integrate our retiree health benefits
program with Medicare, which is a common-sense best practice followed by all
businesses who still offer retiree health care. It must also rationalize our
pension funding payments.
Legislative reforms have been discussed and debated for years, but no action
has been taken. I urge Congress to expeditiously enact these reforms. I also
urge Congress to enact legislation that would provide the Postal Service with
financial relief to account for the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on our
financial condition.
The Commission, meanwhile, must expeditiously resolve the 10-year review,
and design a more rational regulatory system for our mail products. The 10year review has been ongoing for nearly 4 years, and it has been nearly 3 years
since the Commission concluded that the current system is not working, yet it
has still not finalized a replacement system. We continue to wait for the
required relief.
Had Congress and the Commission fulfilled their obligations to the American
people concerning the Postal Service, I am certain that much of our cumulative
losses that we have experienced since 2007 could have been avoided, and that
the Postal Service's operational and financial performance would not be in
such jeopardy.
At the same time, the Postal Service has failed to engage a sufficient operating
strategy that adequately mitigated these predicted annual financial losses. We
should not wait for the legislative and regulatory process to save us. The Postal
Service must do our part, by pursuing every strategy within our control to
ensure our success, and in that regard, I know we can do more. If we want to
be viable for the long term, it is absolutely imperative for the Postal Service to

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operate efficiently and effectively, while continuing to provide service that
fulfills our universal service mandate and meets the needs of our customers.
Efficiency and effectiveness are also necessary given the realities of the
marketplace in which we operate. There are competitive alternatives to every
product that we offer, and the way in which the American people use the mail
has evolved. For that reason, high-quality, reasonably-priced service is an
absolute necessity, but it is equally important for us to embrace the reality that
high-quality service and efficient service are not mutually exclusive, but
instead must go hand-in hand if we are going to keep pace with our
competition and be self-sustaining, as our mandate requires.
The Postal Service is a great American institution with tremendous capabilities
and prospects, and I know there is incredible additional value within the Postal
Service that needs to be unlocked. To reach our full potential we need to be
even better at everything we do well now, and we need to recognize our issues
and urgently embrace the changes required to unleash the full range of
possibilities. To transform and remain a self-sustaining, mission-focused
organization that continues to serve the American people, the Postal Service
must have a management structure and an operating strategy that ensure we
operate efficiently and effectively. We must focus on our strengths to
maximize our prospects for long-term success, by improving the products and
services we provide, pursuing new revenue streams, and continuing to operate
more efficiently.
Let me tell you about the two things that I have done so far to pursue these
goals during my 60-plus days in office.
First, I took a fresh look at our operations and considered any necessary
organizational and structural adjustments that would best position the Postal
Service to maximize our core competencies and key strengths. I worked
diligently with Postal Service leadership throughout the country to find good
practices in the organization. I met very smart and dedicated people who were
anxious to engage in improvement, but were locked in an organization that
was too bureaucratic. I worked with them in groups and individually for
hundreds of hours to identify an organizational strategy more equipped to deal

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with our operating model and the future initiatives we are developing together
to ensure the long-term success of the organization. I worked with each
individual in the leadership ranks and assessed their specific talents and
interest, and together we designed an organizational structure with leadership
that is ready to embark upon the very substantial initiatives we have ahead of
us. Twenty-four people were given roles they were excited about with many
getting promotions. This was a liberation of talented people now placed in
roles that will enable the organization to improve service, expand revenue, and
do so in a cost- effective manner--which is the mission assigned to me by the
Governors.
To be more specific, the modified organizational structure aligns functions
based on core business operations and will provide more clarity and focus on
what the Postal Service does best: collect, process, move, and deliver mail and
packages. We needed to provide greater focus on the core aspects of our
business, and the new structure allows that with clearer lines of authority and
accountability. The modified organizational structure will also strengthen the
Postal Service by enabling us to identify new opportunities to generate
revenue, so that we will have additional financial resources to be able to
continue to fulfill our universal service obligation to all of America. We are
confident that the new organizational structure is the right alignment, and it
was a change that needed to be made.
Second, I have ensured that the organization refocuses on the need for
operational discipline. Every operational services organization, public or
private, must solve the problem of designing an efficient operating plan and
then meeting that plan to be successful. The Postal Service is no different. It is
frankly the only path to consistent, affordable service, and is foundational to
our future aspirations and objectives. For that reason, I started with one simple
step: directing that we be more disciplined by ensuring that our trucks should
run on time and on schedule, and that we should eliminate unnecessary extra
trips. Running on time and on schedule is the only way that our network can
work in the manner that is intended, because each step that is used to accept,
process, transport, and deliver a piece of mail or package throughout our
network must work seamlessly to meet our service standards.

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In just a few weeks, we have substantially improved our on-time dispatch
schedule from 89.4 percent to 97.0 percent on time. We have also focused on
decreasing the number of extra trips we operate. We have reduced this costly
expense by over 70 percent in the last four weeks. To put this in perspective,
our trips on time have increased from 35,000 daily trips to more than 39,000
daily trips. Late trips decreased by over 2,900 trips per day and extra trips
decreased by over 1,600 trips per day. While the improvements are dramatic,
this effort did expose a need to realign some of our processing and scheduling
that caused mail to miss the scheduled transportation, and has temporarily
impacted mail and package service performance. Once the need to realign was
identified, we have acted quickly to correct these issues and have seen
immediate improvements, but we acknowledge that more work needs to be
done to ensure we are service responsive. We will continue to bring disciplined
focus to stabilize operations across processing, transportation, and delivery
within our network to fulfill our obligation and commitment to provide
consistent and reliable service that meets the expectations of the American
public.
This effort does not mean leaving mail behind; rather, it means adhering to
our existing operating plan so that we can achieve our mission in a sustainable
fashion. To be clear, the trucks need to leave on time with the mail that is
supposed to be on those trucks based upon our operating plans. As with any
operational initiative, it exposed additional inefficiencies in our processes and
systems that we quickly began to correct. We continue to keep a sharp focus on
how the two changes we have implemented impact our service performance,
and we will take swift action to make adjustments in real-time as needed to
ensure that any service issues that arise are corrected as quickly as possible.
You have my personal commitment, and that of the entire organization, that
we will stabilize operations and restore your confidence and trust in the Postal
Service.
The decision to focus on our transportation discipline was not made in a
vacuum. On the day that I was sworn in as Postmaster General by our Board of
Governors, the Postal Service Inspector General issued a report entitled "U.S.
Postal Service's Processing Network Optimization and Service Impacts." In

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that report, our Inspector General indicated that the Postal Service spent $1.1
billion in mail processing overtime and penalty overtime, $280 million in late
and extra transportation, and $2.9 billion in delivery overtime and penalty
overtime costs in FY 2019. Yet, even after incurring these additional costs, the
Postal Service has not seen material improvement in our service performance
scores. While we did not fully agree with all aspects of OIG's report, we did not
dispute the fundamental conclusion that we need to redouble our efforts to
focus on our plans to improve operational efficiency and to further control
overtime expenditures.
Finally, three other issues have received considerable attention, so I wanted to
clear up misconceptions about them.
Overtime has also been a source of substantial cost, and it is to a certain extent
reflective of inefficiency in our operations. A new OIG report coming out
shortly identifies that between FY2014 and FY2019, the number of Postal
Service employees who received more in overtime pay than they made in base
salary increased from 758 to more than 4,000. Overtime is scheduled and
assigned based on operational requirements, and management has focused on
ensuring that overtime used is necessary based on workload or other factors
and is authorized in accordance with our policies. However, I did not direct the
elimination of overtime, and in fact overtime has not been reduced since I
became the Postmaster General. We were incurring overtime at a rate of
approximately 13 percent prior to my arrival, and in June, July, and August,
overtime is still at approximately 13 percent. In fact, since my first week on
the job, the Postal Service has spent well over $750 million in overtime.
Regarding collection boxes, the Postal Service has over 140,000 blue
collection boxes, and we have reviewed collection box density annually on a
routine basis in accordance with Postal policy. Over the past 10 years, more
than 30,000 collection boxes have been removed from around the country,
averaging about 3,500 boxes per year over the last 3 years. This has been done
because of the low volume of mail that that those boxes were receiving,
meaning it was inefficient to keep them in place. This is a long-standing policy
and process that I did not initiate or direct, but I have paused it until after the
election given recent customer concerns.

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Blue Collection Box Removal Data 2013 - Present
.........Fiscal Year 2013 ...Fiscal Year 2014 ...Fiscal Year 2015 ...Fiscal Year
2016 ...Fiscal Year 2017 ...Fiscal Year 2018 ...Fiscal Year 2019 ...Fiscal Year
2020 to date ...Total Remaining to Date
Count of
Boxes ......164,099 ......159,729 ......156,349 ......154,006 ......152,539 ......146,2
Boxes Removed ......-4,370 .........-3,380 .........-2,343 .........-1,467
=......-6,287 .........-2,275 .........-1,677 .........-1,463
Finally, regarding mail sorting machines, the Postal Service has always
evaluated equipment sets and other operational factors to balance available
resources with changes in volumes. For the evaluation of processing
equipment, we utilize an iterative process in which volume trends by product
type are compared to the fleet of equipment needed to process the mail. Since
2016, overall letter mail volume has dropped by 29 percent and overall flat
mail volume has dropped by 32 percent. Accordingly, letter sorting equipment
during the same period was reduced by 27 percent and flat sorting equipment
was reduced by 25 percent. This includes the removal of over 1000 machines.
While letter and flat machines have been reduced to account for the reduction
in letter and flat volume, we have increased package sorting equipment to
process the increases in package volume.
In April 2020, an evaluation of letter and flat sorting equipment utilization
showed that even with the ongoing reductions in equipment, the letter sorting
machines are only being used for 32 percent of the available machine hours.
The flat sorting machines are only being used for 38 percent of the available
machine hours. Even if letter and flat volumes increase substantially, there is
more than enough capacity on the machines to handle the volume. For
context, we anticipate that Election Mail will account for less than two percent
of all mail volume from mid-September until Election Day. Nonetheless, while
I did not initiate the evaluation or removal of this equipment, I have given the
directive to stop the removal of additional mail processing machines through
the election.
ELECTION MAIL

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As I stated earlier this week, the Postal Service is ready today to handle
whatever volume of election mail it receives this fall. Even with the challenges
of keeping our employees and customers safe and healthy as they operate
amid a pandemic, the American public should know that this is our number
one priority between now and Election Day. All of us in the Postal Service are
justifiably proud of our role in the democratic process, and I intend to keep it
that way.
I recognize that it has become impossible to separate the necessary long-term
reform efforts we will need to undertake from the broader political
environment surrounding the election, and I do not want to pursue any
immediate efforts that might be utilized to tarnish the Postal Service brand,
particularly as it relates to our role in the democratic process.
To reiterate, a false narrative has developed that the two steps we have taken
to improve efficiency--running on time and on schedule and realigning our
organizational structure--are somehow designed to harm the ability of voters
to use the mail to vote. Further, this false narrative has turned matters that
have either been long planned or are part of long-standing processes in place
for years--well before my arrival 67 days ago--such as the routine equipment
reductions and the regular removal of low-volume collection boxes, into
attacks on the election. Even the recommendations that we have been making
for years, like asking election officials to use First-Class Mail when sending
blank ballots to voters or urging voters to return their ballots one week before
the election, have been turned into accusations that we are degrading the
service provided to Election Mail.
While this narrative is fundamentally false and unfair, there is also no doubt
that it is hurting the Postal Service's valued reputation as a source of reliability
and strength for the American people. And, it could serve to undermine public
confidence in the electoral process. Managing the Postal Service in an efficient
and effective manner cannot succeed if everything is politicized; this was a key
insight that led to the creation of an independent Postal Service in the first
place. In such an atmosphere, it becomes impossible for the Postal Service to
do the job that Congress has tasked us to do, and that it is my solemn duty to
uphold.

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Therefore, and as I announced earlier this week, I have decided to pause the
implementation of our future transformative efforts until after the election.
While the Governors and I believe significant reforms are essential, as
discussed above, even longstanding efficiency efforts have become a
distraction from our mission of service to the public as the nation prepares to
hold a presidential election in the midst of a devastating pandemic. Because
those longstanding operational initiatives and other efforts that are under
consideration have been raised as areas of concern, and to avoid even the
appearance of any impact on election mail, I am suspending those
longstanding initiatives until after the election is concluded.
Therefore, retail hours at Post Offices won't be changed, and mail processing
equipment and blue collection boxes won't be removed during this period. No
mail processing facilities will be closed and we have terminated the pilot
program that began in July that expedited carrier departures to their delivery
routes, without plans to extend or expand it. To clear up any confusion,
overtime has, and will continue to be, approved as needed. Finally, effective
October 1, 2020, we will engage standby resources in all areas of our
operations, including transportation, to satisfy any unforeseen demand for the
election.
In addition to the above commitments, I also announced the expansion of our
current leadership taskforce on election mail to enhance our ongoing work and
partnership with state and local election officials in jurisdictions throughout
the country. Leaders of our postal unions and management associations have
committed to joining this taskforce to ensure strong coordination throughout
the Postal Service, with state and local partners, and to make sure any
concerns can be raised and resolved at the highest levels of the organization.
Because of the unprecedented demands of the 2020 election, this taskforce
will help ensure that election officials and voters are well informed and fully
supported by the Postal Service.
These efforts will further enhance our already robust outreach efforts with
state and local election officials. During this outreach, the Postal Service
explains our services and delivery processes, and provides guidance on how

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election officials can design and send their mailings in a manner that is
consistent with postal regulations, that improves mailpiece visibility, and that
ensures timely and efficient processing and delivery.
Our outreach also includes educating election officials and voters to be
mindful of how the mail works, since state election deadlines often do not
consider our delivery standards. This is particularly important given the
anticipated increase in mail-in voting during the COVID-19 pandemic,
especially in those jurisdictions that are less experienced with handling high
volumes of mail-in votes and that are trying to implement new election rules
and requirements.
Our key recommendation is that voters should request their ballot at least 15
days before the election, to ensure that they have enough time to receive the
ballot, complete it, and then mail it back to the elections office. The return
ballot should be placed in the mail at least 7 days prior to the election. Despite
some assertions to the contrary, this is the same message that we have made in
previous years and have been reiterating all year, and has nothing to do with
recent operational initiatives or concerns about delayed mail. To be clear,
these recommendations are designed to help ensure that ballots will be
delivered and counted, and should in no way be misconstrued to imply that we
lack confidence in our ability to deliver those ballots. We can, and will, handle
the volume of Election Mail we receive.
In that regard, we have not changed our delivery standards, our processing,
our rules, or our prices for Election Mail. To the contrary, we have intensified
our efforts to fulfill our role in the electoral process. We will do everything we
can to handle and deliver Election Mail in a manner consistent with the proven
processes and procedures that we have relied on for years.
In sum, the goal of our education efforts is simple: to ensure that voters who
choose to use the mail will have their votes counted. This goal is advanced by
being transparent, and educating voters about how the mail works and what
they can do to ensure that their vote is counted. It is not advanced by
remaining silent and letting voters believe that all they need to consider is
whether they have requested and mailed a ballot in accordance with state law

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deadlines. While we will do whatever we can to deliver ballots even when they
are mailed at the last second, it should also be obvious to fair-minded election
officials that urging voters to mail back their ballot at least a week before the
deadline is a simple and straightforward step to ensure that ballots are
delivered on time and, most importantly, counted under state law. Because
this goal is so important, we intend to continue our efforts, and also to work
with the leaders of our unions and management associations, to help spread
the word that voters who choose to use the mail to vote should request their
ballots early and vote early.
COVID-19 RESPONSE
Just as all of us in the Postal Service are justifiably proud of our role in the
democratic process, we are also proud to do our part as an essential
government service, critical to the nation's infrastructure, during the COVID19 pandemic. I have been struck by the commitment and dedication of postal
employees, who have truly gone above and beyond during this national
emergency.
The Postal Service has been a source of constancy and reliability in every
community. Our more than 630,000 employees are working to make sure our
customers can depend on us. We're on the front lines -- delivering needed
medications, supplies, benefit checks, financial statements and the important
correspondence every family counts on receiving. The public support for the
organization is extremely high because postal employees are so committed to
serving their communities and their customers. We aim to continually earn the
trust and support of the public.
We will continue to take the necessary steps to protect the safety and wellness
of our employees, and to reinforce workplace behaviors to ensure that contact
with our customers reflects the best guidance regarding healthy interactions,
social distancing and risk minimization.
Like the rest of the country, the pandemic has impacted us financially,
including increased costs associated with the measures necessary to protect
our employees and customers, such as the purchase of personal protective
equipment and installation of transparent dividers at retail locations. We have

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also seen a remarkable impact on our mail volume, which has decreased 24
percent. Given these numbers, and as I noted earlier, I also call on Congress to
enact legislation that addresses the impact of the pandemic on our financial
condition.
CONCLUSION
Since I became Postmaster General just over 60 days ago, I made the
deliberate decision to focus my energy on learning the organization so I could
make informed decisions as a leader and CEO from the start. This time was
well spent, but I recognize that in these first two months or so, I have not been
as available to non-postal stakeholders for meetings and discussions. While
my efforts to study and improve the organization will be ongoing throughout
my tenure as Postmaster General, I recognize the importance of now being
more available to Congress and other external stakeholders. I hope my
testimony today demonstrates as much.
I accept the responsibility that the Governors gave me to maintain and
enhance our reputation and role as a trusted face of the federal government in
every community, and I intend to work with postal executives, management
associations, managers, union leadership, and our craft employees to do
everything I can to put us back on a financially stable path. I am confident that
we can chart a path forward that allows the Postal Service to fulfill our vital
public service mission in a sustainable manner. I look forward to the
challenge, and know we are up to it.
In this regard, I want to be transparent with you in saying that it remains
critically important for the Postal Service to reform. It is imperative that the
Postal Service undertake a number of transformative steps in order to create a
financially viable organization, capable of fulfilling our public service mission
to the American people in a self-sustaining fashion over the long term. These
steps will not be easy, but are necessary, and we simply must pursue them.
While we will not implement any changes before the election, we will continue
to move forward with analyzing those changes that are necessary, so that we
are prepared to move forward once the election ends. We need the support of
Congress to achieve these goals, rather than to be hamstrung. I would

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appreciate your support in working together to ensure a bright future for the
Postal Service.
Thank you, Chairwoman Maloney, Ranking Member Comer, and Members of
the Committee, for the opportunity to submit this testimony. I welcome any
questions that you and the committee may have.
Read this original document at:
https://oversight.house.gov/sites/democrats.oversight.house.gov/files/PMG%
20DeJoy%27s%20Testimony%20COR%20hearing%20Aug%2024%20%
20FINAL.pdf

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