The White House and its Department of Government Efficiency are spearheading efforts to shake up the Postal Service, according to details of the meetings obtained by Government Executive, with topics including pricing for mail and general reform proposals.
The meetings were not clearly within the scope of a memorandum of understanding former Postmaster General Louis DeJoy signed with DOGE, which focused on specific cost-cutting measures and real estate planning. Some of the meetings also involved top officials from the Treasury Department, White House attorneys and policy advisors and additional USPS executives. A source familiar with the meetings confirmed DOGE has been active at the Postal Service’s Washington headquarters in recent months.
The meetings began in late March, just days after DeJoy resigned amid pressure from the Trump administration. Acting Postmaster General Doug Tulino met with DOGE the day he was sworn into his new role to discuss ethics, according to details from the meeting. Two DOGE team members—Alex Simonpour and Ethan Shaotran, both of whom have MOUs of their own with USPS—were present, along with other postal executives.
In April, Simonpour and Shaotran met again with Tulino and postal leaders, including Fiona Machado, USPS’ director for pricing and costing strategy support. That was followed by another meeting with postal officials, including the new USPS Chief Financial Officer Luke Grossman, to discuss an exigent price increase.
David Steiner, a long-time CEO of Waste Management and FedEx board member, will take over as postmaster general in July. Mike Plunkett, long-time postal executive turned president of the Association for Postal Commerce, said it was surprising the current leadership team would be discussing such significant shakeups just two weeks before the organization swears in a new CEO. He added it would be difficult to justify an exigent price hike when the agnecy [sic] is already implementing a rate hike next month.
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