David Steiner officially took the helm of the U.S. Postal Service on Tuesday amid calls to pull the plug on his predecessor’s restructuring plan and concerns in some quarters that his previous role at FedEx could motivate outsourcing of parcel delivery.
Steiner inherits an agency with 533,000 employees that deliver 112.5 billion pieces of mail each year. Among the challenges he faces are a righting an organization that persistently bleeds red ink, including a projected $6.9 billion loss for the current fiscal year, and degraded service related to network downsizing.
The mail system’s board of governors voted on July 8 to appoint Steiner, 65, as the 76th postmaster general after announcing in early May that he was the preferred choice, pending background and ethics checks. The Postal Service disclosed the vote result in a document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, but did not issue a news release about the vote or his first day on the job.
Steiner is the highest paid chief executive in the agency’s history, with a salary of $346,780, according to a separate regulatory filing. The board also gave Steiner a relocation bonus worth 50% of his salary. His total first-year compensation, not including other benefits, is more than $520,000.
Predecessor Louis DeJoy was making $336,399 before being forced out of office by the White House in March. His total compensation, including perks and bonuses, was $561,000.
Douglas Tulino, who served as acting postmaster general since DeJoy’s March 24 departure, has returned to his prior role as deputy postmaster general. The board in May raised his salary to $342,280 and granted him a $100,000 retention bonus.
The president of the United States only makes $400,000 per year and the vice president is paid $253,500, but Steiner and Tulino’s salaries are much smaller than they could earn in the private sector for similar roles.
Some postal unions and other groups have expressed concern that Steiner has a conflict of interest because FedEx is a Postal Service vendor and competitor. Their chief concern is that Steiner could support calls for greater outsourcing, or even privatizing the parcel business. House Democrats, for their part, have questioned whether Steiner would fight to maintain the postal operator’s independence as President Donald Trump centralizes more government power in the White House.
Trade associations representing non-profit and advertising mailers, as well as large parcel shippers, have called on Steiner to scrap DeJoy’s 10-year turnaround plan aimed at reducing structural costs and improving delivery service. They argue that financial losses have continued and that service has deteriorated.
Steiner lays out agenda
In a letter to employees on Thursday, Steiner said his priorities include continuing service improvement, operating in a financially self-sustaining manner, and strengthening the Postal Service’s reputation, brand and culture.
“I am convinced that a strength of the Postal Service resides in our structure as a self-financing independent entity of the executive branch, functioning much like a business but with a public service mission. I am confident that we will be able to demonstrate that the Postal Service can operate successfully under this structure in meeting the financial and service performance expectations of the nation, and in so doing justify and preserve our independence far into the future.
“While I certainly bring the perspective of an outsider, I know the Postal Service well enough to see that there is much to build upon in the years ahead. Recent transformation and modernization efforts have brought the Postal Service substantially closer to private sector logistics practices, and pricing and product strategies have improved competitiveness. Fully realizing the potential of this progress will be a priority,” he wrote.
Large mailers also want Steiner to put the brakes on price increases for stamps and parcel service. DeJoy’s “Delivering for America” plan focused on raising revenues, in addition to cutting costs. The average price of various Postal Service products increased 7% on Tuesday. Since 2021, the Postal Service has increased the price of a first-class stamp seven times, but critics say price hikes have driven away customers and resulted in less revenue.
If such escalations continue, the price of a single stamp could be $1.19 by 2030, Keep US Posted — which represents nonprofits, newspapers, greeting card publishers, magazines, catalogs, forestry and recycling interests, and small businesses — said in a letter to Steiner dated July 3.
The U.S. Postal Service has recorded net losses in 18 of the past 20 years because of regulatory handcuffs that limit financial and operational options, and declining mail volumes as customers shift to digital communications. Congress in 2022 relieved the Postal Service from the burden of pre-funding retirement benefits decades in advance.
“The Delivering for America plan has not only disrupted the lives of millions of Americans, many of whom rely on the mail for essential communication, but it has also eroded public trust in the institution by jeopardizing the Postal Service’s ability to fulfill its mandate of universal service. Postage increases and service delays also add to the burdens facing individuals and businesses, especially at a time when many are facing economic challenges and depend on an affordable, reliable Postal Service,” Keep US Posted Executive Director Kevin Yoder wrote to Steiner.
(This story was updated at 4 p.m. ET)
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