While many waited for holiday mail, Louis DeJoy's old company got a "Christmas" USPS contract

[The Blue Flower]

https://www.citizensforethics.org/reports-investigations/crew-investigations/dejoy-christmas-contract/

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s old company, XPO Logistics, was awarded a temporary “Christmas” contract to help move mail during the holiday season, according to a list of U.S. Postal Service contracts obtained by CREW. The contract raises several longstanding questions about DeJoy’s financial holdings in XPO Logistics and policies he has implemented as postmaster general that have slowed the mail.

In the weeks leading up to Christmas, USPS delivery systems were overwhelmed and substantially backlogged due to the twin obstacles of the coronavirus pandemic and operational changes imposed by DeJoy. A quarterly update to the USPS list of a type of transportation contract known as highway contract routes shows that XPO Logistics received a contract for “Christmas” service to transport mail from November 30, 2020 until June 30, 2022 with a contract rate of $25,784.22. It is not clear how often this rate is paid out to XPO based on the USPS list. According to USPS spokespeople, DeJoy is not involved in contracts or decisions related to XPO Logistics.

When DeJoy entered government, he disclosed having stock in XPO Logistics worth between $30 and $75 million. He also previously served as the CEO of the company’s supply chain business and served on its board. DeJoy’s stake in the company originally drew scrutiny over the summer when CNN reported that USPS ethics officials were not requiring him to divest the stock. He later agreed to divest his interest in the company in a process that may be ongoing.

The date the “Christmas” contract was awarded is unclear, leaving an open question about how much of a stake in XPO Logistics (if any) DeJoy had when the contract was awarded. Since August, DeJoy has sold between $26.5 and $104 million of XPO stock, possibly wiping out the entirety of his interest in the company. However, because the transactions are reported in broad ranges, we do not know exactly how much DeJoy sold in that period. DeJoy was still selling XPO stock in mid-November, just a couple of weeks before XPO was to start delivering on the contract.

Additionally, DeJoy has faced significant criticism for causing or exacerbating delays in mail delivery since he became postmaster general in June 2020. Last year, the USPS inspector general found that the changes DeJoy implemented at the agency significantly delayed mail delivery over the summer. Despite rolling back some of those changes, postal workers reported that problems with delivery persisted and appear to have extended through the fall elections and holiday season, in part due to the coronavirus pandemic. Just this month, the Washington Post reported that DeJoy plans on implementing additional changes at USPS that will further slow down the delivery of first-class mail.

[Walleye]

1. It's obvious what he's doing, has been all along.

He’s just doing it to enhance his outside business and ruin the USPS. Slowing down the mail-in voting was kind of a bonus.

[crickets]

2. But of course. nt

[I_UndergroundPanther]

3. When is Biden

Going to add those new postal board members?

[James48]

4. They have to be formally nominated, and then

Confirmed by the Senate.

If republicans block them, it could take a long, long time.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

5. Why can't we just

Say fuck these traitors and confirm them without their crap.

They did it to us when Obama was president.

Just cut the insurrectionist traitor fuckers out. Turnabout is fair play you fucking rethuglicans.

[dansolo]

6. So the drop-off in mail deliver coincided with this contract

Even with all the problems last year, I hadn't seen significant mail delays until December. So the question is whether XPO Logistics is incapable of handling mail delivery, or are they intentionally slowing down the mail delivery to damage the USPS.

[Captain Zero]

7. Sounds about right. yes

We need an investigation into XPO.

[ProfessorGAC]

8. I Call BS

XPO is not DeJoy's former company. New Breed, his former company, no longer exists.
He ran New Breed, which compared to XPO, was a small business.
XPO wanted to improve their footprint in the southeast, and it was easier to buy a tiny competitor, including their brick & mortar, then build new and have one extra competitor.
When XPO bought the company, the stockholders above a certain value were given a 50:50 cash/XPO stock buyout.
DeJoy was given no position at XPO, was not offered a consulting contract, and was not even held over through the transition. XPO wanted NOTHING to do with him.
"Here's your money, there's the door!"
He is now a stockholder with under 1% of XPO equity, he has no history there, has no influence there.
I'm not defending him. I'm defending XPO.
They didn't need this incompetent, fail up idiot to get that contract, and he doesn't have the friends at XPO to have bothered to help them.
I understand the desire to fire as many arrows at DeJoy as possible. But, this isn't one of them. And it presumes he has far more influence in the world of big business than he really has.
He's nothing in big logistics, and never was anything.