What is the Postal Board of Governors and what does it do?
The Postal Service has a Board of Governors that is responsible for major decisions about the Postal Service’s operations, policies and expenditures. The Board’s responsibilities also include hiring and firing the Postmaster General.
The Board is usually made up of nine members who are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate.
Why should we care about the Board?
President-Elect Joe Biden can fill four positions on the nine-member board when he comes into office.
Strong nominees to the Board should fight for the Postal Service we all deserve. They should defend and expand postal services, not cut them. They should promote speedier delivery, not mail slow-downs and post office closures.
The Board has real power. Don’t forget, it was a previous Board of Governors that supported plans to eliminate Saturday delivery, close processing centers and privatize our work to Staples. And it was the current Board who hired Postmaster General DeJoy and supported his mail-delaying policies.
A Board with a pro-postal majority can hold the PMG accountable and keep the Postal Service committed to vibrant, public and universal postal service.
How do we get a postal Board that will fight for the people of the country?
Together with many of our allies, the APWU is petitioning the incoming Administration to quickly fill the vacancies on the Board with diverse and community-based members who will be strong advocates for the public Postal Service.
Together, we can send a clear message that postal workers, together with postal customers around the country, urge the Biden Administration support the Postal Service by quickly appointing Governors who will support the People’s Post Office.
source: APWU
Throughout the pandemic, postal workers have courageously and reliably fulfilled their mission to “bind the Nation together.” From vital medicines, to ecommerce and business mail, from distant greetings to holiday gifts, from Census forms to the 65 million mail-in ballots, the Postal Service has proven once again to be an essential service to every person and community across the country.
But those essential services – and hundreds of thousands of good postal jobs – are at risk if we don’t act swiftly.
We urge you to help save our national treasure, the public United States Postal Service. We call on you to quickly fill the four vacancies of the Postal Board of Governors with diverse and community-based members who will build back better the Postal Service, serve our communities and help heal our economy.
To: President-elect Biden, Senate Majority Leader, Senate Minority Leader
From: [Your Name]
We call on you to quickly fill the four vacancies of the Postal Board of Governors with diverse and community-based members who:
– Are fully committed to vibrant, public and universal postal services
– Reject the Postmaster General’s agenda of cutting service and slowing the mail
– Will champion emergency COVID-relief for USPS
– Will support an agenda of expanding the role of the USPS in serving our communities
Filling the vacancies on the postal board is essential to build back better the Postal Service and to serve our communities and to help heal our economy.
Additional information from PostalReporter.com
The Board of Governors of the United States Postal Service is the governing body of the United States Postal Service (USPS). The board oversees the activities of the Postal Service, while the postmaster general actively manages its day-to-day operations.
The board directs “the exercise of the power” of the Postal Service, controls its expenditures and reviews its practices and policies. It consists of 11 members, 6 are requisite to achieve an ordinary quorum. Of the 11 board members, 9 are the presidentially-appointed governors, 1 is the postmaster general, and 1 is the deputy postmaster general. The 9 governors elect the postmaster general, the chairman of the board as well as the USPS inspector general; the governors and the postmaster general elect the deputy postmaster general. No more than five governors may be adherents of the same political party. The board also has the power to remove all of these officers.
The Board of Governors is comparable with the board of directors of most private corporations.
The board has not been fully staffed since 2010.
Currently, the board comprises of 5 Republicans, 2 Democrats. Ron Bloom’s term expired December 8, 2020, John McLeod Barger’s term expires December 8, 2021:
| Name | Title | Political party | Term begin | Term expiration | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Louis DeJoy | Postmaster General | Republican | June 15, 2020 | No term limit | 75th United States postmaster general |
| Robert M. Duncan | Governor, Chairman | Republican | August 2018 | December 8, 2025 | Re-elected as chairman in November 2019 |
| Ron A. Bloom | Governor | Democratic | August 20, 2019 | December 8, 2020 | Chair of Strategy and Innovation Committee |
| Roman Martinez IV | Governor | Republican | August 1, 2019 | December 8, 2024 | Chair of Audit and Finance Committee |
| John McLeod Barger | Governor | Republican | August 1, 2019 | December 8, 2021 | Chair of Compensation and Governance Committee |
| Donald L. Moak | Governor | Democratic | June 18, 2020 | December 8, 2022 | Replacing Alan C. Kessler |
| William D. Zollars | Governor | Republican] | June 18, 2020 | December 8, 2022 | Replacing James H. Bilbray |
You cry baby postal workers are getting what you deserve. Voting for Joe Biden? What a joke!
Reform the postal service! Let it be run with out all the restrictions that are trying to doom it. I live in a rural area and we especially depend on the post office for so much. Please help to bring the postal service back to life!
I received a Chrustamas card in the mail yesterday 01/13/2021 which was postmarked 12/11/2020. DeJoy has to go and Biden needs to appoint a 4 Board of Governers for safekeeping of postal services and timely delivery if mail.
The truth is that the mail has been super slow all year. It would be great if they would fill the board, so that maybe USPS had a chance of
operating like a normal business. Politics being what they are, giving
Dejoy the boot I doubt will fix the losses which is one major problem.
Delivery services are in demand like never before. All of these business
are making record profits. The board has been understaffed for over
1o years.