Carlin's service as Postmaster General was cut short after just over a year when the board of governors fired him on January 6, 1986. He was allowed to remain as an adviser to the board of governors at a reduced salary. John McKean, chairman of the board of governors, explained Carlin's firing by saying, "The governors felt there was a changing environment that required a different marketplace perspective." Carlin's replacement, Albert V. Casey, related in his memoir the explanations McKean and vice-chairman Peter Voss gave him as to why Carlin was being fired. According to Casey, McKean and Voss told him that Carlin had failed to reduce the number of postal employees, that he had been slow to make decisions about purchasing equipment for automation, that he delegated too much authority, and was too subservient to the White House, in addition to running the $251 million deficit for the fiscal year.