HOUSTON — The United States Postal Service is bringing in additional personnel to help with the mail delays happening at two Houston-area processing centers, Congressman Al Green said.
KHOU 11 was the first to tell you about the delays and has been reporting on it now for more than a month.
In a statement sent out Tuesday, Congressman Green said USPS has already brought in 23 extra people to help with the backlog as well as 10 additional plant managers. It's unknown if these are recently hired employees or people being brought in from other facilities in Houston.
"It was indicated that they are working tirelessly to resolve mail delivery issues and to modernize mail processing for the Greater Houston area," Green said.
The congressman said he is still requesting a tour of the Missouri City USPS plant to observe how the mail is being processed, including the process for the elections happening in March.
At first, it appeared nearly all of the delays stemmed from the sorting facility in Missouri City, but many people have told KHOU 11 that packages are also getting stuck at a processing center in north Houston.
On Tuesday, we spoke with Jentry Kelley, a business owner who has her own cosmetics brand in Houston. She said she's had problems with delays and packages not getting scanned.
She said all of her problems started right after Christmas when she said she had her biggest day of sales in 12 years.
“We didn’t know there was a problem yet," Kelley said. "We hadn’t heard any of the news stories, so all of those packages, 1,288 to be exact, got on the mail trucks and never made their way to our customer's homes.”
Kelley is one of many business owners in the Houston area who have been having these problems. Nearly 5,000 people have reached out to KHOU 11 to share their stories on their mail being delayed.
USPS blames the "temporary" delays on a modernization of its mail and package processing network. The postal service said it's working to process packages as quickly as possible.
Tracking the mail: Our stories on the postal delays
- Dec. 13, 2023: 'Processed as they are received' | In statement, USPS addresses issues at Houston-area post office
- Dec. 15, 2023: Man's medication stuck at Missouri City USPS sorting facility for a week and counting
- Dec. 16, 2023: New Hampshire woman joins list of people frustrated about packages stuck at Missouri City USPS sorting facility
- Dec. 19, 2023: 'Free my mail!' | Congressman looks into Missouri City postal facility with reported package delays
- Jan. 10, 2024: Congressman Al Green to tour Missouri City USPS facility with hopes of resolving mail delay issues
- Jan. 10, 2024: Here's why the post office says your mail is stuck
- Jan. 18, 2024: Package with $1,000 item stuck at Missouri City USPS processing center, customer says
- Jan. 19, 2024: 'We need to step it up and figure this out' | In one day, hundreds of people contacted KHOU 11 about mail delays
- Jan. 19, 2024: Congressman Al Green receives report from USPS Office of Inspector General on mail delay issues
- Jan. 19, 2024: Bride-to-be still waiting on wedding dress just days before big day
- Jan. 20, 2024: Candle shop owner worried about reputation after customers' orders stuck at USPS processing centers in Houston
- Jan. 21, 2024: 'It's not just Missouri City' | Houston’s mail delays extend to USPS northside facility, customers say
- Jan. 22, 2024: Houston congressman demands answers, calls for transparency from USPS on mail delay issues