HOUSTON — A Houston congresswoman shared her concerns Sunday about ongoing postal service issues in North Houston and Missouri City. On Saturday, KHOU 11 told you about a letter from a high-ranking USPS official to members of Congress, detailing why thousands of Houstonians are dealing with mail and package delays.
The letter leaves Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia seeking clarity about the ongoing delays. The North Houston Processing Center, one of the two area centers dealing with mail delays, is in her district.
“The Post Office is beginning to sound like a broken record,” Garcia said.
She said people tell her they are still waiting on Christmas packages. Garcia said she’s heard the excuses before.
The reasons for ongoing delays were outlined in a letter dated February 2 from the U.S. Postal Service’s VP of Government Affairs to U.S. Congress members. The letter claims employee attendance issues, equipment problems, and winter storms impacting the region were to blame.
“This whole issue with employee attendance. You know, that's an easy fix. That's totally under their control, " Garcia said. "Equipment is an easy fix, totally under control. The only one that’s out of control is a freeze that happened in January, but it doesn't excuse everything that happened the rest of the year.”
Garcia and Rep. Al Green visited with the U.S. Office of Inspector General, who she said was on the ground last week auditing one of the facilities. Garcia is expecting the results of that audit in one to two months.
Garcia said they are trying to get a tour of the two facilities, but are being denied.
“We don't really quite understand it. They keep saying it's because of the Hatch Act," Garcia said. "And it's like, we're not gonna go there to politic, it's strictly business, we're worried about people's mail.”
She said if it's necessary—they could look at legislation to take corrective action—or urge President Biden to make some changes.
"People expect their mail to be timely (and) delivered in good condition, particularly when it comes to medicines and merchandise that are critical to them,” Garcia said.
KHOU 11 has reached out to the U.S. Postal Service to clarify which specific region was impacted by the winter storms. We've been reporting on the issues since December and only experienced freezing temperatures for a few days in January.
Are you having issues with the post office? Send an email to mailproblems@khou.com and let us know. You can see our coverage of delays at Houston-area USPS processing centers on KHOU.com/PostalProblems.