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Houston mail delays: 2 more congressmen join calls for change with USPS

"I have gotten the runaround from the post office time and time again," U.S. Rep. Randy Weber said. He's the latest member of Congress demanding answers from USPS.

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HOUSTON — Seven weeks after KHOU 11 News first reported on United States Postal Service mail delays in the Houston area, two more members of Congress have joined the bipartisan chorus calling for changes.

Tens of thousands of USPS customers have been impacted by package delays involving everything from life-saving medications to wedding dresses.  Congressmen Randy Weber and Marcus Luttrell held a news conference Friday morning.

"We're here to demand answers from the USPS," Rep. Weber said.

He said he's tried to get answers on behalf of his constituents, including a veteran with disabilities who hasn't been able to get the medication he needs, but with no luck. 

Weber said he's had issues with USPS for years when he tried to deal with postal theft problems in the Galveston area.

"I have gotten the runaround from the post office time and time again," he said. “If I’m getting it as a member of Congress, I can only imagine how constituents are feeling.”

He believes the blame lies with Postmaster General Louis DeJoy.

Rep. Morgan Luttrell joined Weber in the calls for transparency. He emphasized that the issues are not the fault of individual postal employees, but rather the system as a whole.

KHOU 11 News has been trying to get answers from the USPS since first bringing this story to light in mid-December. USPS has responded with the same written statement and repeatedly declined to answer our questions or grant on-camera interview requests.

USPS inspector general acknowledges issues with transparency, staffing

On Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Al Green and U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia finally had their request granted for a sit-down meeting with the USPS office of inspector general. 

She disclosed that they are conducting an audit of the South Houston Local Processing Center in Missouri City. 

According to Green, the OIG expressed concern about allegations that customers couldn't reach USPS personnel for answers and she admitted that there have been transparency issues. The inspector general also acknowledged that staffing issues may have contributed to the backlog, according to Green. 

In a statement, Green and Garcia said the inspector general "was not in a position to provide solutions to delivery delay issues" but has been in Houston investigating the matter. 

The OIG told KHOU 11 News she expects to issue a report sometime in the spring. 

USPS mail delays could soon be a nationwide problem

Earlier this week, U.S. Rep. Lizzie Fletcher spoke on how the issues facing the Houston area could become nationwide as the U.S. Postal Service works to modernize its networking system.

The congresswoman said Postmaster General Louis Dejoy's plan to make the postal service more efficient is being poorly implemented and the issues that the two Houston-area sorting facilities are experiencing are just the beginning of a bigger issue.

"We're (Houston) on the early end of this," Fletcher said. "The north Houston and Missouri City facilities are kind of in the first round of changes so this is a problem for us and could be a problem for Americans across the country if it continues to be implemented in this way."

Problems began at north Houston Distribution Center

On Tuesday, Green spoke with USPS union representatives who backed up what an insider told KHOU 11 News about what triggered the massive delays. The union reps confirmed that it started with a new piece of equipment at the north Houston facility.

That sorting machine was too big, according to the whistleblower, so smaller machines had to be removed to make room for it. 

Meantime, staff members had already been transferred with the expectation of a lighter workload thanks to the new machine. So something that was supposed to help, ended up making things much worse.

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.

Tracking the mail: Our stories on the postal delays  

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