HOUSTON — Houston-area residents aren't going to be the only ones who experience mail delays with the United States Postal Service, according to Rep. Lizzie Fletcher.
The rest of the country may soon see similar issues.
Fletcher said the plan to modernize USPS's networking system isn't working. She 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."
Fletcher said she has called for an election for more members of the USPS governing board so that these long-range changes that are being implemented can be addressed and perhaps revisited.
The delays at the two Houston-area sorting facilities started when a new sorting machine couldn't be installed in the north Houston facility because it was too big. By the time employees tried to install it, smaller machines and staff members were already reassigned. With no sorting machines or staff, mail piled up.
KHOU 11 was the first to bring this story to light. Since December 2023, we've been sharing stories on how customers have been impacted, including one Houston woman whose wedding dress got stuck in the chaos, and another Houston business owner who almost lost an opportunity with the Grammys because of the backlog.
On Wednesday, we got an email from a woman who said she mailed a package from Utica, Nebraska to be delivered to Camden, Nebraska -- which is 31 miles apart. The package traveled from Virginia to Georgia, and then to Florida to South Carolina before arriving at its correct destination. It took seven weeks for the package to arrive, the woman said. An example of how this is becoming a nationwide issue.
Michael Smith, who owns HBCU Only -- a small business specializing in customized merchandise for historically black colleges and universities, said his customers have been complaining about not getting their packages since November 2023.
Smith said he's had to shell out hundreds of extra dollars to pivot delivery services to save his company's reputation.
"...we can see through Shopify like who’s receiving them and who’s in transit, so I feel a little bit more comfortable now that UPS has taken over," he said.
Smith said he would like to transition back to USPS at some point, but the postal service has got to get things in order.
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.