Home Care In Missouri City, TX

MISSOURI CITY, Texas - Houstonians are fuming as their mail is stuck at the United States Postal Services Processing Center in Missouri City. Now, Congressman Al Green is jumping in to tackle the USPS delays.

It’s more than just online orders. The United States Postal Service delays at their Missouri City processing center are causing a domino effect. They’re delaying important packages and affecting small businesses.

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"It’s so frustrating because you feel powerless," said Irene Ramirez.

Irene Ramirez has been the caregiver of her disabled veteran father for 15 years. His medication is stuck in the mail backlog, causing concern for his health.

"He takes two medications for the heart condition. He was running low," said Ramirez.

On January 4, Ramirez ordered a refill for her father, but the prescription never arrived.

"It’s been 18 days in total. We don’t know where it’s at. We’ve still not received it. My main concern is that this is the only thing keeping my dad out of the emergency room," said Ramirez.

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Ramirez’s family are not the only ones affected by the USPS mailing issues. Trudy and George Maes sell fragrance oils through their small business in Houston.

"Last week, we had 400 orders that were still showing no movement," said Trudy Maes, a co-owner of Stay Fresh with Peanut.

The delays are impacting their business and causing customers to wonder what the hold-up is.

"But as of last week, that’s when the emails started rolling in. ‘Where’s my package? Why hasn’t it moved? I came here because you referred to your awesome service and this is a huge disappointment," said Maes.

USPS blames the delays on the transitioning distribution centers and a new computer system. They said in part "As with any transition, some unintended and temporary disruptions may occur. We are taking steps to ensure packages are processed as quickly and efficiently as possible and apologize to any customers who may be experiencing issues with delivery of their items."

Now, Congressman Al Green has stepped in to take action on the mailing mayhem. He said 90 people have reached out to his office about the delays.

"I’m concerned about how this can impact an election. So I beg the postal service, let’s make sure that we get this right before we enter into the election season," said Green.

Congressman Al Green said he’s planning to tour the facility along with Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia.

Establish a system such just you have

Leon County resident waits over 30 days for delivery of heart medication shown on hold at postal processing center in Missouri City, TX.

HILLTOP LAKES, Texas (KBTX) -Residents across the Brazos Valley are still feeling the impact of mail delivery delays originating from a postal facility outside Houston. The postal service says the delays are a “temporary disruption” but many say it’s beyond temporary.

Shirley and Jerry Keen, residents of Hilltop Lakes near Normangee, rely on the post office for their medication deliveries every 90 days. A recent order, placed before Christmas to address Shirley’s heart condition, was scheduled for delivery in early January. However, delays stretched from days to weeks, prompting the drug company to intervene and overnight her prescription after more than a month of waiting. The Keens say they’ve lost confidence in the postal service, and hope the Houston area facility causing delays gets these issues solved before someone’s health is compromised.

“All packages are important but here there’s so many people that depend on their medication and if it’s not delivered a lot of them, they won’t even do the tracking and they won’t know they’re out until they take that last pill and then realize it was not delivered and then they have no medication and they will end up in the hospital or an ER,” said Shirley.

Congressman Pete Sessions is one of several federal leaders concerned about the delays and is working to get answers.

“It is important that the post office deliver on time the packages. And I can understand a day or two off, I cannot understand a week or longer. And so this, this was something that is very important that we get corrected,” said Rep. Sessions.

Last week congressmen Randy Webber of Beaumont and Morgan Lutrell who represent parts of Walker and Montgomery Counties held a press conference outside the facility after being denied access. But Rep. Sessions says he and other colleagues plan to go back.

“We will come down and see these operations and see firsthand what needs to be accomplished. So we are aware of this in particular in the Houston area, in Brazos River Valley, and it is, uh, something that I will not tolerate as oversight Chairman,” Sessions added.

Jerry and Shirley say they’ve lost all confidence in the postal service and while they don’t blame employees for the delays, they emphasize the need for accountability.

“People with proper leadership and proper motivation generally do a good job. So, I think there’s some failure in management and I would suggest that if the post office wanted to correct anything, they gotta look at management first,” said Jerry.

“You need to realize down there in that center, you know, how important their service is to the people in these rural areas, particularly when it comes to medications,” Jerry added.

KBTX reached out to the postal service Monday to get an update on changes at the Missouri City facility and was given the same statement from when KBTX and other media outlets first reported on these issues.

“We are aware of concerns from some local Houston customers regarding their mail delivery. We want customers to know that we continue the expansion of our operations in the Houston area because of increased volume and we are adding additional capacity with a new facility to improve service. The Postal Service has dispatched additional resources from the surrounding area and implemented improved processes to address the root causes of sporadic issues to improve the reliability of mail delivery in the Houston area. Customers should also note that multiple severe weather events in Houston and across the nation have impacted many transportation, logistics, and delivery companies, and the Postal Service is no exception. We express our apologies to those who experienced a deviation from our normal dependable service and customers should already see improvements in delivery as we work through these issues.”

District 10 U.S. Representative Michael McCaul is also aware of the concerns and feels the use of technology has been part of the problem.

“We’re fixing this right now. They have made changes. They stopped the technology. They’re adding humans to the system to improve the performance of the mail,” McCaul said.

McCaul also says that holding the USPS accountable is a crucial part of lost or stolen mail and that manpower is the answer.

Rep. Al Green, a Houston-area congressman also spoke out last month about the ongoing shipping delays at a Missouri City USPS facility. During a press conference, he called on the postal service to take action and be transparent with customers experiencing delays.

“When they have a line of credit with the federal government, they ought to be standing before the cameras answering these questions. And we’re going to push them in that direction,” Green said.

“You have to assume that every package is important. Every package may have something that can actually have a circumstance associated with a person’s life,” Green added.

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The United States Postal Service Office of Inspector General is auditing the USPS location in Missouri City mixed up in the recent mail delays in the Houston area.

The South Houston Local Processing Center in Missouri City is one of two facilities dealing with significant backlogs after a new parcel sorter was unable to be constructed inside a North Houston facility.

A spokesperson for the USPS Office of Inspector General said the agency recently conducted a site visit "due to concerns brought to our attention."

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The report is expected to be published in Spring 2024.

Green and U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia met Wednesday with USPS Inspector General Tammy Hull. The USPS Office of Inspector General is an independent oversight agency within USPS. The agency conducts audits, reports and other activities to help maintain the integrity of the postal system.

WHAT IS THE CAUSE?: Problems including ill-conceived planning caused USPS mail delays

“While efforts are being made to deal with the unreasonable mail delay problems, we’ll await the USPS’ comprehensive report on the North and South Houston facilities. This should provide some transparency as well as recommendations to facilitate improved delivery service," Green said in a statement.

The agency recently conducted audits of the North Houston location and three post offices in the region. However, these audits were conducted before the mail delays started.

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Those audits were published in November and January. In the audit on the North Houston facility, which was released in November, the USPS Office of Inspector General found issues in multiple areas, including clearance times and late, canceled and extra trips.

The agency claimed the reason for the issues in that category stemmed from the implementation of the Ground Advantage program.

“N. Houston transportation issues did not just happen after Ground Advantage activation. The facility has been dealing with capacity constraints and significant growth in package volume throughout the pandemic. Space has become one of the major concerns in package processing in this facility,” according to the management response letter dated Nov. 20.

CAPACITY CONCERNS: North Houston postal facility identified capacity as a major concern before delays began, audit says

Houston-area residents are looking for answers about major delivery delays at a United States Postal Service facility in Missouri City.

MISSOURI CITY, Texas (KTRK) -- Houston-area residents are looking for answers about major delivery delays at a United States Postal Service facility in Missouri City.

It has become so much of an issue that Congressman Al Green said his office has had almost 90 people reach out to them saying they haven't received packages, including one woman who is missing her wedding dress.

Green covers the city's 9th district, which includes the Missouri City area.

In a statement to ABC13, USPS said the ongoing issues are the result of the postal service's Delivering for America plan, which aims to modernize the postal system.

As part of that plan, the Missouri City facility becomes a local processing center while the North Houston Processing and Distribution Center becomes regional.

"As with any transition, some unintended and temporary disruptions may occur," USPS said in a statement. "We are taking steps to ensure packages are processed as quickly and efficiently as possible and apologize to any customers who may be experiencing issues with delivery of their items."

Green held a press conference Monday morning to address the issue and provide updates on what's being done to solve this.

He stood next to Irene Ramirez, who is the caretaker for her 89-year-old father, a disabled U.S. Marine veteran.

"We requested a refill of one of those medications on Jan. 4, and it arrived in Houston the next day," Ramirez said. "It has been stuck in the postal system in Houston for the last 18 days."

Brenda Wiedrich said she sat at home sick earlier this month, waiting on medication that was supposed to be delivered to her through USPS. She said her package also sat in the processing center in Missouri City.

"Literally, I called six or seven times and after the third time, I started counting to see how many times the phone rings," Wiedrich said. "It rings 10 times, and then it cuts you off. Nobody ever answered the phone."

George and Trudy Maes own the business Stay Fresh with Peanut, which sells fragrance oils and aroma beads. They typically ship 150 packages a day through USPS but recently had to switch to UPS after learning about the issues at the processing facility in Missouri City.

"Last week, Jan. 16, there were 400 orders that were still pending, that had not moved," Trudy Maes said.

Trudy Maes said it appears that the packages have not left their facility, because the tracking information shows "package acceptance pending." She said the orders were picked up as early as Jan. 3.

She said they have tried to be proactive with their customers by keeping them informed, but they fear that people will not want to order from them in the future because of the delays.

"Our business has slowed down because they can just order from another competitor that is not experiencing these delays with the distribution center," Maes said.

Green urged the Postal Service to be more transparent by meeting with the press and having on-site customer service representatives available to assist the public.

To address the issue, Green said he's drafting a letter to send to the committee that oversees the Postal Service and plans to tour USPS facilities alongside U.S. Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia. The two also plan to meet with the USPS Inspector General.

"The postal service is not a secret society," Green said. "It has to be opened up. There has to be transparency."

In the meantime, Green has said that people can continue to reach out to him for help, in addition to contacting USPS. His office can be reached at 713-383-9234.

For a while, we've received the same response from USPS, but on Wednesday, we finally got a more detailed explanation of what's causing the delay in people's mail.

MISSOURI CITY, Texas — For about two months now, KHOU 11 has been getting dozens of emails about mail being stuck at a Missouri City USPS processing center.

These emails have come from local and state residents, and even a woman living in New Hampshire whose Christmas gifts got caught in the madness.

For a while, we've received the same response from USPS -- "all mail and packages are being processed," but on Wednesday, we got a more detailed explanation of what the USPS said is causing the delay in people's mail.

The postal service said it's undergoing a network modernization plan in an attempt to update its "outmoded" system. The plan includes establishing Regional Processing and Distribution Centers (RPDC) and Local Processing Centers (LPC).

In Houston’s case, an existing processing center on the city’s north side was recently transformed into an RPDC, and an LPC was created in Missouri City.

The transition to this new system is what caused “some unintended and temporary” disruptions, according to the USPS statement.

"This process, as with any such transition, takes time," the statement continued to say. "We are taking steps to ensure packages are processed as quickly and efficiently as possible and apologize to any customers who may be experiencing issues with delivery of their items."

From the statement, it's not made exactly clear how the introduction of an additional USPS facility ultimately slowed down processing. Read the statement in its entirety here.

When we spoke to Congressman Al Green about the changes on Wednesday, he said people are still familiarizing themselves with the use of the technology necessary to move the mail efficiently.

“I want to tour the plant," Green said. "I want to see the facility. I want to get some sense of how this will all work and understand how this south facility will work with the north facility."

USPS said this modernization update is part of the company's 10-year "Delivering for America" plan. USPS said for decades its outmoded network has created significant financial losses, increased deferred maintenance costs, deteriorated workplace conditions for employees and failed to efficiently integrate mail and package processing and delivery.

USPS said the modernization update is necessary and fundamental to its continuation as an organization and a service to its customers.