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For nearly two months, Houston residents have endured shipping delays from United States Postal Service.

Some residents are waiting on important paperwork and bills to pay. Others are anxiously waiting for their medications before they run out. A few have been praying that wedding dresses and birthday gifts arrive in time.

The root of the delays is a backlog of mail and packages at USPS facilities in North Houston and Missouri City. Here's what to know about the postal system delays in the Houston area.
An employee for U.S. Rep. Al Green sorts displays of tracking data was for available for people who had delay or lost packages that wen through the USPS Missouri City processing facility in the U.S. Representative’s Houston office on Monday, Jan. 22, 2024.
An employee for U.S. Rep. Al Green sorts displays of tracking data was for available for people who had delay or lost packages that wen through the USPS Missouri City processing facility in the U.S. Representative’s Houston office on Monday, Jan. 22, 2024.Elizabeth Conley/Staff Photographer
How bad are some of the delays?

The delays are ranging in their severity, with people claiming their packages are delayed by weeks.

Hempstead resident Stacy Griffith provided the Houston Chronicle with nine tracking numbers for packages she shipped or bought since Dec. 29. It took on average more than 18 days for those packages to reach the Hempstead Post Office.

Excluding one package that went from Missouri City to Richmond, Virginia, before coming back to Houston, it took those packages more than 15 days to be delivered once they entered a Houston or Missouri City facility.

The package in USPS' care the longest was the one that should have been easiest to ship. A package delivered Dec. 29 to the Hempstead Post Office arrived at its final destination 27 days later in Hempstead on Jan. 25.

“Our constituents have made their voices heard loud and clear: USPS has failed them," U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia said in a Feb. 1 statement.

BIG DAY DELAY: Postal delays leave Pasadena bride's big day in limbo as she waits for her dress
What's the cause of the delays?

The causes of the delays, according to members of the National Association of Postal Supervisors, include poor planning around the installation of an important piece of equipment and staffing shortages.

Two leaders in the organization — which represents USPS managers, postmasters and supervisors — told U.S. Rep. Al Green and representatives of two other Congresspeople Tuesday what their members in Houston were telling them about the problems.

"This might be somewhat different than what the Postal Service may or may not say but our folks on the ground tell us it was just a combination of events," National Association of Postal Supervisors Executive Vice President Chuck Mulidore said.

MORE ON THE ROOTS: Problems including ill-conceived planning caused USPS mail delays

Mulidore and Green said the combination of events includes the yearly laying off of seasonal workers after the holidays, creating a greater staffing shortage in an industry dealing with staffing problems, cost-cutting measures and the ill-advised planning to install a parcel sorter.

The new parcel sorter was supposed to be installed in the North Houston facility but it didn't fit inside the plant. This was discovered after the old sorters had already been taken out of the facility.

"They were left without a lot of capacity to process parcels there due to whatever caused them to put that machine in there without knowing that it did not fit," Mulidore said.

The North Houston and Missouri City facilities are undergoing major changes as part of the Delivering for America plan, which is a 10-year project designed to modernize the postal service.

USPS has stated that the overarching cause of the delays is the implementation of this plan but has not been specific with the exact reasons.

"This process, as with any such transition, takes time," USPS said in a January statement. "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."
What is the Delivering for American plan?

The Delivering for America plan was announced in March 2021. A major part of the play is the creation of new facility types, including regional processing and distribution centers and local processing centers. RPDCs are the hubs for long-distance travel. LPCs bridge RPDCs and the final delivery steps.

WHAT AGENCIES ARE SAYING: USPS oversight agencies address public outcry over Houston mail delays

There will be 60 RPDCs. The North Houston facility is in the process of becoming the North Houston Regional Processing and Distribution Center. The Missouri City facility has turned into the South Houston Local Precessing Center as part of the changes.

"Their idea is to reduce transportation because the main long haul transportation will be between 60 facilities instead of over 200 and to make the Postal Service more of a package delivery company instead of letter delivery company," said Steve Hutkins, a former NYU professor who runs the website Save the Post Office. "They're imitating the models of UPS, Amazon, FedEx and so on. What you're experiencing there is the transition from the way it used to be to the way it's gonna be."

Mulidore said the time was right for the system to undergo an overhaul. But he also said the speed at which they are attempting to implement it might be causing some of the problems seen in Houston and elsewhere.

"Anytime you make major changes, you're going to have disruption," Mulidore said. "I think that's understood. But these types of disruptions are significant. You've seen a significant decline in service across the country."

WAITING FOR MEDICINE: Houston-area USPS mail delays leave residents anxiously awaiting their medication
What has USPS said about the matter?

USPS has released a few statements about the delays but has not answered any questions in a public setting. Its most recent statement came the week of Jan. 22.

"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 root causes of sporadic issues to improve the reliability of mail delivery in the Houston area," the statement reads.

The Postal Service also blamed severe weather in Houston and across the country. "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.’"
A post office is seen Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023, on North Shepherd Drive in Houston.
A post office is seen Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023, on North Shepherd Drive in Houston.Jon Shapley/Staff photographer
What public pressure are they facing?

U.S. Rep. Al Green has been the most vocal about the delays. The Missouri City facility is located in his district. He and Garcia are hoping to tour the Missouri City facility and see what is going on with their own eyes but they have been unable to set up a time to do so,

Garcia and Green met Jan. 31 with USPS Inspector General Tammy Hull, where Hull revealed that her office is currently conducting an audit into the South Houston Local Processing Center.

The USPS Office of Inspector General is an independent agency of the postal service that focuses on oversight. The office previously investigated in the Houston area last year before the mail delays.

One day prior on Jan. 30, Green along with representatives with Garcia's office and the office of U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul had their meeting with two leaders of the National Association of Postal Supervisors.

"All of these people can see the need for transparency," Garcia said. "I've talked to other colleagues and consistently we're being told that transparency is something that is not at the hallmark of USPS. It's not something that they tend to put emphasis on."

Green has held the only news conference about the delays. He has expressed his hope for the postal service to hold a press conference of their own.

PROCESSING INFO: Rep. Al Green has had 2 meetings about USPS delays this week. Here's what he said he's learned.

Other members of Congress have spoken out about it as well, including U.S. Rep. Troy Nehls. Nehls sent Postmaster General Louis DeJoy a letter dated Jan. 24 demanding answers to the cause of the problems and when to expect a solution.

“The United States Postal Service’s mission is to provide prompt, reliable, and efficient mail services to the American people,” Nehls said in a statement. “We cannot have Veterans and elderly constituents waiting months for prescription medications that keep them in good health. These delays are completely unacceptable.”
U.S. Rep. Al Green speaks during a press conference over the issue of delayed USPS delivery stemming from a Missouri City processing facility on Monday, Jan. 22, 2024 in Houston.
U.S. Rep. Al Green speaks during a press conference over the issue of delayed USPS delivery stemming from a Missouri City processing facility on Monday, Jan. 22, 2024 in Houston.Elizabeth Conley/Staff Photographer
What is USPS doing about it?

USPS has brought in 33 new workers to the Houston area to help deal with the problem. However, the news was announced by Green and not the post office.

Of those new workers, 23 were described as arriving to "help with the backlog" while 10 were noted as plant managers.

The Houston Chronicle reached out to a USPS spokesperson to learn more about the roles these workers will hold, what facilities they will be going to and more. Those answers have not yet been provided.

REINFORCEMENTS: USPS says it's sending more than 30 new workers to Houston area as mail delays grow
Are other shipping services dealing with similar problems right now?

FedEx said Jan. 20 that it was having national delays that week due to weather near its Memphis outpost. However, that was framed as just a short-term issue.

A UPS spokesperson said in a Jan. 21 email the company is not experiencing any problems in Houston.
Is anywhere else in the country experiencing these problems with USPS?

The North Houston facility is in the initial wave of facilities being turned into RPDCs. There does not appear to be any other location in the country experiencing the issues Houston is dealing with at the moment.

"I haven't seen anything as bad as what you guys are experiencing down there," Hutkins said. He added there is only one instance in recent memory that is even comparable to what is going on in Houston.

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

That doesn't mean other areas in the country aren't dealing with mail issues of their own. Many other regions of the country have been complaining about delays in their necks of the woods, including in some cases for much longer than people in Houston.

However, none of them appear to have been because of a parcel sorter that couldn't fit in a facility.

"It may have occurred somewhere that I'm not aware of but I've not heard of other places having that type of issue," Mulidore said.
When will the issues be resolved?

That answer is unknown but it is not believed to be a quick fix. USPS has not addressed any timetable for steps going forward.
U.S. Rep. Al Green points to the tracking for a wedding dress that was originally ordered in October and was never delivered during a press conference over the issue of delayed USPS delivery stemming from a Missouri City processing facility on Monday, Jan. 22, 2024 in Houston.
U.S. Rep. Al Green points to the tracking for a wedding dress that was originally ordered in October and was never delivered during a press conference over the issue of delayed USPS delivery stemming from a Missouri City processing facility on Monday, Jan. 22, 2024 in Houston.Elizabeth Conley/Staff Photographer
Jan 26, 2024
By Peter Warren

Peter Warren is a reporter for the Houston Chronicle. He can be reached at peter.warren@houstonchronicle.com.