Stuck in transit? USPS dodges questions amid major delays at Houston-area facilities

MISSOURI CITY, Texas (KTRK) -- A day after U.S. Congressman Al Green called for transparency from the United States Postal Service, he said he was told they would be adding more staff to address the backlog.

There will be 23 additional persons and 10 additional plant managers, according to the congressman. He said he has not been given a timeline of when they will start.

ABC13 reached out to the USPS spokesperson for the Houston area to confirm and find out where the employees were coming from, which locations they would be working at, and how long they would be there. The postal service has yet to respond.

At least a dozen people have reached out to ABC13, and at least 90 have called Green's office with issues regarding packages that tracking information shows are stuck at one of the local processing facilities without any movement. In some cases, they have been sitting for weeks.

In a statement sent to ABC13 on Monday, the postal service said they are working to modernize their systems as part of a 10-year plan.

"As with any transition, some unintended and temporary disruptions may occur," the statement said in part. "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."

ABC13 sent numerous questions to the area spokesperson for the postal service to find out what a customer should do if they find themselves in the situation, including:

• Is there a method of shipping (priority, priority express, etc.) that is less likely to get stuck in one of the processing centers? Is there a way to prevent your item going through those centers?
• When your tracking information says it is "moving through the network," is there anything you can do to figure out where it is or when it might be delivered?
• Can someone show up to the processing center and retrieve their package if tracking information shows that it is there?
• Are there other processing or distribution centers in our area that are experiencing fewer issues? Is there a way to ensure that your mail goes there rather than to Missouri City or north Houston?

A spokesperson declined to answer the majority of the questions but responded by saying that customers should not show up at the processing centers to locate their parcels.

"They are designed solely for mail processing operations and have no staff on site to assist customers. We ask that customers refrain from going to these locations and instead utilize our Customer Care Center or contact us online for assistance. They can call 1-800-ASK-USPS (1-800-275-8777) or visit our website at www.usps.com/help for help with any issues or questions."

"Until they come forward and explain to the public what the circumstances are that created this backlog, I don't think that we can say that we have finished our business," Green said. "I hope that they will do this sooner rather than later, and let's just get on with the other things that we have to do, and they can explain it much better than I."

He still plans to tour of the processing centers in the Houston-area alongside fellow members of Congress.

John Haber is the chief strategy officer for Transportation Insight, one of the largest third-party logistics companies in the U.S.

He said there is not much customers can do if they already have a package stuck in one of the processing centers, but said there are options moving forward.

"One of the things we are constantly telling our customers, especially our e-commerce customers, you need to have multiple carriers that you are integrated with," Haber explained. "You need to be able to ship with UPS or FedEx or the post office or regional carriers or local couriers."

He acknowledged that using another provider might cost more.

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