'It's not a secret society': Congressman urges USPS to take action amid Houston mail delivery delays

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.

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