HOUSTON — Two Texas politicians have sent a letter to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy raising concerns about delays in services by the U.S. Postal Service in southeast Texas. 

What You Need To Know

  • Rep. Michael McCaul, who represents the parts of the Houston and Austin areas, and Sen. John Cornyn said in their letter that they have received reports from numerous constituents about extended delays at the postal service's processing and distribution centers

  • According to the letter, the delays were caused by “attempts to implement new processing technology” at the facilities

  • These delays have plagued the Houston area for almost a month, with the Houston Chronicle writing that the cause of the issue was poor planning around the installation of new technology at the Missouri City processing center

  • The technology upgrades are a part of the postal service’s 10-year plan to modernize their infrastructure, including the package sorting machines at processing centers

Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, who represents the parts of the Houston and Austin areas, and Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said in their letter that they have received reports from numerous constituents about extended delays at the postal service's processing and distribution centers. The two centers they list by name are the North Houston Regional Processing and Distribution Center and the South Houston Local Processing Center in Missouri City. 

According to the letter, the delays were caused by “attempts to implement new processing technology” at the facilities.

“This processing technology was unable to be installed due to poor planning by USPS management and is the foremost cause of the massive delays occurring throughout the region,” the letter reads. 

The technology upgrades are a part of the postal service’s 10-year plan to modernize their infrastructure, including the package sorting machines at processing centers.  

The plan, called Delivering for America, was proposed in order to avoid an estimated $160 billion in projected losses by 2030. In total, the service plans to invest $40 billion in personnel and infrastructure over the 10-year period. 

These delays have plagued the Houston area for almost a month, with the Houston Chronicle writing that the cause of the issue was poor planning around the installation of new technology at the Missouri City processing center.

McCaul and Cornyn said in the letter that there needs to be more transparency when it comes to postal delays. 

“The USPS provides critical services to communities across the nation,” the letter said. “Our constituents depend on USPS to carry out these services in a timely and efficient manner. When this mission cannot be completed, customer service representatives must be available to address the issue, and the agency must be transparent regarding delays or changes in services.”

Another issue McCaul and Cornyn brought up was the changing delivery methods for several apartment complexes in College Station, the home of Texas A&M University. They said that the postal service notified residents that their apartment complexes had been identified as “student housing,” so all mail will be delivered in bulk to a “designated representative of the school,” instead of to each individual apartment. 

“However, these apartment complexes are not owned or associated with Texas A&M University, and the complexes have received individual unit delivery services for decades prior to this notification,” McCaul and Cornyn wrote. 

The Texas politicians concluded the letter by asking several questions to the postmaster general with the hopes of clarifying the issues they brought up and asking what future plans the postal service has to combat these delays.