Per my USPS PO Clerk, Here's the Scoop on the Houston/Missouri City TX Mail Delays

[ltldpr]

I've seen other posts about Missouri City/Houston scans and processing delays.

I'm experiencing major delays on seeing any movement of my last 3 parcels due to the fact that (YAY ME!) Missouri City is apparently my "new" sorting facility because "we outgrew the North Houston facility" according to my local clerk.

The Missouri City sorting facility was, also according to my trusty clerk, "Opened up without any sorting machines. All of the mail is being sorted by hand." 

That facility has been making the local Houston news fairly regularly for mail, including prescriptions, just sitting there for weeks as well; and the reporters are not getting any type of official response from USPS.

I don't know how to approach this. I cannot simply opt to use a different sorting facility. ALL of my mail will go to that facility and come from that facility - I have no choice. My own mailbox is empty more often than it has mail in it lately. 

Other sellers cannot opt for a different sorting facility either.

I've considered contacting the higher ups at USPS, because it can't hurt.

This guy is the VP of Facilities:  

https://about.usps.com/who/leadership/officers/facilities-vp.htm

This is that guy's boss (he just got there in Sept 2023 and apparently his main focus is electric vehicles, not sorting machines or actually getting mail delivered to where customers paid for it to be delivered. They created the position for him, so make of that what you will):

https://about.usps.com/who/leadership/officers/facilities-fleet-mgmt-sr-vp.htm

Any suggestions on what to do other than email these two guys every single day like a lovelorn wanna-be girlfriend and maybe getting on social media?

Small packages using FedEx or UPS and driving them to a town 20 miles away where they have the actual scanner is not an option. It's just not worth the time, effort and money. Plus, no one is going to pay that much for the small items I sell, even if the drivers were to stop by at a predetermined time (lol) and scan them for me.

This is all on USPS and nothing to do with eBay for once lol. 

Should I pull all my listings rather than accept money for items that might never leave Missouri City, Texas, especially since I'm aware of the glaring issue? The one I mailed last Saturday is still not moving according to non-existent scans.

Others put in traces for lost packages, but I'm betting there are machines used to find them. 

Until speaking with my postal clerk, I thought this was just a little hiccup that we see from time-to-time, but this is very big imo.

[mtgraves7984]

I don't know how to approach this. I cannot simply opt to use a different sorting facility. ALL of my mail will go to that facility and come from that facility - I have no choice. My own mailbox is empty more often than it has mail in it lately. 

@ltldpr 

Well, not the optimal advice... but you could put your items on Time Away until things get better. Good luck.

[ltldpr]

Adding this to my post:

70+ people have contacted congressional reps, but even they just get a canned written statement from USPS.

https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/local/2024/01/19/474987/houston-mail-delays-missour...

A google search showed that a bride-to-be has her wedding dress stuck there too. Prescriptions, bills, payments, eBay items. 

I'll be contacting my congress people as well.

[ltldpr]

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@mtgraves7984 wrote:

I don't know how to approach this. I cannot simply opt to use a different sorting facility. ALL of my mail will go to that facility and come from that facility - I have no choice. My own mailbox is empty more often than it has mail in it lately. 

@ltldpr 

Well, not the optimal advice... but you could put your items on Time Away until things get better. Good luck.

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I was thinking that as well and thank you. I hate it though.

[stainlessenginecovers]

They opened a 'new' sorting place to help 'alleviate' the burden on 'just the one'. 

Emailing, Social Media, News Reports will do the following:

Absolutely NOTHING. 

It IS what it IS until they get the sorting machines. 

You can either stop selling/listing until it's resolved, or you start using Fedex, UPS instead- until then. 

[spark-chaser1]

I can only shake my head at some of the things that are happening here.

I receive a lot of items from sellers in Ukraine, and Ukrposhta does an outstanding and efficient job of moving items out of semi- occupied areas under combat conditions, through areas being shelled, mortared and rocketed, into and thru Kyiv and to the US in record time, but the bulk of time it takes to arrive to me is while it is inside of the US. 

Don’t get me wrong… I still think the USPS in and of itself achieves the impossible  and use them on a daily basis, and that I always have positive experiences dealing with PS  personnel… it is the fact that they have to try to do the job while being repeatedly and unnecessarily hamstrung by procedures drummed up to  fix things that weren’t  broke. 

Unlike Ukraine, the US is under peacetime conditions. It should be more realistic to expect what’s happening here to be happening in eastern Europe, not the other way around.

[ltldpr]

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@stainlessenginecovers wrote:

You can either stop selling/listing until it's resolved, or you start using Fedex, UPS instead- until then. 

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Are you going to research addresses to make sure that any Texas based buyer is NOT located anywhere near Houston? 

I'm not the only one affected by this.

Anyone with a buyer whose item has to go through that facility is very likely to have delays for possibly weeks. 

Do you know what cities are being forced to use that facility so you can cancel the purchases or tell them it might take weeks to arrive, if it ever arrives?

[ltldpr]

"Unlike Ukraine, the US is under peacetime conditions. It should be more realistic to expect what’s happening here to be happening in eastern Europe, not the other way around."

I absolutely agree. I also agree with the amount of bleep the postal workers have to put up with because the fat cats up top do things like force a facility without sorting machines to open. It's asinine. 

[mtgraves7984]

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@ltldpr wrote:

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@mtgraves7984 wrote:

I don't know how to approach this. I cannot simply opt to use a different sorting facility. ALL of my mail will go to that facility and come from that facility - I have no choice. My own mailbox is empty more often than it has mail in it lately. 

@ltldpr 

Well, not the optimal advice... but you could put your items on Time Away until things get better. Good luck.

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I was thinking that as well and thank you. I hate it though.

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@ltldpr 

I hate it, too... but my kneejerk reactions are usually pretty good. 

I can see you've thought it through when you say, "Do you know what cities are being forced to use that facility so you can cancel the purchases or tell them it might take weeks to arrive, if it ever arrives?"

I'd not want to deal with the cancellations with no expectation that they'd be washed. I'm in Nashville and back in 2021 (I think) it was the Memphis Distribution Center. For me... nearly unavoidable for anything crossing the Mississippi.

I took some time off... still no regrets and I slept like a baby. Evaluate it and do what feels right to you. Godspeed. 

[stainlessenginecovers]

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@ltldpr wrote:

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@stainlessenginecovers wrote:

You can either stop selling/listing until it's resolved, or you start using Fedex, UPS instead- until then. 

---

Are you going to research addresses to make sure that any Texas based buyer is NOT located anywhere near Houston? 

I'm not the only one affected by this.

Anyone with a buyer whose item has to go through that facility is very likely to have delays for possibly weeks. 

Do you know what cities are being forced to use that facility so you can cancel the purchases or tell them it might take weeks to arrive, if it ever arrives?

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What does ANY Of that have to do with NOT Using USPS and possibly using UPS or Fedex?

[gadgettatic]

Unfortunately this sounds like the only possible mailing solution at the moment.

I'm still waiting for my packages due to this situation.

At this rate I'll be very fortunate if I even get any of them. 😠

Again none of these are the fault of the ebay Sellers .

[mtgraves7984]

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@gadgettatic wrote:

Unfortunately this sounds like the only possible mailing solution at the moment.

I'm still waiting for my packages due to this situation.

At this rate I'll be very fortunate if I even get any of them. 😠

Again none of these are the fault of the ebay Sellers .

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@gadgettatic 

You did remind me of two packages that I completely lost in 2021, so I paid two refunds. Heads up again, @ltldpr.

[ltldpr]

Just tried to submit a search form. 

This is what I was told after filling out the form:

🙄 

[ltldpr]

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@stainlessenginecovers wrote:

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@ltldpr wrote:

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@stainlessenginecovers wrote:

You can either stop selling/listing until it's resolved, or you start using Fedex, UPS instead- until then. 

---

Are you going to research addresses to make sure that any Texas based buyer is NOT located anywhere near Houston? 

I'm not the only one affected by this.

Anyone with a buyer whose item has to go through that facility is very likely to have delays for possibly weeks. 

Do you know what cities are being forced to use that facility so you can cancel the purchases or tell them it might take weeks to arrive, if it ever arrives?

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What does ANY Of that have to do with NOT Using USPS and possibly using UPS or Fedex?

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So you don't use USPS?

And I already explained why UPS & FedEx for small items is not an option but whatever. 

[stainlessenginecovers]

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@ltldpr wrote:

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@stainlessenginecovers wrote:

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@ltldpr wrote:

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@stainlessenginecovers wrote:

You can either stop selling/listing until it's resolved, or you start using Fedex, UPS instead- until then. 

---

Are you going to research addresses to make sure that any Texas based buyer is NOT located anywhere near Houston? 

I'm not the only one affected by this.

Anyone with a buyer whose item has to go through that facility is very likely to have delays for possibly weeks. 

Do you know what cities are being forced to use that facility so you can cancel the purchases or tell them it might take weeks to arrive, if it ever arrives?

---

What does ANY Of that have to do with NOT Using USPS and possibly using UPS or Fedex?

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So you don't use USPS?

And I already explained why UPS & FedEx for small items is not an option but whatever. 

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I've ALWAYS used USPS (and no other) and have NO issues (sure, sometimes items 'hang up' but it's few/far between and I ship from West Coast to Texas, Arkansas etc. so I'm sure many items use those/that hub.

As far as you not using Fedex or UPS- I didn't say it was 'ideal' but change handling time to 5 days, drive the 40 mile round trip but even more so...

I'm SURE there is a local 'UPS' or Fedex drop off that will pick up your items and scan as received within a day (so again, add a couple days to 'handling').

There is ALWAYS a work around but if making $0 to NOT go out of your way one way or another is worth it for you, then THAT is your option.