MISSOURI CITY, Texas — Almost five months after KHOU 11 first reported on widespread mail delays across Houston, we got a look inside the local processing facility where many of those problems began.
On Thursday, USPS leaders invited us to take a tour of the South Houston Local Processing Center (SHLPC) in Missouri City after we made multiple requests to see the operation firsthand.
Thousands of packages were quickly sorted in front of our cameras for the two hours we were on the premises.
However, just a few months ago, packages were piled up at the facility according to a USPS Office Inspector General (OIG) audit that found 384,000 pieces of delayed mail there in January.
USPS Vice President of Regional Processing John DiPeri acknowledged those delays during the tour.
"It took us a month to bail out to get out of that and I apologize for that," he said. “I would have planned better, I would’ve had more people available and I would’ve planned the execution better but I learned from that."
DiPeri told KHOU 11 that USPS leaders added a fifth sorting machine to the facility and hired 125 additional employees, for a total of 205, since the OIG audit was conducted in January.
But even with those changes, he said there’s more planned for Houston’s mail delivery network as part of Postmaster General Louis Dejoy’s 10-year Delivering for America Plan.
Currently, the SHLPC in Missouri City is only processing packages to be sent outside of Houston. However, USPS officials said Thursday they ultimately want the facility to process all mail that’s being sent within Houston.
To reach that goal, the SHLPC is currently adding flat mail and letter sorting machines as well as package sorting robots. Meanwhile, the USPS facility in North Houston is adding four new high-output sorters to handle outgoing mail for the city.
With those plans in place, KHOU 11 asked USPS leaders about a May 8 letter from 26 U.S. Senators, including Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), in which the lawmakers asked the postmaster to pause USPS facility changes across the country.
Officials on Thursday said they’re moving ahead in Missouri City.
“There’s a precise plan that we believe, and we know if we execute properly, it will improve efficiency and the service,” DiPeri said. “If we slow down one part of it, it can slow down the progress of the whole network.”
DiPeri said USPS wants to have a total of 500 employees at the SHLPC in Missouri City. Officials plan to have the processing center 95% operational by August 2024.