01/29/2024
Attention! A customer insinuated on our last post that we were being untrustworthy about a postal situation in Houston. The USPS in Houston recently opened a new distribution facility in Missouri City, Texas, and this caused a very large backlog of packages coming into the Houston area. Until the winter storm, we saw no issues with outgoing mail.
After our post on January 18th, we found packages mailed around January 13th to 17th became stuck. News articles came out later in the week regarding Congressman Al Green being contacted about the issues (primarily the incoming mail issue) which we obviously could not have known about days prior. In addition the USPS still has a weather advisory on their website, which they did not post until after our post or the 18th.
We have done a large amount of research on the issue, and learned the post office moves in a last in, first out protocol. So things mailed after the 17th have moved normally, while things in the window mentioned above became stuck. We have worked with every customer that has contacted us with packages having this issue; and the majority have arrived or appear to be arriving. Some customers even got refunds and were just asked to pay us if the items arrived
We have also have closely monitored our packages mailed since the 17th. For example everything we check on that was mailed on Thursday the 25th, was processed in the distribution center on 26th and most has left the center by the 29th.
The USPS continues to not scan bulk packages at acceptance. We can give them a list to scan saying they accepted it, but it isn’t the actual package getting the scan / being handled. So most items do not receive scans until they get to regional distribution centers a day or so after being physically mailed.
The USPS service is still the cheapest way to receive small parcels, and we can explore adding other shipping services for their additional costs.
The same modernization that took place in Houston by the USPS that caused the issues is scheduled to take place in many major cities around the country between now and summer. Hopefully it goes smoother, elsewhere.
Finally, if you ever need to get ahold of us or have concerns about an order, please contact us by email, direct messages on social media or eBay, or by phone, and we will help you out.
