Residents say confusion at Bryan & College Station post offices are causing delays

BRYAN/COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KBTX) -Just days after the United States Postal Service (USPS) moved forward with combing and centralizing sorting and delivery operations in Bryan and College Station some residents say they are already feeling the impacts.

The Bryan postal facility on East William Joel Bryan Parkway is one of three initial sites identified nationwide that recently began converting existing, underused spaces into sorting and delivery centers.

The changes in operations mean mail carriers from the College Station Post Office now travel to Bryan to pick up and deliver mail.

These changes are later expected to take place at post offices in Caldwell, Hearne, Navasota, and North Zulch.

Several residents have voiced their concerns about postal operations over the last week. Residents in College Station say they have been waiting in long lines and some have noticed a reduction of clerks to assist with purchases and customer service.

One of the most recent complaints comes from a College Station resident who says she was caught in a back-and-forth misunderstanding between the Bryan and College Station facilities when she tried to retrieve mail that she put on hold after traveling for a few days.

Breaux Daniel says after she returned from her trip she had to wait several days for her mail to continue, and after it didn’t show up, she made a trip to the post office in College Station to pick it up herself.

She says when she got to the post office she was surprised to find out her mail was not there.

“I was told at that time that they no longer had anything to do {with the holding of mail}, they did not handle hold mail,” Daniel says.

She was told that she needed to pick up her mail at the Bryan facility and a postal worker in College Station informed her that they no longer do certain services. She says the College Station employee showed her a document as proof as to the services that were being reduced.

Daniel says she then made the six-mile trip to the Bryan Post Office and was told her mail was not there and was told that she needed to go back to College Station to retrieve it. She says she was referred to a manager where she was again told that she needed to pick up her mail in College Station and that the information she was given previously was not correct.

“They said for all these items you have to go to Bryan. I went to Bryan only to be told at that time that what I had been told in College Station was not true,’ Daniel says. “He told me that the information I had been given was in fact inaccurate, that, that document was not an official postal document, it probably never should have been created and much less shown or delivered to customers.”

Daniel also says she became concerned after she ask the Bryan post office to contact College Station and learned that they had been having communication issues.

“He {The manager} told me he would be happy to call except his counterpart on college station was no longer accepting his phone calls.”

Daniel’s mail was eventually delivered to her Thursday but says the communication between the two facilities is concerning. She says which facilities do what shouldn’t;t be a concern to customers as long as they get their mail.

“I’m just concerned about getting my mail,” said Daniel. “I’m just concerned that customers are not told to drive from one end of town to the other end of town only to be told no that really should be something they handle for you when you first started out where you were.”

“Whatever services the post office has eliminated, those should be spelled out,” said Daniel. “There should be some official postal directive there that says this may no longer be done here but if it’s just basic services like holding mail you should be able to get your mail when it was due to be delivered to you after the hold mail end date.”

KBTX asked the postal service if the issues being seen are due to the recent staffing changes and were told in a statement that there is no connection and that local management will continue to work with customers to make every effort to meet or exceed their expectations. Responses to KBTX’s questions are below.

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