New Mexico Senators say the post office has hired permanent employees to help alleviate the problems post offices have been having for more than a year.

As KFOX has reported, the El Paso processing and distribution center sorts mail for both cities, El Paso and Las Cruces. That's one of the reasons why the El Paso center was overwhelmed with work, affecting residents.

"I have trouble keeping my bills paid. I had to pay a lot of them on the internet because I didn't get the mail. You're paying late fees, interest. Plus it hurts your credit," said Bob Veilleux.

Last month the postal service said they upheld an agreement with New Mexico's senators to hire more help. The senators were shocked to hear from KFOX, that the postal service hired 15 employees for the El Paso center on a temporary basis only.

On Wednesday, the postal service told the senators they would make 13 of those employees permanent.

"But I'm still skeptical that they're doing all they should do by way of staffing," said Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D).

And residents like Veilleux can't keep taking chances with the postal service's problems.

"If I'm getting other people's mail, how many people are getting my mail?" said Veilleux.

El Paso postal officials said KFOX needed to contact their San Antonio office for media inquiries, but our calls went unanswered.