Postal Service Eyes 250 Processing Facilities For 'Consolidation Or Closure'

The beleaguered U.S. Postal Service, which is facing losses of up to $10 billion in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, today proposed what it says are "sweeping changes designed to save the organization up to $3 billion a year by cutting its network of processing facilities by over half and adjusting service standards."

Among the service changes it proposes are:

-- Delivery of first-class mail in 2 to 3 days, instead of 1 to 3.

-- Delivery of periodicals in 2 to 9 days, not 1 to 9 days.

In addition, the Postal Service says it is studying 252 processing facilities to determine whether they should be closed or consolidated. The Associated Press points out that is "in addition to about 3,700 local post offices also being reviewed for closure" and that "closing the mail-processing facilities could affect 35,000 workers."

The list of 252 processing facilities is posted here and we've put it in the box below. Just click on "uspslist" to expand the document.

Copyright 2013 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.