With dark financial skies looming on its horizon, the U.S. Postal Service has already talked about closing thousands of post offices. But that’s apparently not going to be enough to salvage the sinking ship, as USPS announced today it may close or combine 252 of its existing 487 mail processing centers.

The changes are expected to result in 35,000 USPS jobs being cut.

“We are forced to face a new reality,” Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe said in a statement. “First-Class Mail supports the organization and drives network requirements. With the dramatic decline in mail volume and the resulting excess capacity, maintaining a vast national infrastructure is no longer realistic.”

While the cuts will help save the service billions each year, it will also mean a delay in the delivery time for mail sent using a first-class stamp. Minimum delivery time for these items would now be two days.

USPS has posted this PDF listing the processing facilities being considered for the chopping block.

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White House Developing Plan To Save USPS
Postal Service May Lay Off 120,000
USPS Could Close Nearly 3,700 Post Offices You Never Use Anyway

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