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The U.S. Postal Service has announced that they will delay the closure of thousands of post offices that they previously said they would close down. This is due to Congress, who first needs to pass legislation for this to occur.
Post offices and other mail-processing facilities cannot be closed or merged with others until May 15 at the earliest. Officials however plan to continue reviewing what they will do with other post offices. They hope to resume the closures when Congress approves legislation.
The Postal Service has proposed closing more than 3,700 post offices in response to cut $20 billion in costs by 2015. Also in the plan is the ending of Saturday mail deliveries, the changing of labor-union contracts which could cut around 120,000 jobs, and the slowing down of delivery on first-class mail.
Postal officials are not happy with the delay of closures, as they feel this slows down their time schedule for their plan. However, lawmakers in both parties are resisting the closures in response to their constituents, who disagree with the changes. The closures are unpopular most with those who live in rural areas.
Currently, competing House and Senate bills that would force cost-cutting has passed committees, but have not been brought to vote.
