USPS Halts 600 Urban Closings

The USPS is going to halt a plan to close some 600 urban and suburban postal branches, a spokesman announced today. The facilities in many cities serve as neighborhood post offices. The Postal Service announced last year that it was looking at closing up to 252 mail-processing centers and 3,700 post offices, as part of a plan to save some $6.5 billion a year. It began backing off the plan last week, saying it no longer planned to close thousands of rural post offices but would keep them open with shorter hours.

Today's announcement addressed 600 branches and satellite stations that had been included in the original study for closure and were expected to shut down sometime after tomorrow. "Any proposals to close these facilities have been placed on hold and will not close at this time," says a spokesman. "Going forward, the Postal Service will evaluate how best to incorporate them into long-term plans for effective and efficient retail service." The Postal Service has said it will also put forward a new plan for the mail processing centers later this week. (More post office stories.)