Post Office Closure Decision on the Horizon, Cost-Saving Plan Presented

With May 15 as the end date to the United States Postal Service's "moratorium" on post office closures, decisions could be made soon on whether some local branches will stay open. 

Despite a new cost-saving measure presented Wednesday for some of the country's rural post offices, local USPS Spokesman Dennis Tarmey said the Postal Service is still going to go through and consider the those post offices on the list of proposed closures. 

According to Tarmey, the USPS plans to abide by and will not make an official decision on post office closures until after Tuesday, May 15. A decision related to the proposed closures is likely to come sometime next week, he said. 

Last year the USPS proposed closing as many as 3,700 post offices across the country, with more than 40 in Massachusetts. Only two are in Boston: Soldier's Field and State House. is not a target.

Earlier today, the USPS presented a plan to cut back on the hours of 13,000 smaller, rural area post offices across the country. This will avoid the closure of some of those rural post offices and save an estimated $500 million each year, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

The majority of the post offices in Massachusetts that will see hour reductions are located in the western part of the state, with most cutting back open hours from eight hours a day to six or four hours per day. A full list of those post offices was released Wednesday afternoon.

In addition, Tarmey told Patch that the USPS is offering optional early retirement incentives for some 21,000 employees, 13,000 of whom are already eligible for retirement.

According to a report on The Huffington Post, Wednesday's announcement is just one of the steps the Postal Service is taking to handle its debt, as it is also pushing federal lawmakers to pass legislation that would save money for the USPS and end Saturday mail delivery. 

For more details, check out stories on The Huffington Post and Wall Street Journal.