The U.S. Postal Service is reviewing 3,200 post offices across the country for possible closure or consolidation. A USPS Southwest Area official confirmed that facilities in urban areas of Oklahoma will be looked at. That could include any number of post offices in Oklahoma City, and Tulsa among other places. The Postal Service says they have to take action because of the economic crisis.

Dave Lewin, the Acting Manager for the USPS Southwest Area Public Affairs & Communications said, "The landscape has changed, the marketplace has changed, and we have to change with it to meet this financial difficulty."

The U.S. Postal Service is dealing with a $2.3 billion shortfall this year. Though 50 million work hours have already been reduced by USPS, they say consolidation is needed. While officials say Oklahoma is seemingly recession proof, this is one area the state may not be able to avoid.

"Right now in Oklahoma we're looking at several urban areas where we have the opportunity to consolidate stations and branches," Lewin explained.

Criteria will be the distance between one branch to another, impact on employees, and the amount of cost savings from combining offices.

"We're not looking at this as a cost savings in terms of reduction of jobs, necessarily. It's more of an opportunity to reduce our square footage footprint the the communities that we serve," Lewin described.

Customers say they're not happy.

Dava Albert, an Oklahoma City resident said, "For me yeah, because it's the closest one to my job, my home is near here. This is the area i stay in, and there's not one very close to here."

Amos Ney, who uses post office box said, "Oh it'd be rough, I might have to get my mail at my house."

Jacob Dearmon, an Assistant Professor of Economics at OCU said, "It plays an important if not vital role in both today's business and social aspects of the community at large."

Jacob Dearmon with Oklahoma City University says that consolidating offices could put a bigger burden on the entire nation because of high unemployment rates.

"All businesses use the post office, they send their mail to other businesses. I think it can be a temperature gage of the health of the economy," Dearmon added.

But the Postal Service says it will reposition employees, offer early retirement, and have opportunities for workers who are displaced by possible closures.

"We don't anticipate anyone being left out in the cold as a result," Lewin concluded.

The post office says emails and electronic bill pay are the 2 major factors for losing billions. They will hold public meetings, and send out surveys to listen to the community's opinion before final decisions are made.