Even before the news of the recent national report of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics informing 1,434 mass layoff actions and job loss of 129,920 workers in January alone had time to settle in, Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe announced plans of the Postal Service to shut down a minimum number of 223 mail processing facilities in relation to a $15 billion cost-cutting spread over three years.

As employees in the Postal Service became aware of the new decisions of the authorities said plans are in place to increase patrols at sensitive locations to prevent adverse reactions by disgruntled workers. According to experts, the proposed closures can lead to an immediate loss of 35, 000 mail processing jobs through attrition and other means and would ultimately lead to the reduction of 150, 000 jobs in the Postal Service.

Though there were no reports of any specific threats from employees, spokesperson for the Postal Inspection Service, Margaret Williams said the Postal Inspection Service “is sensitive to the issues that concern customers and employees surrounding some of the information that the Postal Service will be releasing. It is our mission to ensure the safety and security of the employees, customers and the mail system.”

Cliff Guffey, president of the American Postal Workers Union said, “We face an uphill battle, so it is crucial that union members continue to make their voices heard.”

Sen. Bernard Sanders, who led the move to delay further postal consolidations until May said the plans of the Postal Inspection Service were “deeply flawed,” and “slowing down mail delivery service will result in less business and less revenue.”

The processing centers affected in the first wave of closures would most probably be in Maryland and Virginia with Cumberland, Easton, Gaithersburg and Waldorf belonging to Maryland, and Lynchburg, Norfolk and Roanoke in Virginia being frontrunners in the race of lemmings.

Under the plan, parts of the mail of one state would be sorted in another and can lead to confusion according to some Senators. Senators Barbara A. Mikulski and Benjamin L. Cardin have already heavily criticized the plans to move mail sorting of Eastern Maryland to Delaware.

In a letter sent to the Postmaster General, the Senators have clearly written that “There is absolutely no statistical or empirical data to justify consideration of this idea.” Of course, new data can always form, and as far as the Postmaster General is concerned his advisers have submitted the plan after proper review and just consideration.