Latest local news, weather and high school sports for Toledo area

WASHINGTON -- Next day delivery and hundreds of processing centers face the chopping block as the U.S. Postal Service makes its final attempt to balance its budget.

Postal officials will announce formal plans Monday to close about 250 of its 460 processing facilities. The move will decrease the speed of delivery and lengthen the distance mail travels between offices.

According to USPS, cutting first-class mail deliveries would save $3 billion by 2015.

"The U.S. Postal Service must reduce its operating costs by $20 billion by 2015 in order to return to profitability," said David Williams, vice president of network operations. "The proposed changes to service standards will allow for significant consolidation of the postal network in terms of facilities, processing equipment, vehicles and employee workforce and will generate projected net annual savings of approximately $2.1 billion."

The Washington Post reports USPS also plans to close 3,700 post offices and is petitioning Congress to change labor contracts so they can axe 120,000 positions.

Is the Postal Service closing facilities and eliminating jobs too quickly? Are there other alternatives to make USPS profitable? Leave your comment below with us.

Read more: Postal Service cuts will mean slower mail