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USPS May Close More Than 3,600 Post Offices

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- A sign of the times.  Forty-one post offices may be closing in Maryland.

Kai Jackson has more.

Several of those Maryland post offices that could close are in the Baltimore area, and that has customers concerned.

Stamps, letters, bills and packages.  Historically, the post office has been the nexus from which Americans move mail across the country and the world.

"This post office gets pretty busy, you know, so I think it would be a big inconvenience if this one shut down," said customer Linda Silverman.

The postal service has made cuts but apparently they haven't been deep enough.  Now, the USPS---which lost $8.5 billion last year---wants to close more than 3,600 post offices nationwide.  Ten of them are in the Baltimore area, including Carroll (21229), Druid (21217), Franklin (21223), Hamilton (21214), Market Center (21201), Walbrook (21216), Waverly (21218), Towson Town Center (21204) and Annapolis (21401).

The postal service is also proposing a village post office, which would operate inside retail stores.

"The village post office will be a replacement for the traditional post office," said Baltimore Postmaster John Budzynski.

"You have to think about the fact that a lot of people can't get around," said Lynette Dozier, Dundalk.

Rising cost and dwindling demand has hurt the post office.  So has parcel competition and a high-tech society using email to communicate.

"We're trying to make sure that we're being a lean, efficient operation," Budzynski said.

To see a list of the post offices that could close, click here.

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