9:30am | The U.S. Postal Service has named one of Long Beach’s main processing centers as one of 3,654 post office and 250 processing center closures. 26 processing centers have already closed since September, and the location on 2300 Redondo Avenue might face the same fate.

Closing the processing facilities is high detrimental to the flow of mail exchange, particularly given that some western states might face only having a single processing center, leaving the receiving of letters, DVDs, and mailing catalogues to take more time. Amongst Long Beach, other California processing centers slated for closures are Eureka, Pasadena, Redding, San Bernardino, and Stockton.

After intense criticism from communities across the nation, the Postal Service released a statement saying that they have delayed the closures until no earlier than May 15, 2012, in the “hopes this period will help facilitate the enactment of comprehensive postal legislation.” This also follows the Postal Service’s announcement to phase out overnight delivery of first-class mail.

The contraction of both post offices and mail processing centers is expected to save the Postal Service some $2.2 million from what it considered to be unprofitable branches — though that is only a fraction of the $8 billion it is expected to lose this upcoming year. The Postal Service is hoping to cut $20 billion in costs and as many as 120,000 positions by 2015.

A large majority of the branches closed will be turned into “Village Post Offices,” a new business model that the Postal Service introduced back in July. It will incorporate a more consumer-style edge, with gas stations, markets, and other goods provided in hopes to stimulate customer and economic growth.