Some Ohio mail-processing facilities are being spared from the first round of closings by the financially struggling U.S. Postal Service this summer and instead are slated to close later.
The postal service said Thursday it still plans to consolidate nearly 250 plants, including 48 this summer, but will stretch out the remainder over a longer time frame in 2013 and 2014.
The president of the Akron Metro Postal Union says that's a reprieve of at least 18 months for the Akron facility.
The Akron Beacon Journal reports facilities in Canton, Dayton, Massillon and Youngstown are now scheduled to close in early 2013.
Regional postal service spokesman David Van Allen says a small mail-sorting facility in Steubenville and part of the Mansfield operation are expected to shut down this summer.